Lawsuit seeks to void SpaceX tax deal, alleging violations of Louisiana open meetings law

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Beyond the allegations of open meetings law violations, the use of nondisclosure agreements by public officials in connection with the SpaceX deal has also raised transparency concerns.

The use of the code name is one of eight open meetings law violations the suit alleges. It accuses the police jury of adding the board’s revival to its July 15 agenda mid-meeting as a “subterfuge” to avoid public input, voting on two items that weren’t on its agendas, and twice failing to broadcast meetings live. The development board, the suit says, also failed to send notices of two meetings to the state commissioner of administration, who posts them online.

Because the board has no website, the lawsuit says, the state’s website was the only way its meeting notices could have appeared online. Instead, the board announced the Aug. 25 meeting with a one-page notice posted at the parish courthouse just 24 hours before the meeting took place.

Of the votes missing from the police jury’s agendas was an appointment to the development board, according to the lawsuit. Another approved the parish’s settlement with ExxonMobil Corp., whose Vermilion Parish marshland is now the site of the planned spaceport, it says.

SpaceX then transferred the land to the Vermilion Parish Industrial Development Board, which leased it back to the company as part of the tax deal.

The suit also alleges the parish no longer has a copy of the Exxon settlement. When the plaintiffs’ attorneys sought the agreement through a public records request, parish counsel said all potentially responsive records “were delivered to the possession and control of the governor’s office,” according to the petition.

Parish counsel said the documents had been presented to the police jury in person and then returned to the governor’s office by the governor’s executive counsel, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs characterize that as the governor’s office sending “a staff member to take away every single copy of the agreement — so that Vermilion citizens cannot even review what their elected officials agreed to.”

Kate Kelly, a spokesperson for Landry’s office, said that representatives from the governor’s office were present at the July 15 parish council meeting and that the action to approve the settlement was taken in an open meeting after the council convened in executive session. She noted that the 24th and 25th Judicial District Courts ordered the settlement documents to remain confidential, and said that Carmouche, the parish’s attorney in the lawsuits, has a copy of the settlement.

State law requires suits seeking to void a public body’s action to be filed within 60 days. Most, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said Monday was the last day the plaintiffs could file.

“Democracy fails when public officials forget they work for the people — not the other way around,” Most said in a statement.

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I need a venn diagram or something

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I want to hear Bard's take.

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What does this have to do with the Orleans Criminal Clerk?

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