N.O. new progressive DA makes first appointment and it's illegal

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New Orleans' new DA, Jason Williams, says his top assistant, Bob White, will soon be moving to town.

Let us by all means send the welcome wagon over to the DA's office, which is located, happily enough, on South White Street. We can do our best to make White feel at home, but there is one thing we can't do. And that is make his appointment legal.

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A blatant violation of state law is not, perhaps, the ideal start to Williams's stint as our top prosecutor of state-law violators.

That stint may not last long, for Williams stands accused of worse offenses than failing to meet some piddling requirement of state law. He awaits trial in federal court on 11 counts of tax fraud. A conviction on any one of them will mean he is removed from office.

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A first assistant is required by statute to “possess the same qualifications as provided by the constitution for district attorneys.” The constitution says a district attorney “must have resided in the district for the two years preceding the election.” Since 2009, White has lived, as first assistant DA, in Plaquemines Parish. He is not qualified to be first assistant or DA in New Orleans.

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So what happens if Williams is hauled off to the pen? The constitution says that, if the first assistant cannot take over, the New Orleans City Council “shall appoint a qualified person” to do the job until the next election. That may not sit well with Williams, who was president of the City Council until shortly before he resigned his seat this month to take over as DA.

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