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It’s an odd hill to die on. Why does the Left want absolute control over our public library systems? At Citizens for a New Louisiana, we stumbled upon this phenomenon quite by accident. When we began finding vulgar children’s books (and ‘vulgar’ is an understatement), the discrepancy between what we thought would happen and what actually happened couldn’t have been any greater.

Any reasonable person might expect a librarian to respond, “Oh no! How did that get in here?” We hoped that librarians would work together to solve problems like this. The book would have been removed, sure. But we also expected the librarian would notify all of their librarian buddies across the state about the terrible book they just discovered. Instead, we got called Nazis, and the president of the Louisiana School Librarians’ Association (Livingston Parish resident Amanda “Banana” Jones) filed a lawsuit to shut us up. That’s called a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP suit, by the way.

It’s now been three or four years, and this pit of vipers has really dug in across the state. Inexplicable as it is, the war rages on over the innocence of Louisiana’s children in places like Livingston Parish, which might just be the most conservative part of the entire state. While Lafayette’s Library has become a beacon to the rest of the state, about half of the public officials in Livingston Parish continue to struggle. It seems that they’re either not conservative or they’re afraid of a handful of incredibly loud Leftists.

Livingston Library Director Michelle Parrish

Former (maybe) Livingston Public Library Director Michelle Parrish has not been so great in her job. If you’re wondering what that job is, it’s the same job everyone has: make the boss look good. In the case of Michelle Parrish, her bosses are the nine members of Livingston Parish’s Library Board of Control.

We’ve been keeping everyone informed on her many efforts to confuse and disparage her bosses. Some of those efforts included continually emptying the budget, dodging public records requests, limiting parents’ ability to challenge vulgar children’s books, and misleading the board in an attempt to have them removed. Her effort to remove the board was ultimately successful, thanks to Councilman Ricky Goff. But her victory was short-lived. On Tuesday, July 15th, her at-will contract was not renewed, effectively a quiet but unmistakable firing. Parish President Randy Delatte even showed up to exercise his ex officio status to cast a vote against the renewal.

That vote made even more headlines thanks to four left-leaning board members resigning their posts mid-meeting, at the moment that Michelle Parrish’s contract was not renewed. Those were Board President Jennifer Dorhauer, Vice President “Becky” Howze Morgan, Rodlyn Hammond, and Patricia Wilson.

Drama, as always

The effect of not approving her contract renewal meant that, by the end of the month (some two weeks later), Michelle Parrish would find herself out as director. Our old friend and momentary president of the board, Jonathan Davis, had made it somewhat clear that he didn’t desire that Parrish be entirely out of a job, just that she couldn’t be director anymore. It is worth noting that Parrish did not bother to show up to serve the final two weeks of her contract. When the vote came through, she only said, “My work here is done,” and no one ever saw her again.

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But, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Upon the president and vice president both resigning in unison, there was a need to establish a new executive committee. Jonathan Davis astutely did so at the very same unadjourned meeting where the resignations happened. There’s a parliamentary move allowed under state law to amend the budget with unanimous consent. So, by adjournment, the board had established a new President and Vice-President by unanimous vote: Jonathan Davis and Kristan Whann, respectively.

Later, an attorney raised concerns about a vague procedural issue related to the vote itself. Then-president Jennifer Dorhauer had set the agenda but neglected a significant detail. After the board exited executive session (for Michelle Parrish’s annual review), the agenda lacked notification that a vote may occur. When entering the executive session, Dorhauer had even told onlookers that they could go home because nothing would happen and no vote would take place after the executive session ended.

The long and winding road

Let’s linger here for a moment. Procedurally, after an executive session, the agenda typically includes an item indicating that a vote may be taken. As board president, Dorhauer has the exclusive authority to set the agenda. She chose not to include a vote. Was her choice not to include a vote on the agenda on purpose or an oversight? Regardless, the result of an incomplete or misleading agenda is an open meeting question and an opportunity for Michelle Parrish’s attorney to demand a second vote. If you’re wondering, that attorney is Alysson Mills, who also happens to represent Amanda “Banana” Jones in her protracted lawsuit against Citizens for a New Louisiana.

When an open meeting law violation occurs, the legal “remedy” is to vote again. It’s rare, but anyone who’s been paying attention long enough has seen one of these happen. Therefore, the potential for an open meeting law violation led an overly cautious attorney to suggest a re-vote, which was subsequently conducted. And so, out of an abundance of caution, Dorhauer’s negligence prompted the board to vote again. That means Michelle Parrish was fired twice—first on July 15th, then again on August 8th.

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To add to the complexity, after the first vote and walk-out, the four members who had resigned changed their minds. Under an obscure Louisiana law, members of boards continue to serve until they are replaced by their successors. That means even if they’ve resigned, they still maintain their official capacity until their appointing authority decides to take action. Resigned or not, Dorhauer was still pulling strings behind the scenes to save Michelle Parrish. She managed to get agreement from the four parish councilmen (who had appointed the four resigned members) not to accept the resignations.

Let’s assess our current position for a moment

Leading up to the August 8th meeting, no one was certain what would happen. During the agenda setting, Dorhauer demanded another executive board vote. Newly elected board president Jonathan Davis must have thought that working with the Leftists might bring people together. So, as sitting president (and sole arbiter of what would be included on the agenda), he agreed to allow another election.

At that moment, Jonathan Davis is the new Library Board President, with Kristan Whann as VP. Former President and VP, Jennifer Dorhauer, and “Becky” Howze Morgan, respectively, somehow managed to get back on the board. Now, they wanted the conservatives ousted from leadership and themselves restored to power. Davis, in his infinite wisdom, agreed to all of this without complaint.

After the meeting ended, Jennifer Dorhauer had flipped her vote on Parrish, from renewing the contract to not renewing it. Therefore, Michelle Parrish was fired again. However, the tenuous conservative minority (4-5) was unable to maintain its good fortune in the leadership vote. Sheila Goins, one of the Leftists who initially joined the Conservatives to oust Michelle Parrish, once again crossed back to restore Leftists Jennifer Dorhauer and “Becky” Howze Morgan for the executive board president and vice president roles.

Here’s where it gets interesting

Circling back to the initial problem. It was Jennifer Dorhauer‘s failure to include a vote on the agenda that necessitated a second and even third meeting. A question remains as to whether that was intentional. However, what we found out next certainly had intent behind it.

We’ve received reports from numerous sources that, leading up to the August 8th re-vote, Jennifer Dorhauer had been making phone calls to other board members. If Dorhauer was privately whipping votes before the meeting, that’s a textbook rolling quorum—a violation of the Open Meetings Law that nullifies public process. So, once again, a potential open meetings law violation benefiting Michelle Parrish was the direct action of Jennifer Dorhauer.

Within days, Alysson Mills, the attorney for Banana Jones and Michelle Parrish, had issued a public records request. She was asking for all communication between the various parties. How did she know about the potential rolling quorum problem created by Jennifer Dorhauer? When those calls appear in the response to her records request, that might be all it takes for our overly cautious attorney to recommend firing Michelle Parrish—a third time.

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