Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said her agency will look into whether the Caddo Parish Commission violated state law when it touted a visit from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders to Shreveport last weekend.
Nearly 2,000 people showed up Saturday at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium for Sanders’ appearance as part of his “Fighting Oligarcy” tour, KSLA-TV reported. The progressive senator from Vermont stopped in Northwest Louisiana to lay his criticism for the Trump administration at the doorstep of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Shreveport, whose district includes the area.
Ahead of Sanders’ visit, the Caddo Parish Commission reportedly approved a resolution welcoming the senator to the state. Murrill argues that because there’s no mention of the resolution on any commission agenda, it is potentially a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Law.
“They didn’t meet. That’s the whole problem,” Murrill press secretary Lester Duhé III told the Illuminator in a text message.
The state’s Open Meetings Law statute calls for all business to be conducted at a meeting to be placed on a publicly available agenda 24 hours before its members convene. Agendas posted online for recent Caddo Parish Commission meetings do not list a resolution regarding Sanders.
“If members of the Caddo Commission want to act as a body (including issuing official documents in the name of the Commission welcoming socialist Bernie Sanders to Shreveport), they are legally required to put it in the agenda at a properly held public meeting,” Murrill wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon.
Caddo Parish Commission Chairman J.P. Young did not respond to a message and email seeking comment. Krystle Beauchamp, communications director for Caddo Parish, confirmed the attorney general has notified the commission about the investigation. She referred additional questions to Murrill’s office.
Sanders’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This report was updated to include comment from Murrill’s press secretary.