Louisiana utility regulators sanction colleague who insulted Gov. Landry on social media

Yahoo

19-02-2025

Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, left, sits next to Chairman Mike Francis during the Feb. 19 PSC meeting. (Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana utility regulators sanctioned one of their colleagues Wednesday after he called Gov. Jeff Landry an 'a–hole' on social media.
In a 3-2 vote along party lines, the Louisiana Public Service Commission removed Commissioner Davante Lewis, D-Baton Rouge, as vice chair of the panel and installed Commissioner Eric Skrmetta, R-Metairie, in his place.
Defending himself at Wednesday's meeting, Lewis accused Republicans of creating double standards for free speech and decorum.
'If we're gonna talk about behavior, we're gonna be fair in here today,' Lewis said. 'Because I'm not gonna sit here and hold myself to a standard that you won't hold anybody else to, you won't hold yourself to, you won't hold the president to, you won't hold the governor to … It seems that if you're young, if you're Black, if you're outspoken, you've got to do whatever the white man tells you to do.'
The commission's vote came after a crowd of Lewis' supporters took turns speaking in his defense, calling the sanction an erosion of free speech. Others pointed to the demographics of the commission as a factor, even shouting 'racist' as the votes were tallied against Lewis, a 32-year-old gay Black man and the only person of color on the five-member panel.
Kenntonio Rosette, a U.S. Air Force reservist and graduate student at Southern University, told the commission that many young Black people and LGBTQ+ people look up to Lewis as a leader. It would be undemocratic to punish him over something he said on social media, he said, adding that he found it 'utterly disgusting' they would sanction a gay Black man during Black History Month.
'I thought that the United States was the land of the free and the home of the brave, am I correct?' Rosette asked. 'So are we running this state like an autocracy, or are we running it like a democracy?'
Louisiana utility regulator could face reprisal for insulting Gov. Landry
The controversy unfolded last week when the governor created a social media post with a side-by-side photo comparison between new U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Rachel Levine, a former assistant secretary under Kennedy's predecessor. Levine is the first openly transgender person to hold a federal government position that requires Senate confirmation.
Remarking on his preference for Kennedy, Landry wrote: 'Major upgrade in the @HHSgov Secretary department.'
In response, Lewis placed his own statement atop Landry's post, calling the governor an 'a–hole.'
When Commission Chairman Mike Francis, R-Crowley, learned about the exchange, he added an item to Wednesday's meeting agenda to revisit the commission's vote in January when they chose Lewis as vice chair.
In a phone interview Monday, Francis said he originally nominated Lewis to the role as a show of good faith bipartisanship on the commission and now feels embarrassed by his decision. He also said the governor had no involvement in his decision, a point which he repeated at Wednesday's meeting. Other than that reiteration, neither he nor the other two Republican commissioners, Skrmetta and J.P. Coussan of Lafayette, spoke on the matter.
Commissioner Foster Campbell, D-Bossier City, defended Lewis by comparing the situation to similar acts that did not result in sanctions.
'I've seen other things happen here that were just as bad,' Campbell said, recounting an incident in which he alleges Francis once stood behind him with a poster that said 'Bull—t' while Campbell was speaking in front of a camera. Francis denied the allegation.
Although Wednesday's vote attracted news media attention, the decision is unlikely to have much of an impact on Lewis' authority as a commissioner. The vice chair presides over meetings when the chairman is absent but doesn't wield any significant power over the other commissioners.
Sensing the vote would not go his way, Lewis remained unapologetic and said he would be unmoved by the decision.
'If you attack somebody that I love, I'm gonna call you out. If you don't defend the poor, I'm gonna call you out. If you don't stand up for everybody's rights, I'm gonna call you out,' he said just before the vote. 'And if calling you out means you've got to shut me up, well then shut me up. But you will never stop the work or the progress that I'm here to do.'
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