Candidate thinks opponent should be disqualified

Says misleading signs touted opponent as incumbent

A justice of the peace candidate might face censure, or worse, pending a ruling from the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Judiciary Commission.

District 5 justice of the peace candidate Tika Riley said she filed a complaint against her opponent, April Black, after noticing that the candidate’s yard signs said “re-elect.”  Riley said the signs gave the impression that Black was the incumbent in the race.

The actual incumbent, Julie Carmouche-Jackson, did not seek re-election.

“Making false allegations and statements is simply a political ploy to try to discredit my candidacy and alienate my supporters,” April Black said in an email, “I have always run for office on my own merit and accomplishments.”

Riley received 45.8 percent of the votes in the Nov. 4 primary while Black captured 40.4 percent. Both candidates are now squaring off in a Dec. 6 runoff election.

Riley filed the complaint on Nov. 6, two days after the primary.

“I received several congratulatory phone calls in which people congratulated me on being in a runoff with the incumbent,” Riley said. “I am in a runoff with April Black…not the incumbent.”

Black previously served as a member of the St. Charles Parish Council, but this is her first time running for justice of the peace.

Riley cited a portion of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which governs both judges and judicial candidates, which states that judges and candidates will not “knowingly make, or cause to be made, a false statement concerning the identity, qualifications, present position, or other fact concerning the candidate or opponent.”

According to Riley, the complaint is still under review.

“The only sanctions the Supreme Court can order as a result of judicial misconduct are public censure, suspension with or without pay, or removal,” Louisiana Supreme Court spokesperson Valerie Willard said in an email.

Willard declined to comment any further.

Spokespeople for the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office also declined to comment on what would happen if Black won the election and then received an unfavorable ruling from the judicial commission.

Riley concedes that the bottoms of the signs appear to have been cut off, hinting at a cost-saving measure by Black in reusing campaign signs from her re-election bid for Parish Council. However, she stands by her complaint.

“I was so upset because I felt like [April and her husband, District 5 Constable Stephen Black] could just get away with anything,” Riley said in an email. “What they knowingly did was deceitful and misleading and Mrs. Black should be disqualified.”