A Port Allen city councilperson has alleged a member of the city’s planning and zoning commission violated election law by offering to donate to her reelection campaign if she convinced a colleague to drop out of a City Council race.
Councilperson at-large Clerice Lacy raised the allegations against Walter Braud III at a City Council meeting in Port Allen last Wednesday night and on a local podcast in November. Braud, who was not present at the meeting, declined to comment.
“For someone to come at me like that, that just undermined my authority, as a person, as an elected official and as a Black woman,” Lacy said at the meeting.
Lacy alleges that Braud called her on July 24 and asked if she would tell an acquaintance, Shelton Berry, to leave the District 4 City Council race. She declined, she said.
The district court struck Berry from the ballot on July 31 after his opponent, April King, challenged his residency.
During a podcast conversation hosted by Berry on Nov. 19, Lacy played a recording of the alleged phone call between her and Braud. In the recording, Braud says he is going to “play politics now” and ask Lacy for a favor.
“I will be behind you 1000%, and I have money that I will put behind you, and I will have you reelected again, if you do one thing for me,” Braud said in the recording.
“Honestly?” Lacy said.
“Tell Shelton Berry to go get out of the race of District 4 before Friday,” Braud said.
“I’m not gonna do that,” Lacy said. “I’m not the ruler of Shelton Berry. I can’t tell Shelton Berry, and no other candidate.”
Louisiana election law prohibits giving or offering to give "directly or indirectly, any money or any thing of apparent present or prospective value to a candidate for public office" to secure the candidate's withdrawal from an election.
In the podcast, Lacy described accepting the donation as a “type of bondage.” She said she subsequently filed a report with local and state police, as well as requested that Mayor Richard Lee III recommend Braud’s removal. Lee said he will present a report with his findings at this week’s regular session.
The Port Allen Police Department said it referred the case to the Election Integrity Division of the Louisiana Secretary of State. The Secretary of State's Office said it does not comment on any investigations.
Lacy, who lost reelection, said she did not speak out during election season for fear of being seen as influencing the electorate.
“The election is over, and everybody is going on their way,” Lacy said. “And I have to deal with this because I have to fight this.”