On Wednesday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell withdrew her appointment of Kimberly Thomas for a spot on the board of administrators for the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board. Thomas was slated for approval by the New Orleans Metropolis Council, which appeared able to overlook years of state ethics-law violations to approve her nomination.

Thomas had already served a stint on the board from 2014 to 2017. For all 4 of these years, she did not submit legally required financial-disclosure varieties on time. Her disclosure for the 2015 calendar 12 months was by no means filed, nor was a required disclosure from the 12 months after she left. She incurred two $1,500 fines for her failures, considered one of which was paid simply two weeks in the past. The opposite nice was rescinded, however solely as a result of the state didn’t accumulate it inside the prescribed time.

In July 2024, after sending greater than a dozen late-fee administrative orders and a overdue discover, the state ethics board notified Thomas — in a notification repeated once more final month — that it will train its proper to publicly object to Thomas as a candidate if she selected to run for public workplace. The S&WB board seat is an unpaid appointed place.

The Council had appeared more likely to verify Thomas on Thursday, as a result of Thomas obtained the unanimous advice of the Council’s Governmental Affairs Committee on July 2. Thomas didn’t reply to emailed questions from The Lens.

In her Wednesday letter, Cantrell requested that Thomas be withdrawn from consideration – for now. “Upon submission of up to date paperwork, my workplace will submit her appointment for consideration once more,” the mayor wrote.

The Council withdrew the movement for Thomas’ affirmation at Thursday’s assembly with none remark.

Prior time period ethics troubles

In 2014, Thomas had been named to the S&WB Board of Administrators by then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu with 9 different members. 5 of them, together with Thomas, had been brand-new to the board. 

The 2014 cohort, which took over mid-year, had been a part of main reforms to the choice, make-up and time period lengths of the board. The reforms had been handed on the state legislature as a part of a package deal of board-related measures in change for Metropolis Council approval of eight years of water and sewer charge will increase. 

Throughout and after her time period on the board, Thomas was required to file 5 monetary disclosures on time and full three annual one hour ethics trainings. Three of her disclosures had been filed late, two had been by no means submitted and he or she solely accomplished one coaching. 

The required state trainings and disclosures are meant to make sure that public servants don’t use the workplace for personal achieve, settle for improper presents, dole out particular therapy – and that they know the legal guidelines beneath which they serve. 

Thomas submitted her 2016 disclosure in February 2019 and her 2017 disclosure kind in August  2024, a mixed eight years late. The ethics board put plenty of effort into getting that kind and others, in addition to accumulating two $1,500 fines arising from the late 2016 and 2017 submittals – making an attempt to contact Thomas about her failures 30 occasions over a ten-year interval, together with 9 subpoena requests, two of which had been finally served, in line with information launched on Tuesday.

Thomas’ account of occasions differs from the ethics board information. Writing to the ethics board in 2023, she claimed she “at all times maintained the best moral requirements all through my tenure with the [S&WB], and I’ve upheld my obligations diligently. It’s not in my nature to intentionally keep away from any authorized or monetary obligation.”

S&WB board members are legendarily unhealthy in complying with state ethics-board necessities. Of the 51 people who’ve served since 2014 both on the S&WB Board of Administrators or the company’s Board of Trustees (which oversees the Board’s pension system), 47 have both filed disclosures late or under no circumstances, or have skipped the required annual coaching, in line with publicly out there state ethics information. 5 present members have racked up 5 or extra violations: Janet Howard, Robin Barnes, Tamika Duplessis, Maurice Sholas, and Joseph Peychaud.

However Thomas’ efficiency throughout her earlier time period stands out. Her total disclosure/coaching violation charge was 88%, putting her within the high 5 of everybody who has served since 2014, in line with a Lens evaluation. The opposite 4 board members who made the S&WB’s top-five record had violation charges of 100%: Stacy Horn-Koch, Eric Blue, William Raymond Manning, and Charles Webb. Not like Thomas, all served only one or two years. None of them have been renominated.

Thomas is nominated to interchange Sholas, whose time period is ending. Barnes can also be leaving the board, to get replaced with lawyer Courtney Scrubbs throughout the identical Thursday council assembly when Thomas was because of be confirmed.

Contesting fines in 2023, failing to pay in 2024

In Might 2023, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Workplace deputies efficiently served Thomas with subpoena orders for the 2016 and 2017 fines. A month later, Thomas moved to get a waiver for each $1,500 fines. 

In a June 30, 2023 letter faxed by Thomas to the ethics board, she wrote that she had been unaware of the requirement to file a disclosure in 2017, blaming assurances supposedly given her by then-Government Director Cedric Grant.

The ethics board discovered Thomas’ argument unpersuasive. At its November 3, 2023 assembly the board unanimously rejected her request for a waiver of the nice for the 2017 violation. The 2016 nice had been rescinded in August because of an expiration of time to gather it.

Seven months later, Thomas had nonetheless not paid the nice and on June 7, 2024 was despatched a “overdue” discover with a menace to have the $1500 penalty despatched to the state lawyer common’s collections unit. The state made good on their menace, turning her case over to collections October 18, 2024.

The June 30, 2023 letter from Kimberly Thomas included a further curiosity. Whereas it was faxed from an Workplace Depot in Harvey, the header of the letter was her identify and deal with: 542 East thirty second Avenue in Savannah, Ga, a home that had made headlines due to its 2014 sale from Kimberly Thomas’ uncle, Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas, and his kin to Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow. Justice Thomas was compelled to amend his 2014 monetary disclosure when the sale, initially undeclared, was uncovered by ProPublica. ProPublica additionally reported Leola Williams, Justice Thomas’ mom, was dwelling in the home hire free as of April 2023.

S&WB nomination

This 12 months, with the $1,500 nice nonetheless in collections, Thomas was included within the record of 5 potential candidates for a newly opened seat on the Sewerage and Water Board of Administrators. The seat represents Metropolis Council District C, which covers all of Algiers and a part of the east financial institution together with the French Quarter, Bywater, Treme, and the Marigny. A variety committee, made up of college presidents and heads of native chambers of commerce – or their representatives – met on Might 6 and winnowed the record to 3 per state regulation. 

Based mostly on utility packages assembled by S&WB employees, the committee superior Thomas to be thought-about by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, together with two different candidates – Patrick Hernandez and Nathalie Jordi. Cantrell selected Thomas and submitted her to the Council for affirmation. 

When requested if through the choice committee preparations, S&WB employees checks for excellent state ethics fines or failures to file disclosures – each of which had been publicly out there for Thomas on the ethics board web site in Might – or if they are going to achieve this sooner or later, company spokesperson Ceara Labat responded, “No remark.”

Mayor Cantrell’s staff didn’t reply to emailed questions on whether or not they had been conscious of Thomas’ ethics violations earlier than being requested about them on Wednesday by The Lens.

As a part of the Council’s affirmation course of, Thomas needed to reply a six -page questionnaire about her background and {qualifications}. On the final web page of the questionnaire, simply above the part for the notary to affix their stamp, the appliance reads, “Materials misrepresentation of any info supplied on this questionnaire shall represent trigger for dismissal from the place appointed.” 

The 2 “Objection to Candidacy” notices despatched to Thomas in July 2024 and June 2025 each emphasised that the $1,500 late price was “absolute and ultimate.”

However in response to the query “Have you ever ever obtained a ultimate judgment for any violation of Metropolis of New Orleans or Louisiana ethics legal guidelines, skilled license rules, or a ultimate judgment for administrative adjudication proceedings, apart from for parking violations?” Thomas typed – in massive capital letters – “NO.”

5 days after the questionnaire was notarized, she paid the nice, almost six years after it was first imposed. It was posted to her collections account July 2.

That very same day – July 2 – Thomas appeared earlier than the Council’s Governmental Affairs Committee in assist of her nomination, with the notarized questionnaire nonetheless together with the “NO” to the query about ultimate judgments hooked up to the assembly agenda. On the podium, she touted her dedication to “offering transparency” to the neighborhood. 

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