State utility regulators will decide Wednesday whether to punish one of their own after he called Gov. Jeff Landry an “a–hole” on social media.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission will consider a proposal to remove Commissioner Davante Lewis, D-Baton Rouge, as vice chairman of the panel. Commission Chairman Mike Francis, R-Crowley, added the proposal to Wednesday’s meeting agenda after seeing a news report of Lewis criticizing the governor on social media.
The situation began when the governor created a social media post of a side-by-side photo comparison between the new U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and, Dr. Rachel Levine, an outgoing 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 quote atop Landry’s post, calling it cruel and then insulting Landry.
“This tweet shows that conservatism right now is only about cruelty and chaos. They will find away (sic) to be cruel to someone just [because] they can,” Lewis wrote. “What a completely (sic) [a–hole] you are @LAGovJeffLandry,” Lewis wrote.
In a phone interview Monday, Francis said Lewis should not have responded to the governor with a profane insult and feels the commission should revisit the vote they held in January when they first chose Lewis vice chair.
“We should be above that kind of language when you’re talking about public servants,” Francis said. “I’ve enjoyed working with the guy, but we don’t need to be trashing each other.”
Francis said he nominated Lewis to the position as a show of good faith bipartisanship on the commission and now feels embarrassed by his decision.
In a separate phone interview, Lewis, who is gay, said the governor’s post was personally offensive to him and other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Lewis said the governor’s post about Levine is similar to others that have mocked her. Levine’s 2021 U.S. Senate confirmation drew transphobic attacks from conservatives, some of whom created similar side-by-side photo comparisons involving Levine.
“He must not like me?” Landry said in response to questions about Lewis’ quote from the USA Today Network on the matter.
Anyone paying attention to politics and reading through those comments can see clearly what the governor was doing, Lewis said.
“This has been a repeated pattern of the governor,” he said. “He punches down at immigrants, trans athletes and professors who disagree with him.”
Landry has been particularly sensitive to public criticism, most recently calling on LSU administrators to discipline a law professor who criticized the governor, using profanities in front of his class. Ken Levy has been suspended from teaching and is suing the university, claiming his First Amendment rights were violated.
Francis said he alone made the decision to propose Lewis’ removal and that the governor had no part in it. He said he hasn’t spoken to Landry since his election in 2023.
Foster Campbell, the only other Democrat on the Public Service Commission, was unaware of the situation when reached by phone Monday and said he would have to look into it before commenting.
Commissioner J.P. Coussan, R-Lafayette, did not return a call seeking comment before this story was published. Commissioner Eric Skrmetta, R-Metairie, did not respond to phone calls and emails.
Lewis said he feels conservatives have created a double standard where they can say whatever they’re feeling and it is defended as freedom of speech. But Democrats don’t get that same latitude whenever they say something that Republicans disagree with, he said.
Lewis pointed out that he didn’t make his comments at a commission meeting and feels it’s a waste of time to bring the matter before the commission.
He has support from the Louisiana chapter of the ACLU, which issued a press release on the matter Monday afternoon.
“This retaliatory action against a Black elected official is deeply troubling,” executive director Alanah Odoms said. “Elected leaders should be able to express their views without fear of political retribution. Suppressing dissent in this way is not only undemocratic but also sets a chilling precedent for free speech in Louisiana. The ACLU Louisiana calls on the Public Service Commission to reject this undemocratic vote.”
Wednesday’s meeting starts at 9 a.m. and will include a number of other matters, including Entergy Louisiana’s application for a storm recovery fee and a report on how the electric grid performed during January’s historic snowstorm.