Come On Troy…
is Darren Lombard worthy of your endorsement??
As we reported earlier, Voters Organized has deep concerns about the candidates who our US Congressman, Troy Carter, continues to endorse.
In addition to our questions about Delisha Boyd that we previously wrote about, we wonder why Congressman Carter has endorsed Darren Lombard, the incumbent candidate for Clerk of the Orleans Parish Criminal Court?
Let’s look deeper at who Mr. Lombard is, and whether he is worthy of such an endorsement.
BROKEN PROMISES
Darren Lombard has been the Clerk at the Orleans Parish Criminal Court for one term, and his tenure thus far has been anything but competent. In 2021, our organization endorsed Mr. Lombard based on the following campaign promises, none of which have been kept:
Darren Lombard stated that he supported extending Clerk of Court hours, to change the closing time from 3 pm to 5 pm. To date, the Clerk’s Office still closes at 3 pm. Making matters worse, the Clerk’s official website inaccurately states that the Clerk’s Office is open until 4 pm. The Office’s closure at 3 pm likely violates Louisiana law, which requires clerk’s offices to be open from 8:30 - 4:30 pm. See La. R. S. § 13:756. We encourage anyone to go down at 3:15 pm and try to look up a record and see for themselves if this office is in fact open.
1.
Mr. Lombard stated that implementing an e-filing system for attorneys would be a top priority in the first 100 days of his administration. Four years later, lawyers working in New Orleans are still waiting. Orleans Parish is the only major metropolitan clerk’s office in Louisiana where e-filing is not available. Mr. Lombard’s broken campaign promise contributes to the delays in processing criminal cases, and relying on paper filing in 2025 increases the risk for the misplacement and loss of court records – not to mention paper filing unnecessarily increases the office's environmental footprint.
Beyond e-filing, digitizing the Court records increases access to these files for the public – especially for those folks who work 9-5 jobs and cannot get to the office to look these files up before 3 o’clock.
2.
Our organization cares deeply about voting rights and we fight tirelessly to make sure that those once disenfranchised because of their felony conviction regain their rightful access to the ballot!
There is a common misconception in Louisiana that if you have a felony conviction that you cannot vote – this is wrong (check out if you are eligible). Mr. Lombard promised to update the Clerk of Court’s website with the eligibility criteria a potential voter must meet if they have a felony conviction. As of today, the Clerk’s Website fails to share this essential voting information. This is not a great look for the City’s Chief Election Officer.
3.
4.
Mr. Lombard also promised in 2021 that he would take action to end broader discrimination against people with criminal convictions. However, as of this writing, he has failed to affirmatively support the Fair Chance Amendment — a proposed constitutional amendment on the October 11 ballot. This amendment, added to the ballot by unanimous City Council decision, would change New Orleans’ Home Rule Charter to prevent laws from arbitrarily and unreasonably discriminating against people with conviction histories.
NEGLIGENCE
Let’s recount other serious failures of Mr. Lombard’s:
2.
Up until September 5, 2025, under Mr. Lombard’s leadership, the Clerk of Court’s website listed wrong dates for the next election, and listed the wrong voter registration deadlines.
Below find a list of who has donated to Mr. Lombard’s campaign.
Edwin Lombard is Mr. Lombard’s cousin. He is the former clerk of court, and currently serves as the Interim Deputy Clerk of Court.
Ricky Templet is the recently ousted Republican incumbent defeated when he ran for reelection on the Jefferson Parish Council.
Southern Tradition Outfitters is an LLC owned by Stephen AdamsII. It has virtually no online footprint–its website is expired and its Instagram hasn’t been updated in four years.
