N.O. Judicial Race Takes Testy Turn

Section: Business

Times Picayune

The race for Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge turned a sharp corner Monday, with attorney Laurie White portraying her competitor Juana Marine Lombard as a shady legal player with a questionable trial record.

Lombard, who came out on top in the primary with 27 percent of the vote to White's 25 percent, said her opponent is merely dredging up dirt in a desperate attempt to win in Saturday's general election.

The two attorneys face off Saturday for the empty seat in Section A at the district courthouse, left vacant by the early retirement of embattled judge Charles Elloie in June.

Elloie said he stepped down because of poor health, but his leaving also ended a state probe into his questionable bond-setting practices.

Whoever wins on Saturday will finish the final year of Elloie's term and have to run again in the fall to keep the post. White and Lombard are both willing to give up lucrative private practices -- White's devoted mostly to criminal law and appeals, while Lombard's a mixture of civil and criminal -- for the judgeship, which pays $110,000 a year.

Each has also sunk a lot of personal savings into the campaign. White has loaned herself $85,000, and Lombard and her family together have put $51,100 into the judicial run.

While local judicial races often simmer off the public's radar, White chose to go on the offensive this week, taking a jab at Lombard's credibility.

In a television spot that hit local rotation Monday, White compares Lombard to failed former District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who resigned Oct. 31 in response to criticism regarding his performance. In interviews, White has accused Lombard of inflating the number of trials she had performed and brings up the fact that Lombard's ex-husband, Jason Rochon, is a disgraced lawyer who committed federal crimes.

Lombard, who divorced Rochon in 1999 after seven years of marriage, said of the spot, "She's desperate. What else do you do but attack?"

Rochon's career ended in disaster by 2001, with the Louisiana Supreme Court disbarring him for life because of defrauding clients, including forging one's signature, and attacking another attorney in front of clients.

White, 48, said that because Lombard worked with her husband at his firm in the late 1990s, she must have known of his legal problems and deceit.

While Rochon and two others who worked at the firm have been censured by the state, Lombard has never been accused of wrongdoing.

"You have to be personally mature enough and exhibit good judgment to make decisions that are not always popular in every part of town, for the good of the city," White said. "I don't think she's done that enough, even as a lawyer."

Lombard said she couldn't have foreseen her husband's downfall when they met in 1991. "I met him at 23," said Lombard, 41, who is married to Darren Lombard, a cousin of 4th Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Ed Lombard and the treasurer for her campaign. "This wasn't my background. This is Jason's background."

In February Lombard testified before the disciplinary board of the Louisiana State Bar Association on behalf of Rochon, who is seeking reinstatement as an attorney, recounting in detail her husband's failures in business and his personal life, which included illegal drug use and alcoholism that exacerbated his bipolar disorder.

White said that Lombard's testimony shows poor judgment, and that Rochon should never work in law again. But Lombard said she was asked by her ex-husband's lawyers to testify. Nowhere in the transcript does Lombard make an argument for or against Rochon's reinstatement.

It would have been hypocritical to not attend the hearing, Lombard said.

"It goes with my platform," said Lombard, who advocates treatment for drug addicts and second chances for low-level offenders who complete rehabilitative programs.

As for the comparison to embattled the former district attorney, Lombard responded that White worked on his 2002 campaign and remained a supporter as Jordan took office.

"What about honesty and credibility?" Lombard asked. "She does an attack ad on me when she was a supporter" of Jordan's.

Lombard, who never worked as a prosecutor but instead spent her career as a public defender and in civil law, pointed out that White is the one who worked on Jordan's transition team when he took office in January 2003.

During that transition, Jordan ordered the wholesale firing of white employees and replaced them with black applicants, spawning a federal employment discrimination lawsuit that he lost in court, which has become a $3.4 million overdue legal debt hanging over the city.

White questioned the number of trials Lombard has handled, although Lombard has maintained that she did 50 jury trials and 100 judge trials. "There are judges on the bench who haven't done ten," Lombard said.

White, in contrast, has been a high-profile defense lawyer in New Orleans for 20 years, after starting out as a prosecutor in Baton Rouge and then Orleans Parish, for about three years total.

"We're not in the same category," said White, who said she has worked at least 100 jury trials. "It's a huge difference."

Lombard responded that White's days as a prosecutor ended in 1992.