Jay Batt

John "Jay" Batt, Jr. is a local politician from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Political career

A Republican, Batt served as the only member of his party on the New Orleans City Council, from 2002 to 2006, having represented District A.

District A runs from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain just below the Jefferson Parish line in New Orleans. It includes some of the most affluent sections of town, and some the most seriously damaged by the Levee failures of 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. The severe breech of the 17th Street Canal in the West End and Lakeview neighborhoods which was responsible for much of the flooding of the city is in District A. The largest section of District A to escape severe flooding was Carrollton.

Batt's promotion of various commercial developments over the objections of neighborhood associations aroused the opposition of some constituents in the year before Katrina.

One group of dissatisfied District A constituents formed the "Anybody But Batt" political action committee to promote the election of a new councilperson for the district.

In the months that followed Hurricane Katrina, anti-Jay Batt graffiti were observed on flood trashed cars in such neighborhoods as Westlake, Lakeview, Mid City.

Batt faced an unusually difficult reelection bid for an incumbent New Orleans city councilmember. The tough race turned into mudslinging. Batt succeeded in gaining more votes than any of his numerous opponents, and faced Shelley Stephenson Midura in a run off election, which he lost. Midura is registered as a Democrat, but succeeded in also getting the endorsement of some of Batt's Republican primary opponents.

Election History

Councilmember, District A, 2000

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, March 14, 2000

Second Ballot, March 2, 2002

ources

* City of New Orleans : http://www.cityofno.com/
* Louisiana Secretary of State : http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/
* The Automatik : http://www.theautomatik.com/

External links

* [http://www.jaybatt.com/ JayBatt.com]
* [http://jaybatt.blogspot.com/ Batt's blog]
* [http://anybodybutbatt.com/web/ "Anybody But Batt" anti-Batt reelection website]