Shreveport Councilwoman Talks About Bullying & Untruths in Pay Scandal

SHREVEPORT, LA - Things are not going well for the Shreveport City Council. The seven members have been in the middle of quite a mess. It all started back in June when council chairman James Green signed a memo to boost the pay of members of the council staff.

But Green did not have the authority to issue these raises. He then rescinded the raises and apologized. But during a news conference he said "other council chairmen have done this, so I thought it was ok." But KEEL News found no evidence of other chairmen granting raises. In fact, we found proof that prior councils voted on each raise.

The council voted this week to launch an independent investigation into the actions of chairman Green to find out how this pay raise came about. Councilwoman Ursula Bowman joined with Grayson Boucher, Gary Brooks and Jim Taliaferro to support the investigation. Bowman joined us on KEEL to talk about how fractured things are at City Hall.

What Did Ursula Bowman Have to Say?

Bowman says she has always been independent and will always be independent. But she says other councilmembers are now striking out. She says councilman Jackson "directly told me if I didn't agree with him, just know we won't be voting with you on anything. I told him if that's the way y'all want to play games, I'm fine with that." She added "when you show me who you are, I'm gonna believe you. I came he to work for the city. Ya'll came here to intimidate people. That don't work well with me." She also said there is bullying going on among council members. She was clearly referring to Tabatha Taylor, James Green and Alan Jackson.

Who Brought Up the Pay Raise Issue in the Beginning?

Councilwoman Bowman told us 1 staffer asked for a raise and 2 others then said if she gets a raise, we need to get a raise. Last week chairman Green said no staff members asked for a raise. Bowman says "that was untrue." She also says the new Director of Council Affairs "has not done one thing right since he has been there and council members have been trying to find out if they can fire him."

In part 1 of our interview with Ursula and Jerry Bowman, she talk about bullying an intimidation tactics used against her by some of her fellow council members.

In part 2 of our interview, Ursula Bowman talked about whether or not James Green should be replaced as council chair. We also asked if she would be interested in stepping up to serve in that position.

KEEL News did reach out to James Green for comment, but he did not take our call.