Michael Bagneris

This page was current at the end of the official's last term in office covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Michael Bagneris

Prior offices

Orleans Parish Civil District Court Division H, Domestic Section 2

---

Report an officeholder change

Education

Bachelor's

Yale University

Law

Tulane University

Contact

Personal website

Michael Bagneris was a Democratic candidate for mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. Bagneris was defeated in the primary election on October 14, 2017. Click here to read Bagneris' campaign themes for 2017.

Bagneris was a 2014 Democratic candidate for Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bagneris was a judge for the Orleans Parish Civil District Court (Division H) in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. He was first elected to this position on October 16, 1993, and he retired on December 11, 2013.

Biography

Bagneris received B.A. degrees in American history and African-American history from Yale University. He received his J.D. degree from Tulane Law School in 1975. Bagneris was a partner at Fine, Waltzer & Bagneris from 1979 to 1980 and 1986 to 1993. He was executive counsel to former New Orleans Mayor Ernest Morial.

Elections

2017

See also: Municipal elections in New Orleans, Louisiana (2017)

The following candidates ran in the primary election for mayor of New Orleans.

Mayor of New Orleans, Primary Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	LaToya Cantrell	39.00%	32,025
	Democratic	Desiree Charbonnet	30.48%	25,028
	Democratic	Michael Bagneris	18.76%	15,405
	Democratic	Troy Henry	6.42%	5,270
	Democratic	Tommie Vassel	1.36%	1,120
	Independent	Hashim Walters	0.56%	462
	Democratic	Thomas Albert	0.56%	456
	Independent	Edward Bruski	0.55%	450
	Democratic	Frank Scurlock	0.47%	385
	No Party	Manny Chevrolet Bruno	0.32%	264
	No Party	Derrick O'Brien Martin	0.29%	238
	Independent	Patrick Van Hoorebeek	0.28%	232
	Democratic	Charles Anderson	0.28%	230
	No Party	Byron Cole	0.26%	212
	No Party	Matthew Hill	0.13%	108
	Democratic	Edward Collins Sr.	0.12%	96
	Democratic	Brandon Dorrington	0.11%	92
	Democratic	Johnese Smith	0.05%	38
Total Votes				82,111
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Saturday, October 14, 2017," accessed October 14, 2017

2014

See also: New Orleans mayoral election, 2014

Bagneris ran in the 2014 election for mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. Bagneris lost to incumbent Mitch Landrieu in the primary election on February 1, 2014.

Mayor of New Orleans, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mitch Landrieu Incumbent	63.6%	53,441
Danatus N. King	3.1%	2,638
Michael Bagneris	33.3%	27,991
Total Votes		84,070
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State

Relevant issues

In a candidate forum on January 8, 2014, Bagneris criticized incumbent Landrieu for failing to do more to help the city's poor. Landrieu countered by citing programs he had initiated in his first term as mayor, arguing that under his leadership the city had seen hundreds of jobs come to the city and the razing of thousands of dilapidated structures. Bagneris also criticized Landrieu for his handling of a development contract awarded to a firm that, Bagneris argued, had failed to comply with the city's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. Landrieu insisted that the contract would not be allowed to move forward unless the firm complied with the program's requirements.

Fundraising

As of December 23, 2013, Bagneris reported having a total of $219,025 at his disposal in advance of the February 1, 2014 primary. Between December 13, 2013, and December 23, 2013, Bagneris raised more than $170,000. He has also contributed $50,000 of his personal money to his campaign.

Endorsements

Bagneris was endorsed in his bid for mayor by the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee and the Black Organization of Leadership Development.

Campaign themes

2017

Bagneris' campaign website listed the following themes for 2017:

“	Michael Bagneris is running for Mayor to make our families safer. That’s his number one priority – including his budget priority. Over the past eight years, we have lost approximately 400 police officers. New NOPD officers are getting trained at great cost to the city and to you, the taxpayer, but we can't keep up with the attrition rate in NOPD. We will never stop the bleeding if we can’t stop the blue hemorrhage. Michael will make it stop. This is how Michael Bagneris will make our city safe: Rebuild: Give Our Police Force the Manpower it Needs We have to reduce the attrition rate among NOPD Officers. We are losing members of our police force at nearly the same rate as we can train new recruits. Time to get off the hamster wheel and move forward. This is how: Immediately increase the pay of every police officer by $10,000 a year. That will make us competitive in recruiting the top talent as new police officers and in retaining those we have. This would cost about $10 million. We can pay for this by reordering by about 2% the city budget that is already over $600 million a year. You have to pay police like your life depends on it – IT DOES. Provide incentives to motivate serving police officers to stay with the force. Here is what that takes: Subsidies to provide training and education. At one time, subsidies were available. That program needs to be reinstituted. Provide take-home cars to every police officer, just as every surrounding Parish and the state police do. Hire 300 new police. Build back the size of the force, starting with moving aggressively to hire 300 new police. This can be achieved in several ways: The $10,000 pay raise along with a pro-police administration will be a powerful tool to persuade able-bodied officers who retired early due to morale issues back into the force. Aggressively recruit those leaving active duty in the military. We have the finest, most able military in the world. They have served our nation and they will serve our city. Fast-track trained officers from another state or with a military police background. Instead of the 26-week course for new recruits, they will take a one-month course particularizing their service to New Orleans. Use best practices in recruiting Hire a full time recruiting director and staff to facilitate recruitment and enact additional policies to slow attrition. Streamline hiring procedures. Conduct a branding campaign to attract top recruits. Keep the recruits we train. Training new police recruits is expensive. It’s only fair that those we train contractually agree to guarantee the city that they will stay with the police force for a certain number of years in exchange for the expense the city incurs in training them, and skilled training they receive. As it stands now, other police forces move aggressively to poach our recruits. That has to stop – now. Redeploy: Work Smarter and Police with Efficacy Invest in technology. Technology can act as a force multiplier for reducing crime and gun violence. The technologies NOPD may employ under Michael Bagneris’ leadership include: License plate readers. Shot Spotter. Crime cameras. GPS in cars. In order to fully utilize these technologies, we must also build a fully-staffed and appropriately equipped Crime Analytics Unit dedicated to intelligence operations and data-driven enforcement. Community-based policing puts cops where they can make a real difference: in our neighborhoods. An effective police force requires a force that residents trust to do the right thing. Michael Bagneris will station police in neighborhoods, where officers and neighbors can get to know one another and forge bonds of trust. This approach has been proven to work. Michael Bagneris will bring it back and make it a robust program that will make a difference for our families. Better identify risk. A very small group of people are responsible for a significant portion of violent crime. We have the data to identify this population in New Orleans and need to use it to focus on gun violence reduction. We will embed a trained Intelligence Officer from our Crime Analytics Department in each District to proactively identify and monitor violent criminals. Reinvest: Eliminate Causalities, Build Communities Build Interventions. Provide targeted assistance to highest risk-individuals: GED training. Job training. Counseling and mental health services. Housing and social support. Drug rehab, reentry and youth programs. If helping these individuals fails, take them off the streets. Create synergy between NOPD and other criminal justice agencies. The police are not alone in the fight against crime. The District Attorney, Judiciary, and Public Defenders all play a crucial role in executing justice. Michael Bagneris and NOPD will work with other entities to identify ways to improve our criminal justice system. Our wheels of justice need to run like a well-oiled machine, not a turnstile! Stop blaming, start changing. It takes more than just a strong plan and response to those who insist on breaking the law. We need real commitment to build on the economic growth, neighborhood revitalization and educational reforms achieved since 2005. That’s how you eliminate the roots of crime, when you face the challenges of poverty, under-employment and unemployment, affordable housing and homeownership, and you create real opportunities for change…and stop blaming.	”
—Michael Bagneris (2017)

Endorsements

2017

The following table displays group endorsements issued in New Orleans' 2017 primary election. Endorsing organizations may offer endorsements to more than one candidate in anticipation of a top-two general election or if they believe more than one candidate meets their criteria for official support.

Candidate endorsements
Endorser	Mayor	At-large 1	At-large 2	A	B	C	D	E
Alliance for Good Government	Michael Bagneris	Helena Moreno	Jason Williams (i)	Joe Giarrusso III	Seth Bloom	Kristin Palmer	N/A	N/A
Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO	Desiree Charbonnet	Joseph Bouie Helena Moreno	Jason Williams (i)	Joe Giarrusso III	Jay Banks Timothy David Ray	Nadine Ramsey (i)	Jared Brossett (i)	James Gray (i)
Independent Women's Organization	LaToya Cantrell	Helena Moreno	Jason Williams (i)	Aylin Acikalin Maklansky Joe Giarrusso III	Seth Bloom Timothy David Ray	Nadine Ramsey (i) Kristin Palmer	Jared Brossett (i)	James Gray (i)
New Orleans Coalition	Michael Bagneris LaToya Cantrell	Helena Moreno	Jason Williams (i)	Joe Giarrusso III	Timothy David Ray	Kristin Palmer	Jared Brossett (i)	James Gray (i)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Michael Bagneris Mayor of New Orleans. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Michael Bagneris - Google News

See also

New Orleans, Louisiana	Louisiana	Municipal government	Other local coverage

External links

Suggest a link

• Mayor of New Orleans
• Campaign website
• Parish of Orleans Civil District Court: Division H