"This tweet shows that conservatism right now is only about cruelty and chaos. They will find away to be cruel to someone just bc [because] they can," Lewis wrote last week on X/Twitter. "What a completely asshole you are @LAGovJeffLandry."
Lewis, a Black gay man who was the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to a state governmental body in Louisiana, tells The Advocate that he felt inclined to defend Levine because it is the "calling of my life to speak out for those who I feel are treated unnecessarily."
"Dr. Levine has become this lightning rod for conservatives, not because she was not qualified, not because she had pushed a policy that they disagreed with, but simply because of who she was," Lewis says. "And I am increasingly frustrated that the party that talks about decency all the time has adopted themselves to this cruelty."
In response to Lewis' defense of a fellow LGBTQ+ government official, PSC Chairman Mike Francis said Friday that he added a vote to remove Lewis from vice chairmanship to the commission's Wednesday agenda. Francis called the comments "an embarrassment to me," stating via WBRZ that Lewis "can't talk like that" because "it's way out of bounds to insult another public official." Francis did not address the governor's insult aimed at another public official.
Lewis asserts that "this wasn't like I just unprovoked called the governor an asshole — I was defending people from his behavior of being indecent." He notes that Landry implied that Kennedy was replacing Levine even though she "has nothing to do with RFK," and that the governor specifically chose an image of Levine with a rainbow LGBTQ+ Pride pin to "exert an image, to spark the flames, and to cause chaos by being cruel."
"Nothing has changed. I've not changed how I operate with my colleagues. I've not changed how I do the job," Lewis says. "But it seems that there's a double standard created — that white Republicans can have the access of free speech, but if you're not a white Republican, that doesn't pertain to you."
Lewis, who was unanimously voted vice chair just one month ago, expects the commission to vote to remove him from leadership, as it is controlled 3-2 by Republicans. What he's uncertain about is what will happen next, since the commission is made up of only five members, and must have a chairman and vice chairman. "There's not a lot of options left if you take me off the table," he says.
Lewis' removal would be unprecedented, as the "only two times that this has happened is upon the death of a chair and then the federal appointment of another."
Regardless of the vote's outcome, Lewis says that he will be contacting the ACLU of Louisiana, which has released a statement in support of him. The group said that it "strongly condemns" Lewis' speech outside of work being brought for a vote, asserting that it "sets a dangerous precedent that undermines democratic principles and threatens the constitutional right to free expression."
"This retaliatory action against a Black elected official is deeply troubling. Elected leaders should be able to express their views without fear of political retribution," said executive director Alanah Odoms. "Suppressing dissent in this way is not only undemocratic but also sets a chilling precedent for free speech in Louisiana. The ACLU of Louisiana calls on the Public Service Commission to reject this undemocratic vote."
Lewis' case bears similarities to that of Tennessee state representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two young Black men who were removed from their duly-elected seats by the Republican-dominated legislature after participating in a peaceful protest, as well as that of Zooey Zephyr, the transgender Montana state representative who was censured and banned from the legislature by Republicans after speaking in defense of trans youth. Jones, Pearson, and Zephyr were all reelected to their seats.
Lewis says that he's not preparing to defend his case ahead of the meeting tomorrow, as he's "spent the last two weeks preparing myself for the actual substantive agenda."
"I'm entering this meeting to talk about the unreliable electric grid of Louisiana, to talk about whether or not we should assess another storm fee for our largest utility, whether or not we should have vegetation management," Lewis says. "But if they are determined to make this political retribution the priority of our meeting tomorrow, then that's their prerogative. I'm showing up to do the job that the third District of Louisiana elected me to do."
