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Renée Gill Pratt (born 1954) is an American politician from
New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in
Southern University at New Orleans Southern University at New Orleans (also known as SUNO) is a public historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the Southern University System and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Southern Univer ...
. On July 25, 2011, she was found guilty of racketeering. For this crime, she served a four-year sentence.


Political career

A Democrat, Gill Pratt began her tenure in the
Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...
for District 91 in 1991, when she was elected to succeed Diana Bajoie, who was the victor in a
special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
for the District 5 seat in the
Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (; ) is the upper house of Louisiana’s legislature. Senators serve four-year terms and participate in various committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate has 39 members elected from single-member districts ...
. Gill Pratt served in the House until 2002, when she was succeeded by Rosalind Peychaud. Gill Pratt served on the New Orleans city council for District B from 2002 to 2006. District B includes the
Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
, the Garden District, Central City, the Irish Channel, the Lower Garden District and the Touro neighborhood. District 91 covers the precincts located on the southwest side of District B, roughly corresponding to the Irish Channel and the Touro neighborhood. Gill Pratt lost her bid for re-election in 2006, against
Stacy Head Stacy Aline Singleton Head (born June 30, 1969) is an American lawyer and former president of the New Orleans City Council. Early life and career Stacy Head was born in 1969 as the daughter of the former Katherine Hamberlin and Ernest Lynn Single ...
, another Democrat and a New Orleans attorney.


Controversies

In May 2009 Gill Pratt—along with Mose Jefferson, Betty Jefferson, and Angela Coleman (Betty Jefferson's daughter)—was indicted on federal racketeering charges. Mose Jefferson was also facing a separate trial for bribing Orleans Parish School Board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms. The racketeering indictment contained a relationship to the bribery case in that part of the alleged racketeering involved Gill Pratt's supposed obtaining of $300,000 for a couple of private schools so that they could buy the software which Mose Jefferson, with Ellenese Brooks-Simms' help, also sold to the public schools; according to the indictment, Mose Jefferson's commission on the sales to the private schools was $30,000, of which Gill Pratt pocketed $3500. Within a week of the indictment of Gill Pratt, John Pope reported in the ''Times-Picayune'' that Gill Pratt was being appointed to a SUNO position which carries no additional pay. In the same article Pope described Mose Jefferson as "Gill Pratt's longtime companion"—a situation noted as being "as close as it gets" by columnist Stephanie Grace. Gill Pratt's appointment to SUNO's Executive Cabinet was immediately criticized by, among others, Louisiana Governor
Bobby Jindal Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Republican Party, Jindal previously served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana from 2005 t ...
. Amid astonishment over the appropriateness and timing of the appointment—in that all Louisiana public universities were facing steep budget cuts and suggestions were circulating that SUNO should be merged with the neighboring
University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...
—Gill Pratt, with the urging of SUNO chancellor Victor Ukpolo, went on a leave of absence without pay. Gill Pratt had not been seen in public since 22 May 2009 when on June 5 she—along with Mose Jefferson, Betty Jefferson, and Angela Coleman—pleaded "not guilty" before U.S. magistrate Joseph Wilkinson Jr. at the Hale Boggs Federal Building in New Orleans. Gill Pratt's lawyer was Michael Fawer, who also represents Mose Jefferson in a separate bribery case. At a hearing before U. S. District Judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle on 17 June 2009, lawyers for Betty Jefferson and Angela Coleman requested a delay from the 3 August 2009 start date for the racketeering trial; at the same hearing, however, lawyers for Gill Pratt and Mose Jefferson requested that the racketeering trial begin as scheduled on August 3. On 28 July 2009, Lemelle delayed the start of the racketeering trial to 25 January 2010. On August 4, Fawer unsuccessfully sought (denied by U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon) to delay Mose Jefferson's bribery trial until after the racketeering trial, because, as summarized by Michael Kunzelman of the ''Times-Picayune'': ::Gill Pratt . . . isn't available to testify during the bribery case this month because she is awaiting her own trial next year in a heseparate but related racketeering conspiracy case. On 21 August 2009 Mose Jefferson was convicted on four felony counts in his bribery trial. On February 24, 2011, one juror's siding with Gill Pratt resulted in a
mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...
. The ''Times-Picayune'' editorialized over the
hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. A hung jury may result in the case being tried again. Thi ...
, citing what the newspaper called "the criminal enterprise run by some members of the Jefferson family." But, during the retrial, in July 2011, she was found guilty. On September 2, 2014, more than three years after her conviction, Gill Pratt reported to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Florida to begin serving a four-year sentence.


Education

A lifelong resident of District B, Gill Pratt attended Holy Ghost Elementary School, Xavier University Preparatory School, Dillard University, and the
University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...
.


Election history

State Representative, 91st Representative District, Spring 1991 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, March 23, 1991 Second Ballot, April 20, 1991 State Representative, 91st Representative District, Fall 1991 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, October 10, 1991 Councilmember, District B, 1994 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, February 5, 1994 Second Ballot, March 5, 1994 State Representative, 91st Representative District, 1995 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, October 21, 1995 State Representative, 91st Representative District, 1999 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, October 23, 1999 Councilmember, District B, 2002 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, February 2, 2002 Councilmember, District B, 2006 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, April 22, 2006 Second Ballot, May 20, 2006


Sources

* City of New Orleans : https://web.archive.org/web/20051108055806/http://www.cityofno.com/ * Louisiana Secretary of State : http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/ * New Orleans Gambit: http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2006-07-11/politics.php {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Renee Gill 1954 births Dillard University alumni Living people Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives New Orleans City Council members University of New Orleans alumni Women state legislators in Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana alumni Women city councillors in Louisiana 21st-century American women 20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature 20th-century American women politicians