Harry Connick, Sr.
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Harry Fowler Connick, Sr. (born 1926) is a New Orleans, Louisiana, attorney who succeeded the controversial Jim Garrison as the district attorney of the City of New Orleans. He was the defendant and petitioner in the case of Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138 (1983) decided by the United States Supreme Court. This is a landmark free speech case in public employment law. Employees' lawyers have decried the case because it limited the rights of public employees to discuss matters of public concern in the workplace. They have vilified Connick for being the agent of the state who allegedly violated the defendant Sheila Myers' constitutional right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment.
In 1987, Connick waged an unsuccessful challenge to incumbent Louisiana Attorney General William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr. (born 1922), also a member of a prominent New Orleans family. Attorney Manuel "Manny" Fernandez was eliminated from the competition in the jungle primary, and Connick and Guste advanced to the Louisiana general election. Guste prevailed over Connick, 516,658 (54 percent) to 440,984 (46 percent). Both are Democrats, but in Louisiana a general election can feature two members of the same party. It was a striking statistical quirk that Connick received just under 441,000 ballots in both the primary and the general election. The Guste-Connick contest pleased many in New Orleans because the city could offer to the rest of the state two of its most famous lawyers.
In 1989, Connick and actor Paul Burke, a star of the old American Broadcasting Company series, Naked City, were indicted on racketeering charges of aiding and abetting a gambling operation by returning gambling records to an arrested gambler. [1] He and Burke were acquitted of all charges after a seven-week trial.
In 1995 while he was still District Attorney, Connick promised to the Assassination Records Review Board and at a public meeting in New Orleans that he would donate the Garrison investigative files which were still in his office. While the Review Board was allowed to inventory the records in Connick's office but not immediately take them, a New Orleans TV station sent the Review Board a box full of original witness transcripts from Garrison's grand jury case. According to the Review Board's final report [2] Connick had instructed one of his investigators to destroy these documents after he took office. The investigator took them home instead and kept them until he found out about the Review Board. A battle ensued between Connick and the Review Board after Connick demanded that the papers were returned to him and threatening to withhold the investigation papers. After many subpoenas going both ways and with the help of the Justice Department the Review Board won and all the documents are now in the JFK Collection.
Connick has been outspoken on the use of narcotics and pressed for drug testing of high-school students. Since September 2003 he has also served on the board of directors for Psychemedics Corp, a firm producing drug tests that use hair samples, rather than urine.
Connick's son, Harry Connick, Jr. is a successful singer, pianist, actor, and humanitarian. Like his famous son, the elder Connick is also a singer of some note, long performing a few nights a week at local clubs as a hobby.
In 2003, Connick was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.[1]
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| Preceded by Jim Garrison |
District Attorney, Orleans Parish, Louisiana 1973-2003 |
Succeeded by Eddie Jordan |
