VIDALIA, La. – A former Ferriday council candidate has filed a motion asking a Seventh District judge to rule that Dorothy Johnson cannot serve on the council and work for the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office at the same time.

Johnson, who was reelected in March, was sworn into the District E council post Saturday and also works as a booking classification officer for the Sheriff’s Office.

A Louisiana attorney general’s opinion states that a person cannot hold an elected office and work for a sheriff’s office, clerk of court or tax assessor’s office in the same parish at the same time, James Skipper contended in a motion he filed Monday afternoon in Seventh Judicial District Court.

Skipper pleaded guilty in 1988 to possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and was sentenced to 150 months in jail. In 1994, that sentence was reduced to 10 years.

Seventh Judicial District Court judges found twice — in September, when Skipper was running for police juror, and in February, when he sought to run against Johnson for a Town Council seat – that Skipper could not run due to the conviction.

&uot;If law applies to me, it applies to everyone,&uot;&160;Skipper said after filing Monday’s motion. Johnson would not comment Monday.

On Friday Judge Leo Boothe — who would also hear Monday’s motion — denied without comment a motion Skipper filed to stop Johnson from being sworn into office.

U.S. District Judge F.A. Little Jr. of Alexandria denied the same motion Thursday, as well as a lawsuit to call another election, &uot;with prejudice.&uot; That means the suit cannot be filed again in federal court. In his decision, Little said the matter is one for state courts.

In last week’s motion, Skipper contended that the 1974 Constitution, in effect at the time of his conviction, stated that a federal conviction could not disqualify a person to run for office in Louisiana.