Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu reiterated Wednesday the position that his transition team is a private effort not subject to state sunshine laws and that the public has no right to see the names of all 75 applicants for police chief. Commenting on the four members of his 21- search team who quit in frustration over the […]
Author Archives: Steve Beatty
Steve Beatty is the publisher and chief executive officer of The Lens. He worked as an editor for The Times-Picayune for 15 years, leaving New Orleans just before Katrina to take a position as an editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and quickly rising through the ranks to be an editor of the newspaper
Posted inGovernment & Politics
What do you want to ask Landrieu about chief search?
Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu plans a 3:30 p.m. press conference today to discuss his controversial search for a new police chief as well as other matters related to his transition. What would you like The Lens to ask him? Send you thoughts in an e-mail to editor@TheLensNola.org and we’ll do our best to get them answered. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Landrieu transition team: We're not required to follow state sunshine laws
Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s spokesman said late Monday that the transition team “strives to follow” the state open-meetings statues, “though it is not required to do so by law.” Spokesman Todd Ragusa was addressing a point raised earlier Monday by Norman Francis, Xavier University president and one of two leaders of Landrieu’s task force to vet […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Police chief search leader: Open-records laws don't apply
Update: The public isn’t entitled to see all the applicants for the next police superintendent, and Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s transition team screening the applicants isn’t a public body or subject to public records law, its leader said today. Xavier University president Norman Francis took these positions at a press conference to address the resignation of […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Despite initial confusion, gift to Zulu is alive and well
New Orleans City Council member Cynthia Hedge-Morrell introduced an ordinance Thursday to pay Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club at least some of the $800,000 the mayor awarded them on Lundi Gras. In the days following the surprise announcement, neither city officials nor Zulu leaders who submitted the application knew whether the money would be […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
What price crunk?
You really can’t put a price on getting crunk. Still, the Ying Yang Twins, performers of the Saints anthem “Halftime (Stand up and Get Crunk!), had to put a price on their appearance with Mayor Ray Nagin at the Super Bowl celebration parade. Nagin recently signed a contract to pay the hip-hop stars up to […]
Posted inInvestigations
City permits system unplugged because of unpaid bills
A technology vendor to the city of New Orleans shut down a key computer system Monday because the city hasn’t paid “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in past-due bills, the contractor said Wednesday. Based on a tip from a developer unable to move a project forward, The Lens uncovered the problem in a joint investigation […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
What did I know, and when did I know it?
O’Keefe As a freshly minted purveyor of news over the Internet, I believe in spreading information far and wide and letting people draw conclusions and make comments as they may. I’m just not used to the conclusions and comments being made about me. The hot news of the moment is the irresistible story of the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
City denies public-records request for pending contracts
Penya Moses-Fields The New Orleans city attorney has denied a public-records request from The Lens that seeks every contract that leaves the Law Office to be signed by a contractor, on the same day it leaves the office. The state’s public-records law requires that records be made immediately available if they’re not in active use. […]