Nagin tapped into something buried deep in the electorate’s psyche. But what? Racial code? Reformer fairy dust?
Tag: Ray Nagin
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Nagin’s weird ride: from showboat to search for anonymity
“Simply put, the Ray Nagin of 2013 is almost unrecognizable as the man who swept New Orleans off its feet in 2002,” writes Gordon Russell.
Posted inOpinion
Busting Jon Johnson shows early promise of a new kind of news
Councilman Jon Johnson’s indictment and abrupt resignation last week caught political observers off guard, but the gist of his wrongdoing was disclosed by my former colleagues at The Lens more than a year ago. The Times-Picayune, which recently announced savage newsroom cuts as part of a transition away from daily print publication, only managed to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Squandered Heritage
City Council chamber finally gets Wi-Fi network
Back in November 2005, while most of us were still wringing out our houses and trying to figure out how to piece our lives back together, Mayor Ray Nagin announced a plan for free Wi-Fi – citywide! But even before Nagin’s tech guru, Greg Meffert, was convicted of corruption, reality had fallen well short of […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Earl updated: Don’t tweet or blog what you can wink or nod
Earl Long: close-lipped Eight years ago, I was up at odd hours of the night, helping my wife care for a newborn. After a bit of noodling on the internet I discovered and joined the wonderful (and wonderfully small) community of South Louisiana bloggers. We discussed politics and current events and mocked the stupid things […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Does the Canal Street brothel offer peephole on River Birch strategy?
Justitia – maybe not so blind. (credit: Tony Caffrey) Federal prosecutor Sal Perricone submitted his resignation to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten on Tuesday. It’s a shame because Perricone is one of the smartest guys in the region. Or at least that’s how he portrayed himself in the comment boards on nola.com. There, Perricone posed as […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Nagin probe warrants soul-searching by voters, media as well
As details emerge about a multi-track federal investigation into former Mayor Ray Nagin’s personal dealings with city contractors, The Times-Picayune recently reminded us that Nagin was viewed as a “colossal disappointment”…
Posted inOpinion
Looking past gaffes in 'czar' Blakely's memoir of Katrina recovery
A crowd tags along on one of the bicycle tours of city neighborhoods that were a signature of Blakely’s tenure as recovery czar. (photo: Karen Gadbois) By Jed Horne, The Lens news editor | It’s too bad that Ed Blakely’s book about his two years as New Orleans “recovery czar” is so full of sloppy […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Thousands in improperly documented Nagin-era charges foul city's 2010 audit
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | More than a year after Ray Nagin left City Hall, New Orleans taxpayers are still feeling the pain of thousands of dollars in undocumented credit card purchases made by his administration in its waning days. At least $12,000 in improperly documented purchases were made on city credit […]
Posted inOpinion
City officials persist in routinely violating public records law
After The Lens requested a list of traffic camera violations, the city denied us, citing a privacy law that didn’t apply to the info we’d requested. Officials recognized this in the denial, and then admitted that it would be too ‘burdensome’ to fulfill our request. Ask Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration about its frequent failure to […]