Meffert also took the unprecedented step of posting the tax rolls on the Internet, a move that has fostered spirited public debate about the inequity of the city’s assessment practices.”
- ” John Kallenborn, the New Orleans president of Chase Bank and a member of the Dock Board, who said he cannot endorse any candidate for mayor, said he is “amazed at how much more efficiently city government works now.”

For one, Nagin reworked the city’s system of depositing tax revenue, putting the money in a “lockbox” account within 24 hours, that has earned the city up to $400,000 per year in extra interest, helping maintain a positive cash flow. Kallenborn’s bank is one of two involved in the deal.”
-”To a degree, the contracting missteps haven’t tarnished Nagin because they appear in most cases to have emanated from his staff.”

And the majority of the second article negates the idea of any malfeasance on Nagin’s part.

Sorry, I’m still not convinced. But I will keep a closer eye on him, for whatever that’s worth to you. The questions you raised certainly warrant that much.

For instance, his administration was only weeks old when it presided over a much-publicized raid of the city’s Taxicab Bureau and the arrest of a handful of city employees and dozens of cabdrivers accused of gaming the permit system. Few of the arrests resulted in convictions, though, and promises of landing bigger fish fell flat.
(link: http://www.nola.com/elections/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1144475972309480.xml)

Actually, only one person was convicted because he was advised by court-appointed attorney to plead guilty. ALL other charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Sounds like a “dog and pony” show to me. Meanwhile, Nagin’s own brother-in-law (link:http://nolassf.dev.advance.net/z_newsstory/rta10.html)
was under inivestigation for a large contract with the RTA.

On July 22, not yet three months into his administration, the new mayor ordered a lightning raid on the city’s Taxicab Bureau, arresting more than 80 employees and cabbies (including his own cousin) on bribery and related charges, and shutting the agency down. Its head was led out of city hall in handcuffs. When Lilliam Regan, the director of the city agency that oversees the Taxicab Bureau, called a press conference that afternoon to defend her workers, Nagin’s men walked in front of the TV cameras, told Regan to pack up her things and get out of city hall. She was fired, and later arrested.

and this:

When an investigation into corruption among city vehicle inspection certification workers (locally known as “brake tag inspection”) suggested that corruption was systemic, Nagin fired the entire department workforce. He declared a month-long hiatus on inspections and a moratorium on ticketing for expired tags while an entirely new force of employees were hired and trained for the city’s brake tag inspection stations.

I read both of those articles you linked, and while they do raise questions, they are hardly damning indictments of Nagin. They just raise questions. Because of his past anti-corruption record, I think he’s earned the benefit of the doubt and I’m willing to see how it plays out before I mentally convict him for it.

Laura at Pursuing Holiness steps up for Ray Nagin. I think that it is important to listen to her side of the story, or rather, Nagin’s side as she presents it….