Da Winner! C. for Chocolateville Ray Nagin!

C. Ray took it by about 5,000 votes and I for one am glad. With as much federal money as will be flowing through New Orleans, we need someone with a solid anti-corruption record, not one of the Cajun Kennedys, about whom the kindest thing I can say is, “Nothing proved.”

His speech was classic Nagin, with a nod to President Bush for keeping his word about the Katrina rebuilding funds. He said that he and President Bush are probably the two most villified politicians in the country. He also added a nice slam at Governor Kathleen Blanco, who would make a fine 2nd grade teacher, saying that he thanked her for what she was about to do, namely work with him to rebuild the city. Her enmity toward Nagin was costly to all of us.

Yes, he’s flawed, but he’s demonstrably honest. And that’s what we need right now. Most white folks I know in Orleans Parish, except personal friends of Landrieu, intended to vote for him for that reason.

Have a celebratory chorus of Chocolateville!
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Comments

  1. psycmeistr says:

    I’m trying really hard to detect notes of sarcasm in your post.

    Nagin? Honest? Honestly!~

    The people of New Orleans deserve what they got. What they got was the re-election of a crooked, incompetent swindler, who I’d bet dollars to donuts will find a way to line his own pockets with the flood of taxpayer dollars that has since replaced the Katrina floodwaters.

    I wait to be corrected in my assumptions, but I won’t hold my breath.

  2. Laura says:

    Untrue. Nagin has a history of ANTI-corruption. I don’t know where you get your information, but he is the most honest mayor we have had in my lifetime. See?

    Shortly after taking office, Nagin launched an anti-corruption campaign within city government, including crackdowns on the city’s Taxicab Bureau and Utilities Department. Media scenes of corrupt officials being led out of City Hall in handcuffs were received with surprised enthusiasm by much of the public. 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. Nagin’s actions were viewed with surprise, given the state’s history of preferential political treatment for people with social or family connections. Indeed, when Nagin was asked what should be done about his cousin, who was implicated in the taxi cab bureau scandals, Nagin said “if he’s guilty, arrest him.” Nagin’s cousin was later arrested.

  3. Nicholas James says:

    Yes, Nagin is honest – especially compared to the competition.

    I loved the way he fired his police chief after Katrina.

  4. Laura says:

    Hey, Nick, I like the new blog! I’ve added it to my blogroll.

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