Hurricane Katrina was a tragedy of immense proportions. It destroyed a city and devastated billions of dollars of property. 1,600 people lost their lives and families were shattered. Unfortunately, the government response on all levels was abysmal. In particular, the Mayor of New Orleans did not distinguish himself with exceptional leadership. The true heroes were the first responders who saved lives and the volunteers who gave up their time and money to help the area rebuild.
It is a travesty that a local group of 50 community leaders is holding a banquet on August 22 to mark the 3rd anniversary of Katrina and will be giving Ray Nagin an “Award of Distinction for Recovery, Courage and Leadership.” This committee must be kidding right? Unfortunately, they are serious about their plans to honor Ray Nagin.
It seems that some of the committee members were unaware of the plans to honor Ray Nagin. Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson is a co-chair of the event and she is not happy with the Mayor’s award. In her view, “If we’re going to be honoring anyone specifically, in addition to survivors, in my opinion it should not be the mayor.”
It is a joke that Nagin is getting anything other than an earful of complaints for his abysmal performance in office. For this anniversary event, there are true community leaders who should be honored for what they have done to bring this region back. There are scores of first responders, volunteer activists and ministers who brought church groups to the New Orleans area and helped us rebuild. These people truly deserve an honor, but not Ray Nagin who has embarrassed New Orleans with his ill-advised comments, his lack of leadership and his total incompetence. .
From his infamous “chocolate city” speech to the NOAH debacle to his lax schedule, Nagin has generated one controversy after another. When he is challenged by the media, he has acted in a childish way. For example, he has stopped doing interviews on WWL-TV because he was upset when they investigated his schedule.
If New Orleans had elected Mitch Landrieu in 2006, the city’s recovery would be much further along. The re-election of Ray Nagin is a mistake that this city will be paying for many years to come. Awarding such a person is a travesty. It is a slap in the face to the true heroes of Katrina and it shows that this whole event is nothing more than a joke.
Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com
Not just incompetent, but proud of it. Not much of a surprise. People are laughing at this bozo, NOLA, not you. I hope you are rid of him soon. Written by makepeace
on 8/31/2008
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I resent the assertion that I am incompetent. One time a few years ago, I laughed a little too hard - it was an accident - it could have happened to anyone. Written by C. Ray Nagin
on 8/19/2008
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Well, this takes the cake. It's like the Three Stooges (in character) giving Curly an award for hard work, intense valor, and impressive ingenuity. The Curly Shuffle, as only New Orleans' shiny-domed mayor and his many stooges can do it!
Written by Maxwell
on 8/16/2008
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I'm not clear who is sponsoring this award...50 Community Leaders, like who???? or is this just a spoof or late April Fool's prank? If this is for real, it is entirley inuslting...particularly to those who really did provide leadership....so what's the deal??? Written by rah
on 8/15/2008
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The Times Picayune gives it's view under the title: And the winner is . . . unclear. One thing is clear that the losers in this situation are the citizens of New Orleans. The Mandeville Mayor is now under the investigation of the Attorney General. Might we suggest that the fiasco coming under scrutiny now, that is, NOAH, and we are sure there will be more, indicates the need for the investigation of another Mayor's office? In addition, we note that the former DA called for the U.S. Attorney to look into the Danzinger 7. Might we suggest that the U.S. Attorney look into the Mayor's or his family members' involvement in this issue and other issues? Time we tell. However, as all of this goes down so does this city and its recovery. To think that we held our noses as supported and then voted for Mayor Worm. We should not have bothered to vote because we believed that the other candidate was not acceptable. Our original candidate, Mr. Couhig, did not make the runoff, unfortunately. Written by RhettsWife
on 8/15/2008
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FOR NAGIN TO GET AN AWARD IS ANOTHER FORM OF CORRUPTION. NOT WHAT YOU KNOW OR WHAT YOU DO, IT'S WHO YOU KNOW AND WHO YOU DO. Written by SameGame
on 8/15/2008
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Interesting, also, and what you failed to mention is that this sham of an honoring event is being staged and orchestrated by Nagin's old buddy and personal photographer, Bernardo Wade. Of course. Who else but someone who has benefited from his association with our swaggering, always preening mayor could have put a farce like this together? Written by incognito101
on 8/15/2008
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It's unacceptable for the mayor to be honored with this award, since he clearly did nothing to deserve it. His conduct after the storm has been immature and childish, and all we've seen is a lot of political posturing and pouting. Most embarrassing is his coming before the City Council and chewing them out for calling him before them, re the NOAH mess. Written by Wendy King
on 8/15/2008
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What a fiasco. Did hizzhonor share a few contracts with them to encourage them to nominate him? Perhaps we should honor his buddy, our great recovery czar for his stellar contributions too. No wonder New Orleans is the laughing stock of the world. Written by noladude
on 8/15/2008
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