Posted on 09/10/2005 9:00:31 PM PDT by Colonial Warrior
IMO Nagin is off the plantation and not allowing the "Corrupt RAt Party" AKA Landeau & CO...pull his strings. Blanko couldn't make a decision for 24 hours so she could consult with said "Corrupt RAt Party". She's in their pocket.
Since Nagin is not "one of them" he's being targeted by the CRAP..
How close am I CG?
He was exposing terrible corruption in the city schools. His police chief was working on the NOPD. I don't know about what else. But the school probe was taking down really big people in NO.
Actually I don't know that for a certainty.
My family is from New Orleans, and I know the stronghold Democrats have had on that city and state for decades. Also, since his previous experience is, I've heard, in serving as the cable guy, that sounds far more Democratic-like, since it is a party where people like Sheila Jackson Lee are elected on no more credentials than a hunger for the spotlight and the right skin color.
Cable exec will run for mayor -
Business experience, outsider status touted
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
December 12, 2001
Author: Gordon Russell
Staff writer
Estimated printed pages: 2
Positioning himself as a successful businessman with no political debts, Ray Nagin, Cox Communications executive and New Orleans Brass president, declared his candidacy for mayor Tuesday.
Nagin, 45, a Democrat making his first run for office, said he entered the New Orleans race in part because he fears the city's dearth of good jobs will lead his three children to settle elsewhere. His children, along with his wife and other family members, stood alongside him as he addressed an audience of more than 100 people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Nagin is a certified public accountant with a master's degree in business administration from Tulane University, a background he suggested uniquely qualifies him to improve New Orleans' economic climate. Working in the private sector also has kept him untainted by the excesses of New Orleans politics, he said.
"If we hope to rise above petty politics and bickering, we've got to elect someone who won't bring a lot of baggage and political infighting to the office of mayor," Nagin said. "I suggest to you that I'm the candidate with the best opportunity to achieve that goal because I've operated outside the political mud-wrestling pit."
Nagin joins a crowded field of candidates hoping to replace Mayor Marc Morial. Those who have entered the race already are City Councilmen Troy Carter and Jim Singleton, California businessman Clarence Hunt, state Sen. Paulette Irons, funeral home owner Emile Labat, state Rep. Leonard Lucas and Police Superintendent Richard Pennington. Hunt is a Republican, while the rest are Democrats.
Striking a familiar theme but employing softer rhetoric than some, Nagin said he would restore the public's confidence in a City Hall often viewed as a place where the mayor's pals get rich. If elected, he would propose a charter change allowing business, community and good-government groups to have a say in awarding contracts.
"We need to adopt a policy of `government in the sunshine' when it comes to awarding professional services agreements," Nagin said. "The public must play a role in that process if we're ever going to restore public confidence in the way government does business."
As a latecomer to the race and a relative unknown to New Orleans voters, Nagin acknowledged that he has a long way to go in terms of name recognition. He said he will run ads starting today through the Feb. 2 primary. "We will spend whatever it takes to win the race," he said.
Nagin added that he hopes viewers recognize his face from his biweekly call-in show for cable customers, which has aired for the past nine years.
There were few city political insiders in attendance Tuesday. One exception was lawyer Roy Rodney, a Morial confidant and partner of Nagin's in the Brass hockey franchise.
Rodney said later that he has attended kickoff rallies for several mayoral hopefuls, and that he has not decided which candidate he will support.
Nagin, a native New Orleanian, graduated from O. Perry Walker High School and received his bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University. He lives in the Faubourg St. John area with his wife, Seletha, and his three children.
http://ww.nola.com
Your theory is my theory. Time will tell.
I don't know how to start a thread or if I am suppose to with this topic, and maybe it has already been posted, but on the Drudge Report links Blanco has this interview, it is longer than what I pasted here:
Today: September 10, 2005 at 21:46:28 PDT
Blanco: Katrina Will Teach Critical Lessons
By KEVIN McGILL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SLIDELL, La. (AP) - The lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina will lead to huge improvements in the nation's emergency planning, Louisiana's governor said Saturday as she visited this flood-ravaged city across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.
But Gov. Kathleen Blanco turned away questions of who was to blame for the government's slow response in the days immediately after the hurricane.
She said changes made after Katrina would help produce "a better emergency plan than this country has ever had" and said New Orleans would be rebuilt "better and smarter."
She steadfastly refused to lay blame for problems: delays in evacuations and delivery of supplies, widespread communication difficulties, and law enforcement breakdowns in New Orleans that led to looting and violence.
I am not sure if it was one of her homes or her parents. All I know is she said her families home and she sure was having tears over the loss.
Didn't see her speak of the loss of all the lower class homes.
Dallas resident Ray Nagin speaks out today about the New Orleans fiasco.......
'THIS IS A MESS'
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
July 24, 2005
Estimated printed pages: 6
Steve Ritea
Staff writer
Sajan George was deep into his second day of work at the Orleans Parish public schools central office when he realized the sheer enormousness of the task.
An executive with the financial turnaround company hired to take over school district finances, George had just discovered an accounting system in such disarray that no one knew how much money the district had, and thousands of employee paychecks were reportedly inaccurate. One of those "workers" was named Wal-Mart because the retailer was being paid from the wrong account.
Bill Roberti, the district's new chief restructuring officer and George's colleague in St. Louis -- where they had worked to close a $72 million budget hole in one year -- walked into the room and casually asked what was up.
"He just looked at me with a deer-in-the-headlights stare and said, 'Bill, this makes St. Louis look like a Fortune 100 company,' " Roberti recalled.
Most of the new consultants arrived on delayed flights less than two weeks ago, hours after Hurricane Dennis pummeled the Florida Panhandle, only to step into a different kind of storm in New Orleans. From the pitiful overall situation to the jaw-dropping details, what they have found has left them reeling. Roberti said the system is rife with political patronage and individual fiefdoms, all protected at the expense of New Orleans children.
"This is a mess," Roberti said. "This is probably as bad as we've ever seen."
In 2003 in St. Louis, Roberti's team members began their assignment facing an enormous cash crunch. In New Orleans, they know the financial situation is bad, but they don't know how bad, George said, because key records are woefully out of date, obviously inaccurate or simply nonexistent.
For one thing, the district has not had a clean audit since June 2002, said George, the system's newly installed chief operating officer. An audit is generally not considered clean unless auditors are comfortable certifying that the financial statements are accurate.
He said his firm is considering calling in an outside company to inventory the district's land, vehicles, technical equipment and other assets because "it's apparently never been done."
The team led by Roberti and George has 26 other members from Alvarez & Marsal in New York and a subcontractor, MJLM, in Houston.
Under pressure from schools Superintendent Cecil Picard, the School Board approved a $16.8 million deal with Alvarez & Marsal on July 14. The contract gives the company control over hiring, firing and contracting for business functions in the central office, but the School Board retains control of its budget and all school-based personnel.
Little resistance
Recalling their arrival at district offices on the West Bank, Roberti and George said they were surprised by the lack of resistance from employees, even as they prepared to take over their jobs.
"I think what we experienced the first day or two is a system that has been beaten down," Roberti said.
Everyone knows there is a huge problem, he said, and "no one is defending the status quo."
"This thing has been a candy jar," he said. "What's happened over time is people have put policies in place to protect certain entities. . . . All the laws of Louisiana are written like that."
Fixing the district's problems, he said, will take more than new policies and procedures.
"We're talking about changing culture here," he said.
Asked whether he thinks that change is possible, Roberti replied: "We don't know."
Progress reports
In an e-mail message Tuesday, Roberti reached out to more than 100 people -- School Board members, officials in the mayor's and governor's offices, local clergy and others -- promising to keep them informed about "the good news and the bad."
"I can pledge that I and my team will focus every ounce of energy and experience we have on this job," he said. "We will work in partnership with the many caring, dedicated people in the school system and in the community, we will be honest and forthright in our communications and unwavering in our commitment to success for New Orleans' children."
Alvarez & Marsal plans to send out e-mail like that regularly, Roberti said. A Web site also is in the works.
Transparency is necessary to build community support for what might seem like radical solutions to long-standing problems, Roberti and George said.
"People know anecdotally the system's broken and there's problems out the wazoo, but people don't understand why it's not fixable," George said. "We won't be able to implement solutions until they understand the problem."
At a meeting Wednesday with about 15 teachers at their union headquarters, Roberti in seersucker slacks and a pink tie worked the room, shaking hands and repeating: "Hi, Bill Roberti. Good to meet you. Where do you teach?"
Many teachers seemed skeptical at first, especially given the vast number of superintendents and consultants who have come through promising change, then left with the system still in shambles.
As the meeting broke up, some of that wariness seemed to have lifted. Brenda Mitchell, president of the United Teachers of New Orleans, said it was perhaps the first time she has heard anyone be so honest about plans for the district.
"To have a dialogue at this level is unheard of," Mitchell said.
Other union members agreed.
"We've never had anybody come in and tell us what they were going to do and how they were going to do it," said Helen Bazile, a teacher at Livingston Middle School.
The School Board might be more difficult to woo, considering how bitterly divided its members were about the decision to hire the company.
Roberti and George met with several board members before the team's first day on the job, but little in the way of specifics came out of those encounters.
"I really don't have a lot to say because it's all very new," said board President Torin Sanders, who initially refused to sign an agreement with the company that the School Board had approved. The meeting "was really introductory in terms of talking about the district overall."
Board member PHYLLIS LANDRIEU was more optimistic.
"I was impressed," she said. "They indicated they're very anxious to work with the board and work hand in hand to make sure this is a smooth process."
George said he and Roberti have encountered only pleasant welcomes. "For the most part, I think we've been well-received," he said.
Paycheck problems
At each meeting and in every introduction, Roberti and George's message is clear: Don't expect your problems to be solved immediately.
For example, the payroll system is in such chaos that it lists many employees working at the wrong schools and in the wrong positions, George said.
"We've heard anecdotally people are getting paychecks they shouldn't be (getting) or amounts they shouldn't get," he said.
When he arrived at the district office, George said, he heard that 4,300 of 7,000 paychecks issued during the past payroll period were inaccurate.
Roberti is using enrollment in the board's new health insurance plan to get an accurate count of employees and dependents. All employees will be required to present picture IDs and pay stubs to sign up for the program in the coming weeks, he said. To enroll other family members, a marriage certificate or children's Social Security numbers also will be required.
Although the district asked employees to present those documents during an enrollment four years ago, people who forgot them were signed up anyway, said Steve Alschuler, a spokesman for Alvarez & Marsal. This time, things won't be so lax.
"The payroll audit will detect abuse. . . . It will benefit you and save the district money," George told teachers who asked at Wednesday's meeting about the prospect of pay raises. "As long as there's waste around you, it impacts what you get at the end of the day."
Database misused
Many of the district's problems stem from its poor use of the Oracle system, a huge computer database that includes payroll and vendor information, George said.
This month, 53 employees had "super user" status, which allowed them to explore the database and change financial information, including salaries.
In recent years, George said, 10,000 accounts of all kinds have been added annually to the Oracle system, suggesting at the very least excessive duplication.
Now, George said, the system has only one super user, a member of the Alvarez team.
But limiting access alone won't solve the problem.
"The data is so corrupted," Roberti said, the only solution is to completely shut it down and begin from scratch.
George estimated it will be a year before the system can be fully operational and accurate.
In the meantime, errors will continue, George said. But they will be corrected much more quickly, he said. "We can provide far better customer service. You deserve to have an accurate paycheck. I don't think that's a lot to ask of an employer."
Eventually, there will be fewer employees to pay, Roberti said, because the system is bloated beyond its means.
But teachers won't be let go if savings can be found elsewhere, he said.
Noting the St. Louis district didn't fire any teachers, Roberti said, "We're not here to cut teachers. That's the last place we want to look.
"If we're going to cut costs, it'll be deep and hard outside the classroom."
Schools in disrepair
With the Aug. 18 start of school looming, Roberti said, there's simply too much to fix. One thing the team is hoping to accomplish is at least making schools presentable. George said some of the company's staff toured several district schools and found them in utter disrepair.
"To say we were disappointed would be the understatement of the year," he said.
A number of schools also have outstanding health citations, some stemming from unsanitary conditions in cafeterias, George said.
All of that is going to change, he said. "We're going to start to mobilize the custodial staff as a SWAT team," George said. Janitors will be sent to schools that need the most work and held accountable if it doesn't get done.
"We're going to bird-dog this and micromanage this," George said, suggesting that principals might be given digital cameras to chronicle the areas of their schools that are filthy or falling apart.
Teachers nodded knowingly during Wednesday's meeting. Jackie Cockherham, a teacher at Alcee Fortier Senior High School, said it has no working water fountains.
Another teacher, Maria Deloch-West, said she often cleans her own classroom -- and the bathroom -- at Martin Behrman Elementary School when the janitor is absent. And that's to say nothing about the rats that have eaten apart her shoulder bag.
"This thing is in pretty dire straits, to say the least," Roberti told them. "A few weeks ago, the mayor said you ought to bankrupt the thing, and he's not far off. We're not planning to let that happen . . . but we've got a lot of work to do."
http://www.nola.com
LOL!
Before his election, Nagin was a member of the Republican Party and had little political experience; he was a vice president and general manager at Cox Communications, a cable communications company and subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Nagin did give contributions periodically to candidates, namely President George W. Bush and former Republican U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin in 1999 and 2000, as well as to Democratic U.S. Senators John Breaux and J. Bennett Johnston earlier in the decade.
Days before filing for the New Orleans Mayoral race in February 2002, Nagin switched his party registration to the Democratic Party. Shortly before the primary election, an endorsement praising Nagin as a reformer by Gambit Magazine gave him crucial momentum that would carry through for the primary election and runoff. In the runoff with Pennington in May 2002, Nagin won with 59% of the vote. His campaign was largely self-financed.
Shortly after taking office, Nagin launched an anti-corruption campaign within city government, which included crackdowns on the city's Taxicab Bureau and Utilities Department.
(*The following is why I believe Governor Blanco would not readily assist Nagin during the hurrcane and subsequent flood - Nagain endorsed Blanco's opponent - my comment).
Nagin also made a controversial endorsement of current Republican U.S. Representative Bobby Jindal in the 2003 Louisiana Gubernatorial Runoff over current Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco,
and only reluctantly endorsed U.S. Senator John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential race.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Nagin
bttt
Yep, it's all too weird.
He's gonna join the Rainbow thing or something?? I can just see him and Jesse on the road.
The people in Mississippi buckled down and went to work. The people in NO......did not.
Hate to sound so bitter about it, but that's the way I see it.
I spent money today buying toys, healthcare products, for a Camp for the Disabled citizens in NO that are being brought to our state. I figure that's that the best I can do at this point.
The Landrieus and Blanco probably should go to trial for one thing or another before too long. I do believe the poison is going to seep out of this in sufficient quantity take the Landrieus out.
BUMP
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.