Posted on 09/02/2005 8:01:42 AM PDT by mc6809e
"It would be sweet justice if the American people finally made the Dems pay for 40 years of irresponsibility and neglect. Never before have the consequences been so apparent."
Truer words were never spoken.
Clarence Ray Nagin (born June 11, 1956 in New Orleans) is the Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was elected in May 2002, succeeding Marc Morial
Before his election, Nagin was a member of the United States 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 donations 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 United States Democratic Party, presumably in order to improve his chances of winning the race in heavily Democratic New Orleans. 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 first round of the crowded mayoral election in February 2002, Nagin received first place with 29% of the vote, against such opponents as Police Chief Richard Pennington, State Senator Paulette Irons, City Councilman Troy Carter and others. 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. 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.
Nagin received a B.S. degree in accounting from Tuskegee University in 1978 and an M.B.A. degree from Tulane University in 1994. He and his wife, Seletha Smith Nagin, have three children: Jeremy, Jarin, and Tianna.
On August 28, 2005, Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast of the United States. Katrina made landfall on August 29, causing severe damage to most parts of New Orleans.
On August 31, Nagin estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died as a result of the hurricane, one of the nation's worst ever. The count of the death toll cannot be confirmed in New Orleans.
On September 1, 2005, Nagin was interviewed on WWL radio and made furious and open remarks about authorities not doing their duty in providing aid to the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and the surrounding area.
I know he wasn't getting the cops on the streets with loudspeakers to warn the people that the levees would break if there was a catagory 4 or 5 hurricane, and they should board the 100 school buses (that CNN showed parked half-submerged at the bus facility) or they would drown. But that's where he should have been if he were a real leader. He should now shut up and try to act grateful that real men are in charge.
The gross failings here were bipartisan. The only way we'll kick enough ass to keep it from happening again is to bipartisanly demand that government quit playing games and do the jobs it is supposed to do, such as disaster planning.
"Sadly, knowing New Orleans from the inside, Nagin was the best thing that could have happened to New Orleans. He really cared but was doomed from the start. If there is anyone out there who REALLY knows New Orleans, I'd love to debate the issue regarding the city that care forgot."
I've only visited NO once. That's beside the point. The best thing NO could have done for itself was vote an economic conservative in office instead of a man who obviously waits around for a handout from the federal government. Lower taxes, less spending. That's the way to bring the most prosperity to the most people. Instead, you have a city of people who are in the economic position that they have no other recourse but to wait for the feds to help.
I know. Easy for me to say, but like the previous poster said, this is the result of 40 years of the self-congratulation, good intentions policies of the Democrats - many of which have infected many Repbulican politicians.
Now you have this city, check that, a nation of people who think that it's the government's job to take care of them. It was the state of LA's job to be prepared for this, not the feds.
Homeland Security and preparedness were nil. There was wide failure at the local, state, and federal level that ultimately has cascaded down to the street.
If a terror attack blew up several locations suddenly and flooded NO, the situation would be worse: there would be more people in town, it would be just as flooded, there would still be a power failure, etc. The difference in that case would be that there would be no warning.
Even with warning, the plan was inadequate.
4 years of homeland security got us this. That's a poor investment, and the locals, state gov, and feds have to be accountable.
Where did you find that?
Please see post 42. Thanks for your comments.
wiki, and it's common knowledge because there WERE many who feared him and his reforms.
One possibility is that middle-class people, who had insured their homes and can find work elsewhere, will decide to make a new start somewhere else, while the poor, who rented and had no insurance and many of whom don't work, will decide to stay and rely on government largesse for their future survival.
Louisiana could become even more heavily Democrat in the future.
There should have been a command center set up somewhere outside of NO and SOMEONE should have been put in charge. Also, the National Guard should have been called up earlier in the week and stationed at the command center - ready to go in on a moments notice. Same thing with water and food supplies. Also, other towns/cities should have been asked if they could take evacuees and where should they be sent or directed to go. Medical patients should have been choppered or ambulanced out on Friday morning at the very latest.
Exactly where was he? Check his calander and see what preparations he personally made, and what he publicly did as Mayor, to protect the people who elected him to do so.
I bet it looks bad. Busy doing TV interviews is my guess.
I would feel the same as you if I had watched the MSM and didn't know New Orleans, my home town and where my family "was" in.
The last time I saw the mayor of NOLA was prior to Katrina striking the city. He urged everyone to vacate. I havent seen him since.
I realize the circumstances are different than NYC, however there are some parallels.
I wonder if Guiliani coulda done better? Personally, I believe so. From what I saw of him during 9/11 - he was in charge and showed a lot of poise.
Hey, the Mayor was really busy, not moving his school buses to high ground, not planning an evacuation, not mobilizing first responders, not coordinating with FEMA - and saving his own butt.
This was the press release put out by FEMA in June 2004, after they had gameplanned this disaster.
Why wasn't this plan executed? And why has it taken FEMA this long to mobilize?
There is plenty of blame to go around on this one.
P.S.: A LSU professor who was involved in this "wargame" raised the issue of how they were going to get the people w/o means out of NO prior to the storm. He has stated that this was greeted with "silence." It seems that the one thing they failed to plan for has come home to roost.
"On September 1, 2005, Nagin was interviewed on WWL radio and made furious and open remarks about authorities not doing their duty..."
Is he angry at himself or pointing fingers?
That man is now a murderer.
Both!
I think the larger point is this. If the real problem is the lack of busses, why can't the governor issue an executive order cancelling classes immediately for all schools throughout the state until further notice. She then directs every available school bus in the unaffected areas of LA to be sent to NOLA pronto to assist in the evacuation. Am I missing something here?
A year before, Gary Brown, a young man, had been charged with the city's disaster preparedness program. He annoyed everyone, especially the old hands, with his relentless drills, training, and insistence on planning for every contingency.
When he was notified of the stricken airplane heading for his airport, his well-trained team snapped into action, were at the airport before the jet arrived, and saved lives that might otherwise have been lost. Ambulances were already on scene to take the injured to hospitals, triage teams were already set up near the runway, etc.
My point is that pushing a preparedness program can be tedious, expensive, and unpopular, something most people prefer to avoid. After all, a disaster may never happen, and if it doesn't, all of your hard work goes unrecognized by the populace. In New Orleans we're seeing the result of the decision not to do the hard thing.
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