IF WE CAN GO TO THE MARDI GRAS, WE CAN GO VOTE

Ringsidepolitics.com ^ | 12/05/2005 | Jeff Crouere

[LA Woman3]

December 5, 2005… Last Friday, Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater recommended that New Orleans elections be postponed until most probably September. He will make a final recommendation by the end of the month. The decision was predictable, but nonetheless very disappointing. Ater claimed that the city would not be ready for the election, and then blamed FEMA for not providing enough assistance in tracking down voters and paying for the Katrina related damage inflicted on our election machines and election precincts. Ater also wants FEMA to pay for the cost of mailing information and ballots to displaced New Orleans voters. For one, the blame FEMA game is getting old. No one is more upset at FEMA than I am; however, we cannot use that agency as the eternal scapegoat for all of our troubles.

More importantly, Ater’s decision reeks of politics as usual. It helps the New Orleans incumbents continue in office seven additional months. These are not only extra months on the public payroll, but extra months on their four year term. In 2002, voters elected a slate of candidates for a four year term, not a four year and seven month term. Ater’s decision also helps incumbents by giving them time for more progress in New Orleans and allowing them to make the case to voters that life in the Crescent City is improving. Right now, there is a strong feeling of anger among voters and a desire to give incumbents a “clean sweep” and elect a whole new slate of politicians. Incumbents hope that the extra time provided by Ater will allow that feeling to dissipate and allow New Orleans to recover more.

Right now, progress is very slow and it’s frustrating. From the lack of open businesses and the incredible mountain of trash throughout New Orleans to the lack of basic services in the devastated areas, it is a mess. There are even sections of New Orleans where residents do not even know whether they will be allowed to rebuild. Trailers are in short supply, as are answers for irate citizens. At another Nagin town hall meeting the other day, the Mayor told one upset evacuee that he opposed plans to hold Mardi Gras in 2006, but was basically overruled by tourism officials. If that is the case it is another example of poor leadership. Can anyone imagine Moon Landrieu or Dutch Morial being overruled by tourism officials on any matter so important? Maybe Nagin was just playing to the crowd in Atlanta, but in reality was supportive of Mardi Gras being held in 2006. Yet, if so, doesn’t he realize that news can easily travel 440 miles to New Orleans. Nagin is not that naive is he?

I believe that we should hold Mardi Gras in 2006 because it is an important step in the return of New Orleans to normalcy. It will spur hotels and businesses to clean up and open and give the entire community a goal to achieve. Since Mardi Gras will happen in February, why can’t we hold elections? It sends a bad message to the world that we can party, but we can’t vote. One Nagin administration official privately confessed that he believed the city could be ready for February elections if a concerted effort was made. Unfortunately, a concerted effort is not being made on anything right now. There is no leadership from City Hall, no unity, incredible confusion, which all leads to disillusionment and anger among citizens, those evacuated and those still living at home.

None of this takes away from the responsibility of the federal government to help. Our government spent beaucoup dollars ensuring free and fair elections in war torn Iraq, it should make the same commitment to one of its premier cities. However, even if the federal government turns its back on New Orleans, we should still hold elections. It is the right thing to do, another in a long line of steps in the road to recovery. Personally, I hope the elections are held in February because I believe we need a new Mayor as quickly as possible. I worry about New Orleans if Nagin is allowed to continue until the fall. For one, it will hinder the progress of the city. In addition, it is a public safety concern. We should not expose the citizens to another hurricane season with the Nagin administration at the helm. The last one was catastrophic enough, while another one could be just as deadly. In addition, we should not schedule a crucial election during the height of hurricane season when another massive storm could set its sights on New Orleans. It could disrupt the election quite easily, as we saw in 2004 when Orleans Parish Clerk of Court Kimberly Williamson Butler was simply overwhelmed during the evacuation from Hurricane Ivan. We can’t stomach another debacle and should not have to play roulette with the future of New Orleans. I call on the Governor to overrule her Secretary of State and continue with elections on the scheduled date of February 4. If the elections are to be postponed, then move them to April only, keeping them within the four year terms and preventing New Orleans from having to endure another hurricane season with Ray Nagin as Mayor.

[LA Woman3]

*ping*

[Phantom Lord]

If someone no longer lives in NO, then they should not be allowed to vote in NO.

[ExcursionGuy84]

Ohhhhh, brrrr-O-ther...when, exactly-WHEN, has ANYTHING ever been RIGHT with New Orleans Government???

[Gordongekko909]

Can you stick me on that ping list?

[Shalom Israel]

If we can go to the Mardi Gras, we can go shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Fixed typos in headline.

[Red Badger]

FEMA does not stand for Fix Election Machines ASAP..........

[LA Woman3]

Can you stick me on that ping list?

Sure!
I'll pass on the info to Cajun Conservative....

[Gordongekko909]

Wheeeeeee!

[MEGoody]

If the city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana can manage to pull things together well enough to hold Mardi Gras, they can manage to put together an election.

I see that the 'first responders' are still trying to blame the Feds for their own incompetence.

[Casekirchen]

I'm sure that they saved the death (I mean voter) lists, so there shouldn't be a problem. Not having any polling places or voting machines should actually make the voting fraud process go more smoothly

[Logical me]

"Ater also wants FEMA to pay for the cost of mailing information and ballots to displaced New Orleans voters"

Shall we also provide toilet paper? How about cell phones. The nerve of these free loaders. Get off your a@@ and at least help rebuilding or shut up. Millions have already been lost and unaccounted for.

[billbears]

None of this takes away from the responsibility of the federal government to help

Perhaps this author could point me to the responsibility outlined in the Constitution for the national government to help in the first place

[CajunConservative]

*Louisiana Ping List

If you would like on or off the Louisiana Ping list please FReepmail me and your name will be added or taken off of the list.

[CajunConservative]

You have been added to the ping list.

[CFC__VRWC]

I won't believe Nagin (or Blanco) are going anywhere until I actually see it. The Louisiana Dims and the media wouldn't be playing the blame Bush/blame FEMA game so much if it weren't paying off. Besides, the national Dims will not allow themselves to be voted out of power in Louisiana, not with all that reconstruction money flowing into the region and the long-established graft pipeline in place. And they really won't need to worry - I don't think a Republican will be able to get elected dogcatcher in Louisiana for at least a generation, and probably even longer. I'm thinking post-Reconstruction timeframe for the GOP to gain a solid foothold in the South, 100 years or so.

The Dims may not be so keen on Nagin, but if they can get him re-elected they will own him lock, stock and barrel. The question for them becomes whether or not they can find someone else who suits their needs even better. They will pull out all the stops for Blanco - again, they'll totally own her if she gets re-elected, and she's so ineffectual and hapless that they'll be able to get her to do anything to further the corruption and cronyism.

If it takes sending out fleets of private jets all over the country to scoop up former New Orleans residents and bring them back to vote, they'll do it. The graveyard turnout will be unprecedented. The vote fraud will right out there in the open and ridiculous in scale, but the media won't utter a peep about it and the Dims will get away with it again.

[Infantry Grunt 1968-69]

How about letting all us Republicans that go to Mardi Gras vote?

[kingu]

There has never been a disaster of the scale in New Orleans to hit one of our major cities; New Orleans has gone out of their way to ensure that any future disaster will look like a cakewalk. It is absolutely disgusting how they play the poor me, gimme, we can't game.

Elections should be held on time and on schedule, even if we need to redeploy troops from Iraq to teach them how. And under no circumstance should the politicians have a part in deciding this as they are far from being impartial.

[OldYank1]

Is there somewhere that actually shows what the federal responsibility is? I keep hearing "FEMA hasn't done something" and I think "are they supposed to?". I watched a program yesterday on CNN that showed the 9th ward (I think) that still looks like a war zone and the commentary was that FEMA STILL hasn't fixed it up enough for people to come home. I couldn't help thinking that it might be best to just bulldoze everything and start over but, that aside, isn't it the city and state that should be deciding what to do? Isn't direction of cleanup a local thing? I doubt the federal government would receive any kudos by going in and knocking it all down on their own. Is it really FEMA's responsibility to make these decisions, coordinate the work and pay all the bills?

A follow-up criticized FEMA for having their own TV channel and showing some of the "good things" FEMA has done. My question was "why shouldn't they show the positive results?", it's their channel. Are they expected to show only the negatives that CNN is already showing?

I guess my real question is - Is FEMA and the federal government doing its job or not? Where are the rules? Is W. really to blame?

[davisfh]

"...then blamed FEMA for not providing enough assistance in tracking down voters..."

Allow me to predict that when the election does take place, it will be the most corrupt and fraudulent election in the history of mankind. I'd be willing to bet that 50% or better of the people allowed to vote will no longer be residents of New Orleans or even Louisiana.