New Orleans' mayoral candidates debate.
Posted on 10/25/2005 6:38:04 PM PDT by bigeasy_70118
The rumors of the candidacy of former Orleans Council President Peggy Wilson for Mayor are now confirmed. In an interview with The Louisiana Weekly, Wilson confirmed that she had met with a group of consultants and has begun fundraising for a bid for the city's chief executive post.
Three months ago, the idea that a Republican, much less a white Republican, seeking the Mayor's office would have brought nothing but the proverbial "guffaws" of the impossible or quixotic. Yet, with a February election looming, and most of the city's population gone, perhaps permanently, the former Council President's quest seems less unlikely.
A large portion of Wilson's former Council District A, silk stocking Uptown, was relatively unharmed by Katrina, and the term limits advocate is one of the few Republicans with populist enough appeal to pick up white votes in the normally Democratic bastions of the French Quarter, Fabourg Marigny, and Algiers-areas that survived the storm with little damage or population loss.
Race, however, plays the dominant card. The recent post-Katrina survey done by the Red Cross shows, however, that at best 40% of the population of Orleans Parish will be Black by February. Perhaps even less.
A sixty-forty split in race voting closely resembles the racial demographics of the seat Wilson held for her first two terms on the Council, District A. Moreover, low turnout tends to benefit Republicans, and few believe that New Orleans will have anything resembling a normal election. (The Federal Emergency Management Agency refused Secretary of State Al Ater's request to fund a plan to help displaced New Orleanians participate in local elections or give state leaders access to FEMA's database containing temporary addresses of evacuated residents, citing privacy concerns.)
And if changes in Orleanian demography benefit Wilson, they put an even stronger foundation beneath Jackie Clarkson. Her District C seat (Algiers and the French Quarter) is the only place in the city at full functionality-at least by current Metro standards. Clarkson, the popular conservative Democrat and mother of the famed Hollywood actress Patricia, would enjoy biracial support and turnout from an area that now comprises more than sixty percent of the indigenous population of Orleans Parish.
Wilson and Clarkson share many of the same financial contributors in both the business and preservationist communities. Money might more easily follow the pro-business Democrat, backers might think, reasoning that Clarkson could win votes more easily from social liberals and African-American voters than a Republican.
Fortunately for Wilson, however, sources close to Clarkson reveal that the Democratic Councilwoman is more likely to continue her bid to succeed term-limited Eddie Sapir for the open At-Large seat-undercutting recent speculation that Clarkson might run for Mayor.
Sapir, however, having filled his campaign war chest considerably prior to Katrina, has confirmed to allies that he intends to seek the Mayor's office no matter what.
Before the Hurricane, Sapir looked to be the only white candidate with a hope, albeit distant, of becoming Mayor in the African-American majority city. Sapir originally resigned his council seat, decades ago, to allow the election of the City's first Black Councilmember, and even now many years later and back on the City Council, his reputation in the black community continues to be unmatched.
The Democrat beat Wilson eight years ago for her At-Large seat by winning votes from both African Americans and white liberals. With flush campaign finances and crossover appeal, Sapir might be able to build a viable coalition.
Sapir's problem is the opposite of the candidate the Councilman-At-Large originally planned on facing-incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin. Originally, Sapir and his allies hoped that they could split the union of white voters and middle class African-Americans that originally elected Nagin. Before Katrina, Sapir reportedly believed that white liberals might abandon pro-business, pro-Republican "Ray Reagan", if given another white alternative. At that point, Sapir would only have to win the votes of the sections of the black community that backed Richard Pennington four years ago. Considering the Councilman's close ties to the L.I.F.E. political organization that backed the Police Chief and the Morial family, this seemed quite possible.
The post-Katrina landscape benefits Sapir in a different way. With whites in the majority, the likelihood that the next mayor will be Caucasian mounts considerably. Nagin, weakened in stature in the white community, loses votes on the right to Wilson and on the left to Sapir, leaving him only with support from middle-class blacks. Any major black candidate with name recognition could easily rob the Mayor of that support, and Nagin, an incumbent, can quite possibly be relegated to fourth (or fifth place) in the Open Primary.
Such a situation leaves Sapir with either an all white race against Wilson, which the Democrat has an advantage in an overwhelmingly Democratic city - even after the storm - or against an African-American, liberal Democrat that Sapir probably beats on racial lines.
That Black candidate may very well be Ed Murray. In a breaking story, The Louisiana Weekly has learned that the State legislator is on the verge of entering the Mayor's race. Long known as a powerbroker, Murray enjoys popularity across the black community and a strong fundraising foundation in Baton Rouge. With a large campaign, he could threaten enough of the black vote to edge Nagin out of a runoff.
One of the few men who could outshine Murray is Oliver Thomas. The Councilman At-Large enjoys support across class lines in the Black community and has ties amongst whites as well. The Business community would easily choose Thomas, a self-described fiscal conservative who has courted their backing, over Murray. However, Thomas, while encouraged by many to run, has indicated so far that he plans to seek re-election to the At-Large position and not challenge his friend Ray Nagin, so far.
The Large Question mark in the race remains Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu. He sought the Mayor's job once before, losing to another scion Marc Morial. The city, then, was seventy percent African-American. With a white majority New Orleans once more, the black community might turn to the son of one of its few Caucasian heroes, someone whom they have backed statewide, just as they voted for his sister.
In a different political landscape, a Landrieu, a name that carries weight in both the black and white communities, could result as the consensus candidate. As one Black political leader put it to The Weekly, "The Landrieu name is like Kennedy for us...We trust it because of Moon."
Few would think that a Lt. Governor would seemingly demote himself to Mayor of a no-longer so large city, but as former Secretary of State and current political columnist Jim Brown put it, the idea is not so absurd.
"Although he [Landrieu] and [Governor] Blanco have had their differences, Landrieu has indicated a contentment in running for reelection, serving four more years, then setting himself up for a gubernatorial bid at the end of Blanco's second term in 2011. But if the Governor cannot be re-elected, this puts Landrieu on the back burner for at least an additional four years. 2015 is a long time to wait around in a secondary role."
"So what are his options? How about following his father's footsteps, and taking on the job as the most high-profile mayor in America? The eyes of the country and of the world are focused on the Crescent City. The present mayor, Ray Nagin, seems to find someone else to blame almost daily. Did you catch his statements last week, were he feels he is 'going it alone?'"
Currently, the only group on the Orleans political landscape that is impossible to find are pro-Nagin voters-at least outside of City Hall.
One political insider in the city told the Weekly, "Maybe that's why Nagin is cozying up to Boysie Bollinger." The Lockport shipbuilder is known as the moneyman of local GOP politics, and Nagin, fast running out of support, may be turning to Bollinger and his friends for an influx of cash that could let the Mayor make a strong advertising appeal directly to the voters.
Since your tax dollars are paying for this feel free to comment away.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1508608/posts
There is no possible way that they are worse than Nagin.
Plow a fire break around the place and burn it to the ground. Let'um build it back on the dollar down and a dollar a week plan. Corrupt cradle to grave is all they have ever known. White and Black. Enough already!
That's Admiral Nagin!
Useless human being. Makes my skin crawl.
Awwww shake shake shake, da da dadadadada, shake yer bootay . . .
Actually I don't pay income taxes any more, so the floor is yours.
*****that at best 40% of the population of Orleans Parish will be Black by February. Perhaps even less. *****
They are not coming back until their public housing homes are ready and the welfare checks start coming regular.
Sorry you lost your job.
Let's see. How should we label this collection of political hacks lined up to "save" the "Big Sleazy"? Maybe the Carnival of Fools? Or how about the Confederacy of Dunces?
From this North Louisiana resident's viewpoint, there's really only one legitimate reason to rebuild a very scaled-down version of NOLA. The port of New Orleans and the shipping it handles from a large fraction of the country north, northeast and northwest of it is vital to the economic well being of the rest of the country;the rest is cheap, taudry window dressing.
A city of 200,000 or less could support the port, it's other businesses and enough amenities + a much improved school system to maybe make the place decent to live and raise a family in.
If these morons in NOLA and Baton Rouge try it rebuild it "as it was" with the usual scumbags in charge the rest of the nation will turn it's back as it rightly should.
Look at the difference between MS. Gov. Barbour's response in his state and the hapless gasbag BLANK-O in LA. Barbour says MS, which was hit harder, needs $19 billion short term and another $19 billion spread out over the next 10 years. Still a large sum but reasonable given the destruction.
Then there's usual suspects in NOLA and Baton Rouge , the rest of the state handled Rita well. GIVE US $250 BILLION! NOW! WE WANT IT, WE WANT IT! And by the way, don't even think of attaching any strings to it. We can do it the Lousyana way, (wink, wink). And don't you dare bring up our 100 years of uninterrupted political corruption or we'll call you mean and heartless and our squatty, plump, female moron of a senator will threaten to punch you out.
Sigh. Can it get any worse? You bet.
Frankly folks, there are many, many things I loved about NOLA: the food, the music, the architecture, the beautiful Garden distict and Uptown. But if those things can't exist independently of having to recreate the Soddom and Gomorrah that existed before, I say good riddance to all of it...except that port I mentioned.
It pays to have private disability insurance in case disaster strikes.
Come Live in New Orleans!
Pay high taxes!
Support the corruption!
We'll rebuild your slums and move you in!
If you don't like the way it looks, just blame the Bush administration!
clear insult to the dynamic trio
I don't want to reopen your wounds from the previous thread, so I'll stand down.
Three Stooges would have done a better job.
Don't be surprised if the total number of votes in this election is the same as any other even thought most of the people have left. This city is so corrupt--and blatant about it--that the "get out the vote machine" will be in full tilt boogie mode and will forget there's no voters there.
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