Former NOLA Mayor Ray Nagin Found Guilty of Bribery, Fraud, Laundering in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Funny how these things work out:

So it turns out that Ray Nagin, the Democratic ex-mayor of New Orleans best known for his furious denunciations of the Bush administration in their response to Hurricane Katrina, wasn’t exactly acting with the city’s best interests at heart himself. The guy left office in 2010 with bottom-of-the-barrel approval ratings and insisted that he wouldn’t be running for political office again — and I think this just about seals the deal on that. The sentencing is still to come, but each of the 20 charges of which he was convicted carries a sentence of at least several years, and he could be looking at a nice long prison term. Via CNN:

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, whose desperate pleas for help during Hurricane Katrina drew national attention, walked silently out of a courthouse Wednesday after a jury convicted him of federal corruption charges.

Nagin was elected as a reformer in 2002. But after a two-week trial that began in late January, he was found guilty of 20 out of 21 counts of bribery, money laundering, fraud and filing false tax returns, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The sole acquittal was on one of the bribery counts. …

The charges detailed more than $200,000 in bribes to the mayor, and his family members allegedly received a vacation in Hawaii; first-class airfare to Jamaica; private jet travel and a limousine for New York City; and cellular phone service. In exchange, businesses that coughed up cash for Nagin and his family won more than $5 million in city contracts, according to the January 2013 indictment.

In a nutshell, he used the opportunity of the Katrina recovery effort to kick city contracts back to any vendors that offered to sweeten the deal, while simultaneously blustering about the incompetence and corruption of everybody else’s post-Katrina commitment. What a swell guy.

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Mitch Landrieu, Conservative Democrat, Elected Mayor Of New Orleans

HuffPo.com:

Frustrated by term-limited Mayor Ray Nagin's leadership of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, voters elected Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu to succeed him Saturday, turning to a political scion to speed up the city's recovery.

Landrieu, 49, became the majority-black city's first white mayor since 1979, the year his father Moon left the office. The mayor-elect, a moderate Democrat, won in a landslide over a field of 10 opponents in a campaign that also focused on the city's violent crime and slumping finances.

Flanked by family members including his father and his sister, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Landrieu said the victory showed voters had decided to "strike a blow for unity."

Voting came amid Carnival celebrations and preparations for the New Orleans Saints' appearance in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Landrieu's victory party was a nod to both: the ballroom of a the Roosevelt hotel – recently reopened after a post-Katrina restoration – was festooned with Saints-themed black and gold balloons. A roving brass band played Mardi Gras tunes and he prefaced his victory speech by leading the crowd in the Saints' "Who Dat" cheer.

With 85 percent of precincts reporting, Landrieu had 67 percent of the vote.

Landrieu, who lost to Nagin in a runoff four years ago, was a welcome change for some voters who grew frustrated with the city's current mayor. Little known outside New Orleans before Katrina, Nagin became a central, and sometimes controversial figure, in the city's struggle to recover. Though he won re-election as he courted black voters in the 2006 campaign. Nagin notoriously pledged after the hurricane that New Orleans would be a "chocolate city" again, offending many whites.

Good for the city of New Orleans. Ray Nagin was a horrible mayor. His total incompetence (when he wasn't pointing fingers at everyone but himself) in dealing with Hurricane Katrina should've gotten him fired a long time ago. People around the country have grown tired of the status quo of corrupt, Democrat leadership. And the Left no longer has George W. Bush to blame for everything wrong on the planet as folks realize that its actually Democrats that have been in charge for Congress for the past 3 years. It's now the Obama Era and Ray Nagin has become another casualty.

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Ray Nagin: Mayor No Not Me

The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses. - Napoleon Hill

Well, it's official, the votes have been tallied and the results are in: New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is an idiot. Mind you, I don't use the term "idiot" lightly, but every time I read another Ray Nagin quote I can't help but envision the dunce cap on his head getting taller. Yet the mayor's continued malfeasance regarding the response to Hurricane Katrina not only shows you that he hasn't learned anything in regards to accepting ANY kind of responsibility, but also reminds you that he's nothing more then just another politician:

From CNN.com -

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says businesses in some parts of the city will reopen this weekend, and residents of the Algiers neighborhood will be welcomed back next week. Announcing the gradual return, officials also warned of remaining health threats.

New Orleans health director Kevin Stephens stressed warnings to returning residents about one key contaminant, the bacteria E coli.

The French Quarter is scheduled to be re-opened to residents on the Monday after next. Mayor Nagin said city officials are being especially cautious with the area because of its historic significance.

Earlier this week, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco took responsibility for the lack of speedy state action in the Hurricane Katrina crisis. President Bush followed that up last week by taking responsibility for federal mistakes and slow action. But while a city lies in ruins and dead bodies continue to be found, the mayor is busy inviting everybody back home despite warnings from the head of the federal disaster relief team that the city just isn't near ready for habitants yet.

How does this guy do it? How is Ray Nagin able to escape blame despite his continued acts of complete and utter ineptitude in handling leadership? How is Ray Nagin excluded from the Liberal Blame Game despite the fact that even residents of N.O. are more upset with their mayor then anyone else for the response to Katrina? Could his race have something to do with it? Of course. Especially considering how much the liberal media has unashamedly played up the race card throughout this whole thing. Failure occurred at ALL levels, but thanks to liberals Ray Nagin may never have to face the music.

The same Ray Nagin who went on national TV crying while claiming that 10,000 dead bodies may be found (less then 1,000 have been found so far). The same Ray Nagin, mayor of a town where 400 buses lie underwater, 400 buses that could have been used to evacuate those in the Superdome prior to the disaster. Nagin was also made aware more than three days before landfall, but did not push for an evacuation until a day and a half before. Nagin also didn't push for total evacuation of those who did not have the resources to leave on their own.

And keep in mind that the federal authorities did not have the legal jurisdiction to force an evacuation. That power lay with the state and local authorities -- in other words, with Nagin and Blanco. The two of them clearly did not act in the best interest of their constituents, despite their statements to the contrary on television and in various media over the past week. But give Blanco some credit for finally taking herself to task, when will it be Ray Nagin's turn?