By Patrik Jonsson
A youthful Ray Nagin, a New Orleans cable executive, breezed into the mayor’s office in 2002, bent on reforming what was perceived as a corruption-plagued administration run by former Mayor Marc Morial.
Even at the outset, New Orleanians didn’t hold their breath. The fabled port city and its swampy skirt, from its inception, has been characterized, even celebrated, as a den of vice, corruption, and pay-to-play, with sinful indulgences played on a repeating loop behind the city’s Old European façade.
Indeed, instead of breaking corruption’s hold on City Hall, Nagin, who became the face of the city in the tragic aftermath of hurricane Katrina, allegedly got caught up in it. On Friday he became the first New Orleans mayor ever to face corruption charges, which consisted of 21 counts of bribery, conspiracy, money-laundering, wire fraud, and filing fake tax returns.
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For many New Orleanians, the fact that a grand jury indicted Nagin for actions long-embedded in New Orleans culture and history seemed to underscore a building impatience and fading tolerance for poor governance in the wake of Katrina.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who won election in 2010 on a reform and competence agenda, said Friday that “public corruption cannot and will not be tolerated.”
But the indictment also came as a bitter blow to many of the city’s majority African-American voters, who had supported Nagin in large part because of his expansive promises, including vowing that New Orleans would be rebuilt after Katrina as a “chocolate city.” African-Americans largely reelected him in 2006 despite widespread misgivings about his Katrina response and rumors about backroom shenanigans.
“Whether he was really committed to the interests of common black folks or just woofing is a matter for debate,” writes New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry. “But one thing was clear even before Friday morning’s [indictment]: He did not bring honesty to Perdido Street.
“There’s no need to feel ashamed,” Mr. DeBerry continues. “Yes, embarrassed and angry that yet another politician has allegedly contributed to the city’s roguish reputation. But not ashamed.… We weren’t the accomplices, we were the victims.”
This article was written by Patrik Jonsson and originally published on csmonitor
