Friday, March 31, 2006
What F***ing Napkin?
Is the mayor trying to insinuate that the K&L offer was scribbled on a napkin in some crowded restaurant? Of course he is:
"People seem to think I could have done a deal on the back of an envelope or a napkin, and I just don't do deals like that," he said. "I didn't even know who these people were, and I've seen more presentations on debris than you can imagine, and I think 98 percent of them are b.s."
I was ready to forget about the whole matter, but his chief administrative shill had to write a letter to the editor mentioning that napkin again:
We do not accept contracts offered on napkins in restaurants or at public forums
Notice how the administration keeps mentioning napkins in restaurants while being very careful not to say that the K&L offer was scribbled on a napkin?
It seems to be an accepted fact that the written offer was first given to the mayor at a public forum. Beyond that, we know that Dan Simpson of K&L insists that the offer was written on K&L stationary with K&L letterhead, while the mayor insists that he can't remember all of the details of each of the literally hundreds of offers he received, but that he doesn't accept offers scribbled on napkins in restaurants.
If the mayor wanted to insist that, due to cutbacks, the mayor's office only had the resources to examine offers from known companies, it would at least be plausible. Of course, I would feel compelled to point out that the mayor's office was the least affected by layoffs of any department in city government other than police and fire (yes, the mayor's office was less affected by layoffs than permits or inspections). If he wanted to insist that the offer somehow got lost in the shuffle, that would be understandable. Instead he and his staff just keep talking about napkins in restaurants.
update: Though she apparently has doubts about the claim, author Poppy Z. Brite seems to believe that Nagin made the claim. I'm probably making too much of it, but evasive non-claims seem awfully cowardly from someone who claims to be providing strong leadership.
"People seem to think I could have done a deal on the back of an envelope or a napkin, and I just don't do deals like that," he said. "I didn't even know who these people were, and I've seen more presentations on debris than you can imagine, and I think 98 percent of them are b.s."
I was ready to forget about the whole matter, but his chief administrative shill had to write a letter to the editor mentioning that napkin again:
We do not accept contracts offered on napkins in restaurants or at public forums
Notice how the administration keeps mentioning napkins in restaurants while being very careful not to say that the K&L offer was scribbled on a napkin?
It seems to be an accepted fact that the written offer was first given to the mayor at a public forum. Beyond that, we know that Dan Simpson of K&L insists that the offer was written on K&L stationary with K&L letterhead, while the mayor insists that he can't remember all of the details of each of the literally hundreds of offers he received, but that he doesn't accept offers scribbled on napkins in restaurants.
If the mayor wanted to insist that, due to cutbacks, the mayor's office only had the resources to examine offers from known companies, it would at least be plausible. Of course, I would feel compelled to point out that the mayor's office was the least affected by layoffs of any department in city government other than police and fire (yes, the mayor's office was less affected by layoffs than permits or inspections). If he wanted to insist that the offer somehow got lost in the shuffle, that would be understandable. Instead he and his staff just keep talking about napkins in restaurants.
update: Though she apparently has doubts about the claim, author Poppy Z. Brite seems to believe that Nagin made the claim. I'm probably making too much of it, but evasive non-claims seem awfully cowardly from someone who claims to be providing strong leadership.
