Sunday, August 26, 2007
Like the Aviation Board
From today's Picayune
That was my point a year ago. Billboard Ben is still on the water board, Nagin re-appointed friend, campaign manager and business partner David White to the aviation board, but he wanted "fresh blood" in charge of a board that will be overseeing construction projects that might cost as much as $70 million.
I'm not questioning Mayfield's integrity at all. Just pointing out that that the mayor told the council, in effect, that, now that library board would be in charge of millions in construction contracts, he thought that a jazz musician with a hectic travel schedule would be a better choice to lead it than a law school professor. Of course, with transparent spending policies in place, it doesn't really matter who's on the board. Why else would the council have approved the choice?
The continued presence of Billboard Ben on the S&WB and David White on the aviation board makes it entirely appropriate to question Nagin's desire to bring "fresh blood" to the library board just before a major rebuilding project.
Mayfield echoes that sentiment, saying that the library board has become "just like the RTA or the Aviation Board. . . . Our board has had to make a lot of crucial, day-to-day decisions, unheard of in a publicly appointed board."
That was my point a year ago. Billboard Ben is still on the water board, Nagin re-appointed friend, campaign manager and business partner David White to the aviation board, but he wanted "fresh blood" in charge of a board that will be overseeing construction projects that might cost as much as $70 million.
I'm not questioning Mayfield's integrity at all. Just pointing out that that the mayor told the council, in effect, that, now that library board would be in charge of millions in construction contracts, he thought that a jazz musician with a hectic travel schedule would be a better choice to lead it than a law school professor. Of course, with transparent spending policies in place, it doesn't really matter who's on the board. Why else would the council have approved the choice?
The continued presence of Billboard Ben on the S&WB and David White on the aviation board makes it entirely appropriate to question Nagin's desire to bring "fresh blood" to the library board just before a major rebuilding project.
