Monday, June 23, 2008

Recent Story, Old Posts

A recent Times Picayune article mentioned some announced and some likely candidates for William Jefferson's seat in the House of Representatives:
Though nearly a month remains before the July 9 start of the three-day qualifying period, state Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans and Jefferson Parish Councilman Byron Lee announced last week that they are running.
...
Also rumored as candidates are Kenya Smith, who will resign Friday as an aide to Mayor Ray Nagin; and Republican Gary Clark, a political science professor at Dillard University.

Before that article appeared, Jeffrey had already explained why Byron Lee is a serious candidate and Oyster explained why he's a serious scumbag.

As I've mentioned before, Cedric Richmond lobbied for the city's expensive new sanitation contracts when they were proposed in 2006, and in their defense when they came under fire last year. If he's elected, I see a bright future for Rep. Richmond -- he should quickly vault into the national spotlight when he starts co-sponsoring legislation with Chris Dodd.

Kenya Smith came across as a bit of a douchebag in a recent Picayune article about the use and abuse of city credit cards:
"I'm sure our folks have provided you what is there and would be happy to accommodate you if you think there is more," he said.

Smith added that "this is now feeling a lot like intimidation and harassment" and said he has "followed all laws, policies and procedures in place."

However, that's not the first time that he showed himself to be a douchebag.

Finally, I don't know if anybody else commented on it, but Gary Clark was a bit of a buffoon on WWL last February. I won't hold the fact that he defended Nagin against him, I often play Devil's advocate myself, but I do find it interesting that the Nagin defender turned out to be a Republican. However, if I were going on TV to argue a counter-intuitive proposition (e.g. Nagin's doing a good job), I would at least do my home work. I certainly wouldn't insult the viewer's intelligence with nonsensical statements like "Nagin doesn't need to spend much time in Baton Rouge because he works well with a strong legislative team." Nobody's quite about the composition of Nagin's "legislative team," and he often neglects to consult with its presumed members.

I had planned to title this piece "Recent Stories, Old Posts," but the RTA, S&WB and FEMA trailers will have to wait a day or two. However, I will say that I'm curious about what park this letter writer is talking about:
The park near my home, not in use since Katrina, is slated as flood grounds, just in case

The only Metairie park that I'm aware of serving as a retention pond is Pontiff Playground, which is open. Just curious, I'm not up on the status of every Metairie park and playground, so I don't want to question the writer's integrity.

Unfortunately, I think this letter reveals why so many well-meaning people rallied behind the mayor when they should have been demanding answers:
We did not fall prey to the NIMBY syndrome.

I've said it before, if he had time to go to Jamaica, he had time to answer questions about trailer placement. In retrospect, many upper middle-class New Orleanians were as easily manipulated as blue collar Kansans. I'll have a full length rant on this by the end of the week. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether this particular letter supported the mayor's response of "NIMBY" every time somebody questioned any of his site choices, but many did.

Comments:
Kenya Smith never turned over a SINGLE one of his receipts for his City charges. Not one. Plus, the TP story only went back six months. Wouldn't you love to know what Kenya's 2007 credit charge total was? I bet that it is over six figures. Something to hide Kenya? Sure seems like it.
 
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