Monday, August 17, 2009

Three announced candidates for mayor, three mayoral candidates on WDSU

Edited edition.

WTF?

The Times Picayune on August 9th:
So far, though, the tally of declared candidates totals just three: state Sen. Ed Murray, state Rep. Austin Badon and James Perry, executive director of a fair housing organization.

The Picayune last Saturday:
In fact, it happened during what amounted to the campaign's first televised event this month, as two of the candidates looking to move into City Hall next year took dead aim at Nagin, whose popularity stood at 24 percent in a recent University of New Orleans poll.

Asked by WDSU-TV anchor Norman Robinson to assess how the city is faring as Nagin nears the end of his eight-year tenure, state Sen. Ed Murray and state Rep. Austin Badon didn't mince words

Before just assuming that WDSU took it upon itself to exclude one of the three announced candidates from "what amounted to the campaign's first televised event," I decided to see whether Norman Robinson said anything about James Perry being unable to attend. I ddn't hear anything when I watched the video. Moreover, potential candidate Rob Couhig was on last night to say that he'll run if it looks like enough voters realize just how much the city needs his brilliant leadership. He appeared alone, he didn't even have to share time with any other candidates or potential candidates.

More on Badon, Murray, Couhig and Perry to come, but it's past time for me to get around to some posts that I've been thinking about since May.

I bent over backwards to be diplomatic toward the local media in my last post before I went on vacation because I had some serious criticism planned. Not that I wanted to go back to taking pot shots at the local media, but Nagin's last State of the City address prompted me to read some old articles and that research led to three conclusions

1. Though almost nobody acknowledged it, it was obvious by the end of 2005 that Nagin really didn't give a shit about the city.

2. The consensus historians and pleasant conversationalists of the local media either couldn't see or refused to acknowledge the obvious fact that Nagin has never given a shit about anybody but Nagin. They have no business defining the candidates in the next mayor's race.

3. Jay Batt has too much baggage to be either effective or believable as a reformer.

Before I start on the media criticism I will make an offer to any local journalists who happen to read and take offense at anything that I might write about the second point. Nagin's handling of the NIMBY/FEMA trailer issue was only part of the reason why I decided that Nagin didn't give a shit. However, Nagin vacationed in Jamaica the last week of November 2005. The first news report that I could find on the FEMA trailer controversy appeared in the Dec. 1, 2006 Times Picayune, and the issue wasn't resolved until some time in January 2006. If anybody can show me any evidence that, during that time period (Dec. 2005-Jan. 2006), a single local journalist even suggested that maybe, just maybe, Nagin should have stayed in town to discuss FEMA trailer placement instead of travelling to Jamaica, I'll will apologize for every negative thing that I've ever written about every local journalist.

Comments:
wait - what? is bryan batt a candidate??
 
I'm pretty sure he meant Jay Batt.
 
Sorry, it was getting late and I knew that looked wrong about Bryan Batt. I correct it when I get home.
 
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