Ray Nagin
Clarence Ray Nagin Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is the current mayor of New Orleans. He was elected in May 2002, succeeding Marc Morial. Nagin gained international notoriety in 2005 during and immediately following Hurricane Katrina, which devastated that city.
Nagin (pronounced NAY-ghin) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to a Creole family. He received a BS in accounting from Tuskegee University in 1978 and a MBA from Tulane University in 1994. He and his wife, Seletha Smith Nagin, have three children: Jeremy, Jarin and Tianna.
Before his election, Nagin had never held public office; he was a vice president and general manager at Cox Communications, a cable communications company and subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Nagin is a lifelong Democrat, although he did give contributions periodically to candidates of both parties, including President George W. Bush[1], Billy Tauzin in 1999 and 2000, as well as to John Breaux and J. Bennett Johnston earlier in the decade.
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2002 Mayoral election
see: New Orleans mayoral election, 2002
Nagin entered the race for mayor after other candidates better known on the local political scene. Nagin's candidacy was at first considered a long shot, and he was not backed by any of the city's established political organizations. However, many voters favored Nagin's expressions of disgust with traditional Louisiana politics, including promises to fight political corruption and run the city in a more businesslike manner. Shortly before the primary mayoral election, Gambit Magazine endorsed Nagin as a reformer, giving him crucial momentum that would carry through the primary and subsequent runoff.
In the first round of the crowded mayoral election in February 2002, Nagin received first place with 29 percent of the vote, against opponents such as Police Chief Richard Pennington, State Senator Paulette Irons, City Councilman Troy Carter and others. In the runoff with Pennington in May 2002, Nagin won with 59 percent of the vote. His campaign was largely self-financed. Nagin received a majority of both black and white voters, an uncommon occurrence in New Orleans.
Nagin as mayor
Shortly after taking office, Nagin launched an anti-corruption campaign within city government, including crackdowns on the city's Taxicab Bureau and Utilities Department. Media scenes of corrupt officials being led out of City Hall in handcuffs were received with surprised enthusiasm by much of the public. When an investigation into corruption among city vehicle inspection certification workers (locally known as "brake tag inspection") suggested that corruption was systemic, Nagin fired the entire department workforce. He declared a month-long hiatus on inspections and a moratorium on ticketing for expired tags while an entirely new force of employees were hired and trained for the city's brake tag inspection stations. Nagin's actions were viewed with surprise, given the state's history of preferential political treatment for people with social or family connections. Indeed, when Nagin was asked what should be done about his cousin, who was implicated in the taxi cab bureau scandals, Nagin said "if he's guilty, arrest him." Nagin's cousin was later arrested.
Nagin often clashed with the New Orleans City Council, and as a result failed to get their support for proposed legislation he favored. He was criticized for often publicly announcing new programs or proposed policies without having them vetted by other city leaders.
As Hurricane Ivan threatened the Gulf of Mexico in September of 2004, Nagin urged New Orleanians to be ready for the storm, preferably to evacuate with some "Benjamins" ($100 bills) handy, and urged any who planned to stay to not only stock up on food and water but also to make sure they had "an axe in the attic", a reference to the many people trapped in their attics by rising floodwaters when Hurricane Betsy hit the city in 1965. Nagin issued a call for a voluntary evacuation of the city at 6 p.m. on September 13. Some 600,000 New Orleanians left. Thousands were stuck in highway traffic for 12 or even 24 hours. The hurricane missed the city.
Nagin controversially endorsed conservative Republican Bobby Jindal over Democratic Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Blanco in the 2003 runoff for governor. He only reluctantly endorsed the Democratic candidate, U.S. Senator John Kerry, in the 2004 presidential race.
Hurricane Katrina
On August 26, 2005, the National Hurricane Center predicted for the first time that Hurricane Katrina would become a Category 4 storm, and thus exceed the design limits of the New Orleans levees [2]. That same day, Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency [3].
On August 26 Mayor Nagin advised New Orleanians to keep a close eye on the storm and prepare for evacuation. He made various statements encouraging people to leave without officially calling for an evacuation throughout the 27th, and issued a voluntary evacuation request late in the day. He stressed the potential danger posed by Katrina by saying "This is not a test. This is the real deal." He was hesitant to order a mandatory evacuation because of concerns about the city's liability for closing hotels and other businesses. [4]
On Sunday August 28, Katrina became a Category 4 hurricane [5], and Nagin declared a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, the first in the city's history, and the first for a U.S. city of this size since the American Civil War. From dawn Sunday morning on New Orleans radio and television repeatedly broadcasts Nagin's calls for everybody to leave town as quickly and safely possible, with the thought that they may never be able to return. He declared the opening the Superdome as a shelter of last resort to those who couldn't leave. State governor-controlled National Guard troops were stationed inside the Superdome to screen refugees for weapons and feed the citizens gathered there [6],[7] yet the situation within the Superdome became very difficult for evacuees.[8]
Katrina shifted eastward approximately 15 miles from its expected landfall point, which was to be a direct hit on the city of New Orleans, only a couple of hours prior to making landfall, minimizing the anticipated wind damage to the city. Several levees and flood walls were breached a few hours after landfall, and within 24 hours up to 80% of the city was flooded. An estimated 90,000 were still in the city when the hurricane made landfall on August 29, causing severe damage to most of New Orleans. See: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.
Criticism of relief efforts
On September 1, 2005, Nagin held a high-profile interview on the relief situation with Garland Robinette, on radio station WWL in which he bluntly criticized the delays in aid to the city. He stated "I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city", he compared the slow reaction to Hurricane Katrina to the national reaction to 9/11 and the war in Iraq. As part of what was apparently a larger effort to fix responsibility for inadequate response, Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, explained on September 4 that "The way that emergency operations act under the law is, the responsibility and the power, the authority, to order an evacuation rests with state and local officials. The federal government comes in and supports those officials." [9]
On September 4, President Bush responded to Nagin's criticism by focusing on the failings of state and local authorities, stating that the disaster's magnitude "created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities. The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable." [10]. [11].
Controversy
Some newspaper editorial writers have criticized Nagin for not handling evacuation procedures properly and, in particular, for allowing hundreds of New Orleans' buses — which might have been used for evacuating poor or elderly people — to sit idle in parking lots that were part of the first sections of the city flooded. [12] In the September 1 interview he said driving school buses had been proposed, and that he wanted every Greyhound bus line moving to New Orleans. On a September 11 appearance on Meet the Press, Nagin said the buses sat unused because there was no one to drive them. [13]
After Katrina: Continued Controversy
At a town hall meeting in October 2005, Nagin said: "I can see in your eyes, you want to know, 'How do I take advantage of this incredible opportunity? How do I make sure New Orleans is not overrun with Mexican workers?'" [14] [15], referring to the influx of laborers — many of whom are illegal aliens — coming to New Orleans to help rebuild the city. Hispanic groups, including the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, criticized Nagin's statement as prejudiced [16], although those attending the town hall meeting reportedly applauded — many in the area believe the jobs should instead go to local workers displaced by the hurricane.
Elections for Mayor and City Council members had been scheduled for November 2005, but these were postponed due to the devastation after Katrina and the many New Orleanians still living out of the city.
In an interview with Public Radio International's Tavis Smiley originally broadcast on January 13, 2006, Nagin said that he has never been a Republican and is a "life-long Democrat." [17] Also in that interview, Nagin used the phrase "chocolate city" in reference to New Orleans' future demographics, a term that would become troublesome for him just a few days later. The idea for a "Chocolate City" originated with the popular 1970s-era musical band Parliament.
The Martin Luther King Day / "Chocolate City" speech
At a Martin Luther King Day celebration in New Orleans on January 16, 2006, the mayor gave a speech that created new controversy, with comments that many commentators felt fanned racial divides and neighborhood antagonisms within the city and presumed to speak for the will of God.
Nagin repeated the "Chocolate City" metaphor and proclaimed that New Orleans will be "chocolate again". This was seized on and parodied by many commentators, cartoons, and merchandise depicting Nagin as Willy Wonka appeared in print and on the internet.
Other parts of the speech were much more troubling to many New Orleanians than the "chocolate" reference. Nagin proclaimed "I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are." Many people took "Uptown" as a coded reference to wealthy whites, such as those who live in the old mansions on Saint Charles Avenue or around Audubon Park. However Uptown New Orleans actually is one of the most ethnically and economically diverse sections of the Metro area. Many of Nagin's original supporters live Uptown. [18] As Uptown contains the largest section of unflooded high ground in the city's East Bank, at the time of the speech Uptown had the city's largest concentration of locals back in their homes, businesses back open, and displaced New Orleanians from other more severely damaged parts of town living there. Locals protested the Mayor's comment about not caring about an important section of his city.
Nagin stated that "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be." [19] As most New Orleanians knew the city had been majority African American for decades before Katrina, some found the implication of Nagin knowing God's will more troubling than the suggested return of pre-Katrina demographics.
In the same speech, Nagin further stirred controversy by saying "Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country....Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves." Nagin then went on to relate an imagined conversation with the deceased Rev. Martin Luther King regarding both the response to Katrina and the modern problems of black America which he believes offended God. [20]
The speech generated an intense reaction, most of it negative. Not a few suggested Nagin was showing signs of mental illness, and a Times-Picayune commentator suggested that Nagin had just ruined his own chances at re-election. [21]
Political commentators point out that while this may just have been another example of Nagin speaking off the cuff. Some think some of the remarks will likely hurt his standing among white voters who may be (depending on the estimate) currently a slim majority in New Orleans
Nagin later apologized for his remarks. Nagin offered a more racially inclusive sounding explanation of his "chocolate city" metaphor, saying "How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk and it becomes a delicious drink. That's the chocolate I'm talking about."[22] Nagin said that his remarks were meant to be a call for African Americans to once again return to New Orleans despite the supposed belief that many of the people Uptown did not want them back. [23] In this metaphorical recipe, Nagin implies the African-American people are reprepresented by cocoa solids, and the milk represents caucasian people.
The Mayor apologized for the suggestion that people Uptown (a mixed neighborhood) were racist, noting the importance of that section of town in the city's recovery. He particularly stated regret for the statements about God. "I don't know what happened there," he said. "I don't know how that got jumbled up. That whole God thing, I don't know how that got mixed up in there." Nagin concluded "I need to be more aware and sensitive of what I'm saying [...] Anyone I've offended, I hope you forgive me." [24]
2006 Mayor's Race
see: New Orleans mayoral election, 2006
The elections for mayor and city council scheduled for late 2005 were postponed by the State due to the disruption in the aftermath of Katrina, and were rescheduled for 22 April, 2006. Campaigning began to heat up in February 2006. In the April 2006 New Orleans mayoral election, Nagin will face a announced dozen challengers, most promenently sitting Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu and Audubon Institute head Ron Forman, along with other candidates including former city council members, a local pastor, lawyers, and NPR's James Arey.[25]
External links and references
- Nagin calls for rebuilding 'chocolate' New Orleans, CNN 1/17/2006
- The City of New Orleans
- Campaign contributions made by Ray Nagin
- Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan
- Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses', CNN transcript and the audio of WWL-AM radio interview.
- Profile on CityMayors.com
- Southeast Louisiana Evacuation Plan Supplement
- New Orleans “overrun” by Mexicans
- Profile of Ray Nagin in Tulane University Magazine
- Nagin Works Both Sides of Aisle for Aid The Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2006
- The Tavis Smiley Show - interview with Ray Nagin, January 13, 2006
| Preceded by: Marc Morial | Mayor of New Orleans 2002–present | Succeeded by: incumbent |
