The conviction of Ray Nagin occurred on Feb 12 and I am just now writing about it. Why? Mainly because the main stream media buried this story deeply and hoped people wouldn’t find out about it. If you read the story, nowhere does it mention he was a Democratic Mayor. Again, why? Just another example of the way the media tries to protect it’s chosen party, the Democrats. If this had been a Republican Mayor convicted of corruption, the media would still be talking about this case everyday. I actually found better coverage of this conviction in the UK press than anywhere in the US outside of the New Orleans media! I am really surprised that this investigation even occurred, after all, it must just be RACISTS! Most of the time the politicians will all band together to block any of the cases from going forward, not to protect the accused, but to protect themselves. All of the politicians are doing exactly what Mr. Nagin did and they don’t want anyone looking too closely into their own corruption!
CNN) — Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin faces prison with few of his former constituents shedding any tears for the man who led them through the biggest disaster in the city’s modern history.
The two-term mayor quit New Orleans after leaving office in 2010 and now lives in the Dallas suburbs. He swore off public life on his way out, and much of the city appeared ready to wash its hands of him after his Wednesday conviction on federal corruption charges.
“At one point or another, just about everybody voted for Nagin,” said Clancy DuBos, political editor of the New Orleans alternative weekly Gambit. “And we all got fooled.”
Nagin has four months before his scheduled sentencing June 11 — his 58th birthday. The most serious of the 20 counts on which he was convicted carry terms of up to 20 years, but most observers expect he’ll receive somewhere between 12 and 20, DuBos said.
Oliver Thomas, a former City Council president during Nagin’s administration, said the ex-mayor now “has an opportunity for reflection” and to take responsibility for his actions. Thomas speaks from a certain degree of experience, having served three years in federal prison in a 2007 bribery case.
“Everybody in political office should probably go to prison, just so you can come back to the people and humility,” said Thomas, who now hosts a radio show in New Orleans. “I’m tired of seeing gloating political people and then you see they have weaknesses, also … We got too many halo-shiners in the world.”
Thomas criticized the “bandwagon” he said was now cheering Nagin’s conviction, but added, “We all have to take responsibility. And when you’re a leader, especially an African-American leader, your integrity can’t be 99%. We have to be better.”
Federal prosecutors said Nagin was at the center of a kickback scheme that brought him more than $200,000 in bribes, plus personal services and free travel from businessmen seeking contracts and favorable treatment from the city. Several of those businessmen had already pleaded guilty, and they testified against the ex-mayor during the two-week trial.
Nagin maintained his innocence after Wednesday’s verdict, which made him New Orleans’ first mayor to be convicted of federal corruption charges. His defense was outgunned from the start, DuBos said.
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