Posted on 10/30/2007 12:51:15 PM PDT by SmithL
NEW ORLEANS—District Attorney Eddie Jordan disclosed plans to resign Tuesday amid a $3.7 million discrimination verdict against his office and a rising murder rate since Hurricane Katrina.
Jordan's spokesman, Dalton Savwoir, said the district attorney told his staff he would resign on Wednesday.
Jordan lost the discrimination lawsuit against dozens of his former employees in 2005. The white former employees said they were fired by Jordan, who is black, because of their race.
Jordan has consistently lost the appeals in that case and earlier this week, a federal judge refused to delay payment of the judgment. That opened the door to possible seizure of district attorney's office assets to meet the debt, and led to renewed calls for Jordan's ouster.
Mayor Ray Nagin on Tuesday reiterated that the city would not pay the judgment, saying it could not afford it and that it would set a bad precedent.
Jordan also has been among city officials criticized for the city's growing violent crime problem. New Orleans has had 178 murders so far this year, compared to 162 in all of last year, and a backlog of criminal cases moving slowly through the courts.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Having tried a case in Louisiana once (and ONLY once), I know that LA law can be more than a little squirrelly.
But, does the city have a CHOICE? Ordinarily when a judgment against a municipality (including its departments, like the PD) is final, the city fathers have to cough up the money from somewhere, or the plaintiff's attorney will start attaching police cars and file cabinets and selling them on the courthouse steps . . .
Memphis just had murder 137. At this rate we won’t catch up this year with NO.
After Nagins gun grab and delaying tactics I would love to see the ex-employees remodel city hall. :>)
“Jordan lost the discrimination lawsuit against dozens of his former employees in 2005. The white former employees said they were fired by Jordan, who is black, because of their race.”
If I am not mistaken, he came into office saying that was what he intended to do. I may be thinking about somewhere else, but I’m pretty sure it was NO.
“I know that LA law can be more than a little squirrelly.”
___________________________________________________________
Would LA law even matter since this was the ruling of a federal judge?
I read that Philadelphia this year has more murders per capita (or something) than any other major city. I wonder if Detroit and Washington D.C. are considered safe cities now? LOL
Jordan, the city’s top prosecutor amid post-Katrina turmoil, has long been ensconced in a perpetual ring of hostility and criticism. But he appears to have undone his political career in one of his first acts in office: Systematically firing white employees in his office. While its hardly uncommon for politicians to clean house and install loyalists, 43 fired employees succeeded in convincing a jury that Jordan, who is black, fired them on the basis of race.
Of 56 total dismissals, 53 of the employees were white. Within six months of his administration, Jordan had hired 68 people, 92 percent of them African-American. Critics further have suggested that the firings had the effect of clearing out the office of institutional knowledge and experienced talent, throwing its daily management into confusion and setting off a trend of poor working conditions and chronic turnover.
The resulting $3.7 million wrongful termination judgment, levied in May 2005, now appears to have given Jordan’s many critics the leverage to push him out of office. Last week, a federal judge ruled that the assets of his office could be seized to pay off the judgment, raising the specter that the city may have to pay the tab or that Jordan’s office could be shut down or financially crippled.
The federal trial brought to light that a key staffer of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, Jordan’s political mentor, took control of the hiring and firing after the 2002 election. Jefferson is currently awaiting trial on 16 federal charges of bribery and corruption.
“Keva Landrum-Johnson, who will take over as Orleans Parish District Attorney upon Eddie Jordan’s resignation, is the first woman to be the parish’s top prosecutor.”
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Typically, the federal court will apply the state law on enforcement of judgments, garnishments, executions( not in the death penalty sense) etc.
Philadelphia - along with D.C. - won for city for ugliest residents.
I am not an attorney (nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night) but my understanding is that Eddie Jordan is the Orleans Parish District Attorney. (A Parish in Louisiana is equivalent to a County in other States.) Thus Mr. Jordan's office is not part of the City of New Orleans. For this reason Mayor Nagin is saying the City of New Orleans did not control Mr. Jordan's actions and is not responsible for them and therefore should not pay the judgement.
Whoa! Memphis’ murder is 423% of New York City’s!
LOL I believe that!
Stolen long ago, I'm afraid.
“But, does the city have a CHOICE? Ordinarily when a judgment against a municipality (including its departments, like the PD) is final, the city fathers have to cough up the money from somewhere, or the plaintiff’s attorney will start attaching police cars and file cabinets and selling them on the courthouse steps . . .”
Heck, the city government & NOPD has been for sale for YEARS....
$3.7 Million is just one week’s worth of graft in New Orleans. My suggestion is to just add it to the Hurricane Wilma bill, and have the federal government pay it.
One way or the other, the American taxpayer will be stuck with the bill.
This is no laughing matter. Sure Philly is tops, but some cities aren’t even trying! (Yo, No disrespeck to Philly intended, OK.)
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