Free Republic

A federal grand jury is investigating whether city vendors gave former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin gratuities ranging from plane tickets to materials and equipment for his family's granite-countertop business and also helped the firm land an exclusive installation deal with a retailing giant while Nagin was in office, according to several sources close to the probe. The federal probe is zeroing in on Nagin along three parallel tracks: luxury travel and home maintenance provided by city technology vendors; a granite countertop installation contract that Nagin's family company got from The Home Depot; and the possibility that at least two...

On the eve of Hurricane Irene making landfall, CBS News turned to disgraced former new Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and referred to him as an "expert." Nagin used the opportunity to plug his "self-published" book.

No, this wasn’t meant to be a joke. Although many believe the 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina was a colossal failure at every level of government, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin appeared on MSNBC on Friday to offer preparedness advice for those in Hurricane Irene’s path. Speaking with Martin Bashir, Nagin gave government agencies and their leaders high marks for their preparations. But he said only time will tell if the public follows their instructions.

No, this wasn’t meant to be a joke. Although many believe the 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina was a colossal failure at every level of government, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin appeared on MSNBC on Friday to offer preparedness advice for those in Hurricane Irene’s path. Speaking with Martin Bashir, Nagin gave government agencies and their leaders high marks for their preparations. But he said only time will tell if the public follows their instructions.

<p>Since Hurricane Katrina’s winds died down, Ray Nagin has cast his role as mayor of New Orleans as a me-against-the-world struggle to save his hometown against inept government officials and racist forces, sometimes even laying out vague conspiracy theories to bolster his worldview.</p>

All video - WATCH: Leadership Amidst Tragedy - Former Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin reflects on Katrina. WATCH: Heroes of Katrina - Remembering those who cared for the helpless and rescued the stranded.

WASHINGTON –Six officers with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) were charged today in connection with the federal investigation of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced today. The incident resulted in the death of two civilians and the wounding of four others. The indictment charges four officers – Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso – in connection with the shootings, and charges those four officers and two supervisors – Arthur “Archie” Kaufman and Gerard Dugue – with helping to obstruct justice during the subsequent investigations. The...

The state ethics board is charging former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin with two possible violations, for receiving gifts from a one-time city vendor and for his involvement with a company that was negotiating tax breaks with the city. Copies of the charges, which were sent to Nagin through his attorney late last month, were received by The Associated Press on Friday. One charge involves gifts to Nagin paid for by technology firm NetMethods and its owner Mark St. Pierre, who had several city contracts. NetMethods paid for Nagin and his family to travel to Jamaica in 2005 and to...

Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced Wednesday he is asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to send federal resources to help reform the New Orleans Police Department. Landrieu, standing beside more than a dozen community leaders, said at a news conference that he wants the Justice Department to come in and do an assessment of the NOPD and the criminal justice system. Landrieu said he anticipates that the federal assessment would eventually result in a consent decree, a move that could mean federal oversight for the troubled department. "It is clear that nothing short of a complete transformation is necessary and essential...

UPDATE, 3:20 p.m.: We’ve got so much information coming in on this story now, it’s hard to keep track of it all. So rather than craft some sort of elegant narrative of this thing, we’ll stick to bullet points. - Nobody from the New Orleans Police Department talked to Allee Bautsch at any length until Thursday of last week. - The picture at left, of which we now have several shots, is of an individual who, if he isn’t the prime suspect in the beating of Allee Bautsch and Joe Brown, sure ought to be. Bautsch told me via e-mail...

This is a copy of the police report on the Bautsch/Brown assault. The narrative begins on page 4 of the pdf. file (be patient - it takes a moment to load). The report strongly suggests that the white male perpetrators were part of the protest that evening outside of Brennan's restaurant.

Louisiana GOP fundraiser Alexandra "Allee" Bautsch and her boyfriend, Joe Brown, talk with a police officer about the savage attack on them by leftist protesters as they left a GOP fundraising event on April 9, 2010. Photo by Jack A. Neal The scandal of the aftermath of the vicious political attack on Alexandra "Allee" Bautsch, the chief fundraiser for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, and her boyfriend, Joe Brown, as they left a Republican fundraiser attended by three GOP governors (Jindal, Rick Perry of Texas and Haley Barbour of Mississippi) April 9th has taken a sickening turn as a report has...

Radical anarchists and Leftwing extremists, spreading a message of violence and hate, marched directly to the scene of the crime. Their target: Gov. Bobby Jindal, his “rich” friends, and Republicans. Is it just mere coincidence, then, that the victims of this assault were Republican employees of Gov. Jindal attending an expensive fundraiser, at the exact location, and at the exact time, that the protest took place? Is it just mere coincidence that the perpetrators purposely targeted the victims and shouted insults at them concerning “money,” as Allee’s mother claims, and their being “nicely dressed,” as the police report states? I...

…you have to more or less suspend disbelief not to recognize that. But based on various agendas, it seems like that’s what’s going on. Beyond the reactions of left-wing journals, when those sources have reacted to this story at all, we notice that Allahpundit at HotAir.com and Michelle Malkin have both gone out of their way to disparage the idea that the attack had to do with politics. The attack was political. But, and I think I’ve been clear on this and hopefully in this post I’ll be even clearer, while it was political it doesn’t appear that it was...

Walter Abbott, doing the reporting that most others in the blogosphere and the mainstream media refuse to do, has broken a story at the Lincoln Parish News Online that the host of the Republican governors fundraiser which Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's chief fundraiser Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend Joe Brown had attended before they were brutally attacked just blocks away says that he and his party fled the fundraiser after twice being targeted by protesters:In an interview this afternoon, Louisiana GOP Chair Roger Villere, Jr. told Lincoln Parish News Online he and several others were pursued by protesters last Friday...

Last Friday night, Allee Bautsch, the chief fundraiser for Louisiana's Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, was violently assaulted, along with her boyfriend, outside of a famed New Orleans restaurant. Initial reports on the incident were murky, but Yahoo! News has learned that the attacks appear to have been politically motivated.

I just had a very interesting and somewhat confusing conversation with New Orleans Police Department Public Information Officer Bob Young. Mr. Young confirmed to me that the New Orleans police had indeed taken statements from both of the victims, Jindal aide Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend, Joe Young. He confirmed that in those statements, the victims reported that their assailants had indeed hurled “insults” at them, and the “insults” were, and I quote, “of a political nature”. Describing the entire attack, he went on to say “it was of a political nature”. I then repeated what he told me, and...

<p>Our betters in the blogosphere and mainstream media have spent the afternoon tut-tutting those of us who suspect a political angle to the savage attack on Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's chief fundraiser Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend Joe Brown last Friday night after a fundraising dinner in New Orleans.</p>

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has landed himself a ticket to the Super Bowl - and the taxpayers are footing the bill. Nagin expressed shock last week that as the city's chief executive, he only had been offered the option to buy tickets in a "nosebleed section" of Sun Life Stadium in Miami, where the Saints make their Super Bowl debut Sunday. But Nagin told a local radio station this morning that his fortunes have changed, though he wasn't specific about where he'll be sitting or with whom he's traveling. "The Saints have come through. I got some good seats,"...

Police Superintendent Warren Riley, his predecessor Eddie Compass and other top police officials apparently testified Friday before a federal grand jury investigating possible police misconduct in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. At different points Friday, a host of current and former police brass entered and exited the fourth-floor wing of the federal courthouse building that holds the grand jury rooms. Their appearances come amid a sprawling federal probe into whether NOPD officers committed deadly civil-rights violations in the chaotic days after the 2005 storm. Led by prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division and conducted by FBI...

Once believed to be the front runner in the New Orleans mayoral election, Senator Edward Murray has dropped out! Sources tell THE DEAD PELICAN that Murray's exit has made Lt. Governor Mitch Landerieu the new front runner, and it will he will be difficult to beat. This is partly because the National Democratic party plans to provide massive amounts of Cash in support of Landrieu's mayoral bid, THE DEAD PELICAN has learned. Mitch's backing by the national Democratic party comes as part of a deal his sister Senator Mary Landrieu struck with the Obama white house. It is widely known...

As he returns to New Orleans today after a six-day junket in Cuba, Mayor Ray Nagin almost certainly will face questions about the latest addition to his collection of controversial comments. Nagin told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he thinks Cuba's repressive regime does "a much better job" than U.S. officials of identifying citizen needs and deploying resources in the face of hurricanes, which routinely batter the Caribbean nation. Though Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma all struck the island last year, only seven Cubans were killed, in part because authorities use soldiers to close highways and enforce evacuations. Harking...

New Orleans, Louisiana, Mayor Ray Nagin arrived in Cuba late Friday on a mission to learn about how to deal with storms, a spokeswoman said. "We understand we may have a lot to learn from the Cubans in terms of disaster preparedness and how they have dealt with hurricanes," spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said. Cuba is internationally applauded for exceptional disaster management, according to a news release from Nagin's office. In the Cuban capital, Havana, Nagin plans to meet with several officials, including some from the Latin American Medical Centers for Disaster. He will also learn about preparations the Cuba Defense...

NEW ORLEANS ― Ray Nagin will become the first mayor in 50 years to make an official visit to Cuba when the leader of New Orleans travels there with a delegation of officials for a disaster preparedness exchange. New Orleans is serving as a living laboratory for techniques on emergency preparedness and response, including implementing plans that include assistance for residents who are unable to leave the city. During Gustav in 2008, the city helped more than 18,000 residents evacuate as the hurricane approached. The tour is scheduled to meet with the Latin American Medical Centers for Disasters and will...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, who accused former President George W. Bush of leading a government "that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns," is hearing directly from New Orleans residents who have struggled to rebuild their city since the 2005 hurricane season. Obama arrives in New Orleans Thursday on his first presidential trip to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. About 1,600 people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina, which caused $40 billion in damages and displaced 1 million people from their homes.

On a three-day junket to Washington, D.C., to lobby for recovery money, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was spotted Wednesday evening at the posh downtown bistro, The Caucus Room, along with a flock of Republican notables, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Fred Thompson, the 2008 GOP presidential also-ran and former headliner of TV's Law and Order. Also keeping reservations last night at the white-tablecloth eatery were former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who served eight years in President Bush's cabinet before becoming a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, and singer, songwriter and producer John Rich.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is calling on former residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to claim their old city addresses in next year's census, drawing criticism for trying to circumvent rules for winning federal funds. The mayor -- encouraged that New Orleans has thrown off its post-Katrina malaise to become the U.S.'s fastest-growing big city by percentage -- wants the U.S. Census Bureau to grant an exception for its former residents, currently living elsewhere, who want to rebuild homes in New Orleans. There's one problem: The mayor's plan is illegal, according to the Census Bureau. Federal law requires...

Aiming to maximize federal grant money and offer proof of his city's recovery, Mayor Ray Nagin is urging Hurricane Katrina victims still living elsewhere -- and longing to return -- to record New Orleans as their home when the U.S. Census Bureau conducts its decennial head count next spring. Problem is, that strategy doesn't mesh with census rules, federal officials say. In an e-mail response to questions about the much-anticipated count, Nagin spokesman James Ross said this week: "An area of major concern relates to New Orleanians working to return here. Many are repairing their homes, and others are trying...

FBI agents have been in New Orleans City Hall since Friday collecting data from computer-network servers and backup tapes, according to a city official familiar with the investigation. Five federal agents have tied up the work of management information systems employees as they comb through the data stored on the servers. The agents are expected to be in City Hall all week, said the source, who wished to remain anonymous because the investigation has not been made public. The agents came bearing federal subpoenas seeking information and met with Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Hatfield, the source said. City spokeswoman Ceeon...

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin described his experience being quarantined in China amid fears of swine flu exposure as "very surreal" in an interview with WDSU on Wednesday night.

New Orleans, LA (AHN) - Reports are stemming from local New Orleans media that Mayor C. Ray Nagin is being quarantined in Shanghai after possibly being exposed to the H1N1 virus on his business trip in China. Nagin administration spokeswoman Ceeon D. Quiett said Nagin is being treated with the "utmost courtesy by Chinese officials." According to the Mayor's website, the purpose of the trip was to "meet with four prospects interested in the possibility of locating their businesses in New Orleans."The website also notes that Nagin is expected to travel to Sydney, Australia, "where he will be the keynote...

NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who traveled on Friday to Shanghai, China, on an economic development trip, was informed early Sunday that a passenger on the airplane in which he was traveling was confirmed to have signs and symptoms of an influenza-like illness, suspected to be of the H1N1 -- or swine flu -- subtype. As a precaution, Nagin, his wife and one member of the mayor's executive protection unit have been placed in a designated quarantine location in Shanghai. The mayor's agenda is on indefinite hold, though he and the others are symptom-free. "Right now,...

Mayor Ray Nagin, who traveled to China on an economic development trip, flew on a plane that carried a passenger being treated for symptoms suspected to be from the virus, commonly known as the swine flu virus, the mayor's office said in a statement. Nagin, his wife and a member of his security detail have been quarantined in Shanghai, China, though all three are symptom free, the statement said. "The mayor is being treated with utmost courtesy by Chinese officials," the statement said. Ceeon Quiett, the mayor's director of communications, told CNN that Nagin had been sitting beside a passenger...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and his wife have been placed in quarantine after a passenger on their flight to China exhibited flu-like symptoms. Nagin's press office said a passenger had "signs and symptoms of an influence-like illness suspected to be of the H1N1 subtype." This comes amid continued global concerns about swine flu. The office said Sunday the couple and a security guard were placed under quarantine in Shanghai as a precaution and were exhibiting no symptoms.

New Orleans is once again the nation's murder capital after briefly losing the title. Fresh FBI statistics show that with 64 killings per 100,000 people in 2008, New Orleans had the highest per capita murder rate in the nation, well ahead of second-place St. Louis, which had 47 murders per 100,000 people.

As Mayor C. Ray Nagin approaches his final year in office, he faces scandal, an acrimonious stalemate with the City Council and the worst popularity ratings ever recorded for a mayor here. Term limits will keep him from running again, so Mr. Nagin’s eight tumultuous years of leading what he called a “chocolate city” will come to an end next May. He has not been popular among middle-class white voters since the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but now, with the city still in a halting recovery more than three and a half years later, residents citywide seem...

Did a search and didn't find this. Chocolate City Mayor Ray Nagin's home in Frisco,Texas is being auctioned to satisfy a $1500 HOA lien. This is an upscale townhome development in Frisco, a Northern Dallas suburb. Remember the Nagin's moved there after Katrina because New Orleans was too messy for them? The documents are .pdf and I don't know how to copy them to FR. The first one is a list of several notices, scroll down to page 6 to see Nagin's. The second one is the lien. Not a legal scholar so correct me if I've misinterpreted the documents....

Throughout the week, police detectives and on-edge residents were looking for a man impersonating a police officer who burglarized and threatened residents in three home invasions, forcing some of them to strip. On Friday morning, New Orleans police announced they had found their man, and it turns out he wasn't an impostor. Rather, he is a rogue rookie cop who used his badge while off-duty to victimize Hispanic men and women in the Mid-City area, authorities said.Darrius Clipps, 36, a patrolman of almost one year, appeared for work as scheduled Thursday evening, showing up at roll call for his night...

President Obama’s honeymoon is beginning to fade. Members of Congress and old political hands say he needs to show substantial progress reviving the economy soon. Some Democrats have started to worry that voters don’t and won’t understand the link between economic revival and Obama’s huge agenda, which includes saving the banking industry, ending home foreclosures, reforming healthcare and developing a national energy policy, among much else. While lawmakers debate controversial proposals contained in the new president’s debut budget — cutting farm subsidies, raising taxes on charitable contributions, etc. — there is a growing sense that time is running out faster...

In discussing Hurricane Katrina, people never tire of maintaining there was “enough blame to go around.” Every sensitive American knows to cite “the failure of local, state, and federal governments to respond more effectively.” Which means, in real terms, that New Orleans’ mayor, Ray Nagin, should have gotten citizens out of the city and kept police in; Louisiana’s governor, Kathleen Blanco should have immediately asked for National Guard troops; and President Bush should have . . . not been photographed looking out of an airplane window? There’s a story today highlighting that the federal government not only saved the day...

WASHINGTON (AP) — FEMA is investigating allegations of cronyism and other misconduct at its hurricane recovery office in New Orleans.

The decision by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration to delete virtually every e-mail sent and received by Nagin last year was not only an apparent violation of the state public-records law, it also flies in the face of a detailed policy recommendation prepared less than a year ago by the mayor's own technology office.

Baton Rouge, LA (AHN) - Rising Republican star and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said he may not be interested in all of the estimated $4 billion allotted to his state in Obama's recently signed economic stimulus package. Speaking to WWLTV, the staunchly conservative Jindal, said, "We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars." Although Louisiana faces a possible $2 billion budget shortfall next year and has been allocated $538,575,876 for infrastructure spending in the...

Classy.

One can’t reflect upon the recent changing of the guard in Washington, without recalling the previous one. And in this instance, one can’t judge the previous guard without bringing up Hurricane Katrina.

The political tug-of-war over New Orleans' 2009 budget continued Monday as Mayor Ray Nagin announced he will make cuts in the level of sanitation services in the French Quarter next week despite steps taken by the City Council to preserve the "Disneylike" cleaning that has won raves from locals and visitors since it debuted two years ago. To head off what he said would be a $7.5 million budget shortfall, Nagin said he has ordered SDT Waste & Debris Services to stop providing mechanical street and sidewalk sweeping and flushing in the city's premier tourist district beginning Feb. 1. At...

Republican leaders are crying foul over a New Orleans official's e-mail to city workers that encourages them to participate in a Democratic campaign event. A City Hall representative said all of that is true and the city is doing nothing wrong. Outside New Orleans City Hall, the signs are up to inform people about where to go for early voting. Anticipating a high voter turnout, state Democratic Party leaders are holding a statewide bus tour trying to rally support for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. "Sen. Obama will bring the change we need to Louisiana," an e-mail sent...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The National Rifle Association and the city of New Orleans have agreed to settle a lawsuit over the seizure of firearms by police officers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A court filing Tuesday says the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation will drop the case if the city follows a plan for returning guns to owners who had them confiscated by police after the 2005 hurricane.

Excerpt - Even as residents who fled the city ahead of Hurricane Gustav continued to return, Mayor Ray Nagin said Saturday that it appeared the city would need to start worrying about Hurricane Ike. Hurricane Ike grew to Category 4 strength Saturday and could head into the Gulf of Mexico by early next week, putting residents along the Gulf Coast on alert less than a week after Gustav made landfall in south Louisiana. Nagin told reporters he's worried about fast-moving Ike and about the wherewithal of residents who one week ago began leaving ahead of Gustav. Reactions of residents who've...

Nagin said Sunday that New Orleans will impose a "dusk-to-dawn" curfew and will cease efforts to help people leave the city Sunday afternoon. The city-wide curfew will continue until the threat of the storm passes, Nagin said, warning that looters would be dealt with harshly. "Anybody who's caught looting in the city of New Orleans will go directly to Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary]. You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You go directly to the big house, in general population," he said.