When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans … Mayor Ray Nagin was so quick to criticize President Bush for not doing more to help his citizens.
Nagin spread blame wherever he could to cover his own incompetence at that time.
Mayor Nagin knew most of his city’s poor had no private transportation and no way to escape the hurricane. Still, he didn’t mobilize hundreds of school buses to help evacuate the city nor even transport them to the Superdome.
Nagin spent all his time in photo ops and interviews — blah, blah, blah — I AM the Mayor … WE are being ignored by the Bush Administration … we are black and poor and our federal government won’t help us.
I had some in-laws living in New Orleans at the time; they were able to escape … but lost everything.
Many were truly hurt not just for the immediate time but for years later.
Now, we know that Nagin wasn’t that concerned about his constituents.
He was more concerned about using the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina to fill his own pockets.
He was a crook waiting for an opportunity to cash in.
Today, he was convicted of 20 federal counts of bribery and corruption.
Contractors were swamping New Orleans … like a second hurricane … trying to get lucrative jobs and the guaranteed path ran through Mayor Nagin’s office. He took bribes in cash, trips, cell phones … and those were just some of the documented pay-offs.
Graft and greed are not confined to Nagin.
Politicians off all stripes have used their positions to skim and cheat.
So this case isn’t unusual — but I am glad that such scum filling his pockets while his constituents are trying to rebuild their lives … will now pay.
Nagin could get 20 years behind bars.
The sad thing … he will still be living off the tax payers.