Local Mayor Ray Nagin, An Independent With No Party Affiliation, Who Once Was an "Upstart Politician," and is 57 Years Old, Convicted on Corruption Charges

Sigh.

I searched. The word "Democrat" does not appear in the article.

The former mayor of New Orleans – once the public face of a city battered by Hurricane Katrina – could be headed to prison.

A jury has just returned guilty verdicts on 20 of the 21 counts of corruption and bribery that Ray Nagin faced in a nine-day trial.

Barring a favorable appeal, Nagin, 57, could be sentenced to as much as two decades in a federal penitentiary. Prosecutors used 26 witnesses and reams of documents to detail how Nagin accepted more than $500,000 in payouts, including first-class trips to Jamaica and Manhattan, in exchange for millions of dollars in city contracts.

His age is relevant. His party affiliation, not.

Nagin's spectacular plunge from upstart politician and post-storm persona to convicted felon is more than just another case study in public service gone awry. American history – Louisiana's in particular – is littered with similar cases of politicians on the take.

Everybody does it.

... Prosecutors say Nagin's personal-enrichment schemes at City Hall began before Katrina hit, continued through the storm's bumpy aftermath and persevered through his second term and even beyond. As people dug out from under the rubble and wrestled with how to rebuild their city, Nagin was soliciting large checks for himself and his sons' granite countertop business from those wishing to do business with the city.

Early in the storm's aftermath, Nagin showed signs of becoming the leader the city needed, admonishing the federal government for its slow response and giving impassioned national TV interviews..... He was out of town a lot. Prosecutors showed that many of those trips — to New York City, Las Vegas and Jamaica — were funded by businessmen hoping to land big contracts with the city.

...

All that changed today, when a jury decided Nagin would be the first mayor in the city's 296-year history to be convicted of corruption.

They simply refuse to offer party affiliations for convicted Democrats. They flat-out refuse. They just will not do it.

posted by Ace at 03:21 PM

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