Who is Ray Nagin?

That is the question that is asked by a good article from Michelle Roberts of the Associated Press, regarding Mayor Nagin running for re-election in New Orleans this month.

Most Americans never even heard of this man until the Hurricane Katrina disaster late last August. And for a while, it was a name you heard every day.

The article covers his pre-mayoral resume fairly good and I even learned a few things about him. Though he has an MBA from Tulane University and was a top executive at Cox Communications, I am not very impressed with his performance as mayor with the Katrina disaster. From what I've seen and read, I don't really think he was prepared to deal with the matter before, during and after it.

Days before the hurricane, as reported from an investigation of the Wall Street Journal, President Bush pushed Mayor Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to complete documents so the Federal government could have a leg up to send in relief efforts (the Federal government cannot come in unless the local governments request it). Both, Nagin and Blanco refused. Finally, before Hurricane Katrina even hit, President Bush declared New Orleans a disaster area. Why did they refuse to sign documents requesting help? It was a political maneuver; they would appear as weak leaders if they were to get a head start on asking for Federal assistance.

More previously, New Orleans accepted Federal tax dollars to be used to reinforce its levee system. Somehow, the money was used for other purposes and the levees remained as is.

But let's not forget about the predetermined plans for evacuation for when this situation would arrive. It was not implemented. Scores of school buses that were to be used to evacuate those who needed help and could not leave on their own remained unused, parked idle in a parking lot. In addition, a CNN reporter (forget his name) discovered that a train that was scheduled to depart from New Orleans asked the mayor's office if they would like the train to take on extra passengers for evacuation efforts. The mayor's office claimed that that would not be necessary.

Then the storm hit. The levees broke. The city was in shambles. Mayor Nagin threw his little temper tantrum on camera, cussing out Federal and state officials on the whereabouts of aid. Then on MLK day, Nagin declared that New Orleans would again become a "chocolate city." Good Grief!

And now Mr. Nagin is running for re-election against a vast array of other candidates.

Common Sense of it All: There is enough blame to go around on the disaster relief effort from Katrina, but I think Ray Nagin should shoulder a large portion of it. Had the man kept his cool, followed predetermined contingency plans for evacuation, used acquired funds to strengthen levees, asked for Federal help instead of being too arrogant, a lot of this disaster could be avoided (and saved the taxpayer some dollars). Maybe the people of New Orleans should write in Rudolf Giuliani's name for mayor.