Six weeks after the Legislature began its regular session, OUR intrepid Mayor led a bus caravan of dozens of protestors to the Capitol steps to (rightly) complain about the Road Home fiasco, and to (belatedly) call on state officials
...to use the $3 billion state surplus on the state’s storm recovery and to reduce skyrocketing insurance costs, find solutions to the current health-care crisis in New Orleans and the region, repair schools and dedicate funds to local governments to repair municipal infrastructure.This comes after the House already approved the state's fiscal 2008 budget and sent it to the Senate.
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Oh, and get this: Rob Couhig is frustrated and ready to tee off on the Mayor's office. Heaven forfend! In yesterday's paper, Stephanie Grace writes about how my main homey (and legendary Nagin enabler) Rob Couhig is on the board of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, which is being severely hamstrung by the Mayor's office in all kinds of ways. In fact, the whole board is (pardon my french) "pissed" at the current impasse. In her column, which is not online yet, Stephanie Grace writes:
Such is the mood of the board that Nagin once promised would play a "huge" role in the city's rebirth, a group stacked by the mayor himself with can-do types who can't.
* Can't hire people without knowing when the board will be able to get its hands on $1.2 million that the city has allotted but not delivered.
* Can't take possession of more blighted properties because it can't pay for insurance and upkeep.
* Can't sign on to projects such as a proposal to redevelop areas near UNO's lakefront campus-- because the city has not invested NORA with the necessary legal authority.
Last year, in arguably the most important Mayoral election in the city's history, Rob Couhig endorsed Ray Nagin over Mitch Landrieu because he agreed with more of Nagin's philosophy, and believed Nagin "understood business", and was an "improvisor". Simply put, Couhig believed Nagin would be a better leader for New Orleans' recovery. So now, a year later, New Orleans is once again the Murder Capital of the U.S., and Nagin is either complaining, fundraising or travelling. And during a recent NORA meeting the normally optimistic Rob Couhig became so frustrated with Nagin's office that he put his "head in his hands", and said he's already teed off and that "enough is enough".
It's interesting that Couhig doesn't vent his frustration at Nagin in his blog. The last entry is over two months old, but in it Couhig sees fit to attack Mitch Landrieu, calling him the "Prince of Vacillation" because Mitch freezes "at the very time bold leadership is required". In that post, Couhig even trots out the clanking "suit of armor" imagery which he used in his mayoral campaign commercials.
Oh. Well now. Let's take a look at what the frozen "Prince of Vacillation" has been doing while da Mayor has been travelling and fundraising and complaining and not controlling crime and hampering the Redevelopment Authority:
Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu walked into the meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee flanked by an artist, a musician, a master chef and a bevy of economic development enthusiasts. It was an unlikely group to be cavorting around the State Capitol together, but its members have one thing in common during the ongoing regular session — a set of far-reaching tax breaks designed to address what New Orleans Democrat Landrieu refers to as the “cultural economy.”
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Landrieu’s legislative package consists of three parts that are expected to pass, and possibly even be expanded. It includes a program with local oversight to create “cultural product districts” and rehabilitate historic structures; tax credits for a wide variety of artists to live and work in Louisiana; and incentives to encourage food research and culinary arts.
While Nagin complains and Couhig has his head in his hands, Mitch Landrieu is pitching a legislative package of "far reaching tax breaks" for the state's "cultural economy". But Couhig conservatives won't be fooled. They understand that Landrieu has a sister and a father, and has funny hair and wears makeup. They know that by virtue of his last name alone, Mitch will always be the "greatest evil" in any election. Rob Couhig and others helped them understand that a year ago. So they strategically voted for the incompetent laughingstock Nagin, and sabotaged their city while it was trying to to recover from disaster.
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Somerby : Gore :: oyster : Mitch Landrieu
Labels: Couhig Conservatives, Mitch Landrieu, Nagin
