Soup to Dessert?

Or are we just demolishing Lower Mid-City to desert downtown?

Landrieu, Small Businesses, and Public Option

One of the main selling point on the public option plan as part of healthcare reform is that it will help alleviate the burden of health insurance costs on small businesses and start-ups. One of the main reasons innovative people with good ideas avoid striking out on their own to build a small business from scratch is because of the risks associated with abandoning one's health insurance.

So it will be very interesting to see how Senator Mary Landrieu, the Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, explains her sell-out on the public option plan to a room full of small business owners and entrepreneurs. She's holding a small business outreach conference tomorrow morning at UNO.

Got this presser today:

Louisianans for Real Healthcare Reform is encouraging small business owners and all others upset with Senator Landrieu area to come to the event and confront her on why she is opposed to a public option as a part of healthcare reform that will lower her constituents’ healthcare costs and increase their choices.

Note: Senator Landrieu has already canceled previous events in New Orleans after seeing the frustration her constituents have with her over this issue. Louisianans for Real Healthcare Reform urges Senator Landrieu to not back out this time and have the courage to face her constituents and explain her opposition to providing them more affordable healthcare.

WHO: Senator Landrieu and small business owners upset with her

WHEN: Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

9:00 a.m-11:45 a.m.

WHERE: UNO Research and Technology Park

2045 Lakeshore Dr., New Orleans, La

I'd highly recommend attending. You can register for the event on site from 8-845AM.

Also some folks have decided that they don't believe this New York Times poll gauging popular support for the public option plan. I'd advise them to check out other polls on the issue that appear to confirm an overwhelming consensus for such a policy.

Moving City Hall - Is there a real plan?

Update: See also this Gambit commentary

I'm not in love with our current City Hall building and it seems clear that it doesn't quite have the capacity we need for all of our departments. However I really question the efficacy of the purchase of the Chevron building for conversion.

I wrote this late last week at SaveCharityHospital.com about attempts in the legislature to undermine the New Orleans Master Plan:

It has become increasingly clear to us that the Master Plan has been partially undermined by the failure to include the city's major development projects in its scope. Without a substantive evaluation of the impacts of the two competing hospital plans - the LSU-preferred $1.2 billion medical campus or the less expensive and faster alternative to renovate Charity Hospital - the Goody Clancy Master Plan remains insufficiently comprehensive. The failure to critically analyze other large development projects such as the potential abandonment of City Hall in the wake of the proposed purchase of the Chevron building, the Reinventing the Crescent Waterfront riverfront project, and the proposed sports entertainment district around the Superdome.

Taken individually, none of these are necessarily catastrophic proposals. On balance, however, they represent an enormous commitment of recovery dollars to projects not subject to the skeptical analysis of the Goody Clancy planning process.

The failure of City Council and the City Planning Commission to acknowledge and deal with these deficiencies has created a climate that has invited such bold moves which undermine the master plan concept, such as those attempted by Senator Murray and his allies.

Should attempts to undermine the Master Plan ultimately fail, the City Planning Commission and the City Council will be charged with approving or rejecting the version being crafted by Goody Clancy. Yet, the deficiencies in the scope of the plan will still remain and so too will public queries to the CPC and Council about the strength of the document.

Now I didn't support SB 75 because I would like to see New Orleans adopt a comprehensive plan that might help us make smarter development decisions going forward. I do think there are legitimate criticisms of the process that need to be made but those that offered the bill weren't making them.

That the City Planning Commission has given their trademark rubber stamp to this proposal to relocate City Hall is really frustrating and speaks to their overall abdication of responsibility over the last several years.

City Hall wasn't built all that long ago and when we built it, the city razed a whole section of the city to do so. It was planned. The streets were planned that way. That's why when you stand on Rampart you have this site line to the neon sign atop that building.

I'm wary of the casual way in which we're about to entirely abandon all of that. Especially since we don't seem to have a plan for that entire area of downtown we're prepared to leave vacant. Think about it. Between City Hall and the state office building (currently under demolition) and all those nasty parking lots around Loyola Ave., what exactly is planned for that huge swath of real estate?

Surely someone will propose a really neat sounding project - maybe a park. And maybe it will be a good idea in isolation.

But again, what exactly are we doing? How many more critical recovery projects will get pushed off because of some absolutely critical political legacy project like a new downtown park or a new city hall?

Are those really our priorities?

How much longer are we going to have to put off sustainable investment in neighborhood nodes because of the apparently pressing need to move money around in downtown New Orleans?

Making such a big decision to abandon large swaths of the old administrative and downtown medical district (Charity and the VA), will leave a big gaping hole in the middle of the CBD with absolutely no public plan for what we're going to do with that land.

For the City Planning Commission to be so casual about approving the purchase of the Chevron building strikes me as pathetic.

Why are they so eager to undermine the master plan they worked so hard to create?

I really appreciate Arnie Fielkow's stand on this issue. It takes guts even if this statement kind of sounds like a tweet.

"Great city needs such as the reopening and enhancement of playgrounds, police and fire stations, street repairs, etc., certainly should be top priority when competing with limited city funds," Fielkow wrote.

Yes! What exactly is the vision here? Are we in the business of making this city livable for residents or are we just leaving legacies? Let's put the brakes on this train.

This is precisely the type of thing I thought a comprehensive master plan was supposed to address. I'd love for someone to get Dave Dixon of Goody Clancy on the record about some of this stuff.

Look, I think we need better administrative buildings for municipal government. I also think a monorail rising above the Mississippi River from Riverbend to Holy Cross would be awesome.

Just because something is a good idea doesn't mean we should put it at the top of the list.

Waxman-Markey

I think it's a problem that not one member of the Louisiana Congressional Delegation voted for the Waxman-Markey climate change bill. I certainly wouldn't expect a plurality to do so given how important oil jobs are to our state's economy but given that this state is already feeling the consequences of rising seas, I certainly would think that a little diversity of opinion on the matter would be helpful.

We act like only there's only one sharp edge to the sword.

One more on MJ

I've been most struck by the youtube videos I've seen of that period between 1977-1981 as he transitioned from the Jackson Five to the Jacksons to Michael Jackson the solo superstar. That time when he emerged from adolescence but before he started to mutilate himself.

I'm not always happy about the way these kinds of pop culture stories get overdone but in the case of Michael Jackson, his character has come to mean so many different things to so many different people. And he represents so much that is wonderful and tragic in American society.

These two videos are great.

Here's Michael at 18 with the Jacksons. What I like about this clip aside from the disco spacesuit is seeing him separate himself from the family. His microphone stand is lined up in line with his brothers but his energy carries him to the front of the stage, in front of and apart from his band.



And here is a 20/20 report about Michael at 21 that seems to foreshadow his struggles over the next decades. I can't embed it but I highly recommend it.

A Classic Case

Yesterday, TPM flagged a refreshingly candid quote from Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia:

On Thursday, Rockefeller admitted he expects little bipartisan support.

"There is a very small chance any Republicans will vote for this health-care plan. They were against Medicare and Medicaid [created in the 1960s]. They voted against children's health insurance.

"We have a moral choice. This is a classic case of the good guys versus the bad guys. I know it is not political for me to say that," Rockefeller added.

"But do you want to be non-partisan and get nothing? Or do you want to be partisan and end up with a good health- care plan? That is the choice."

I don't generally like when politicians use good v. bad arguments in attempts to sway public opinion on matters of policy but this strikes me as a pretty damn accurate assessment of what the political dynamics of healthcare reform really are.

The Republican Party has opposed every important link in our social safety net dating back to the New Deal. Arguably, today's GOP establishment is even more ideologically rigid than that which opposed Social Security in the '30s and Medicare and Medicaid in the '60s. They don't believe in helping working people and instead focus their efforts on making life easier for folks that are already extremely wealthy. That is the fundamental choice that their policy positions reflect even though many self-identified GOP voters are more flexible about support for programs that will reduce costs and alleviate suffering for their fellow Americans.

Here's where we are:

On one side is the moral imperative and the will of the overwhelming majority of the American people. I personally agree that we do have a moral imperative to provide affordable quality healthcare to all Americans by creating a public option plan. This, again, is supported by 72% of Americans and even 50% of Republicans.


On the other side you have the Republican establishment, lobbyists, their clients, and their lapdogs in the Democratic Party.

NPR took a photograph of the crowd at a recent Congressional hearing on healthcare and has started to identify the lobbyists currently buying access to our Senators.

Senator Landrieu still seems to be confused as to whether health insurance is a luxury or a fundamental right. She still seems unsure as to whether we should have a substantive healthcare reform bill or one that placates a GOP establishment that has been routinely punished by voters for past opposition to important expansions of the social safety net.

Does she stand with the President, her Party, and the overwhelming majority of the American people or does she stand with the insurance lobby and the restless rump of the GOP?

What side of history does she want to be on?

This is how little people like you and I can lobby the Senator:

Washington D.C.: (202) 224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

The King of Pop

I'm a little surprised by how upset I am by Michael Jackson's death. Everywhere I went yesterday people were talking about it. This really is a major world event deserving of the headlines it is getting.

When you enter Michael Jackson into Pandora, the system basically melts down.

His music really holds up. He was the real deal. I hope his contribution to modern culture is revered by future generations in a way more similar to the Beatles than to Elvis.

Five to None

Department of Administration drinks truth serum on proposed LSU medical center financing:

LSU Admits It Has Had No Business Plan For Proposed Hospital

Check this out...

Two Great Pragmatic Arguments For The Public Option

This Nate Silver post presents a really strong case.

Haney's post today on the same subject is also great read.

Wheels off the wagon

WTF is going on in Baton Rouge today?

State halts land acquisition in Lower Mid-City. Check out the latest at SaveCharityHospital.com.

Already Naming Drinks After Him

A brief preview of the guy that will take Mary Landrieu's Senate seat once she's successfully alienated her supporters.

Take this form from diagnostics over to the bakesale

This morning, I noticed a message on facebook from a friend of mine:

Nacho Mama's own Ms. S- has recently been diagnosed with cancer and needs our help. And you can help too by drinking wonderful adult beverages at Nacho Mama's Uptown tomorrow @ 9pm, $20 gets 4 drinks (house margaritas, draft beer, or well drinks). DJ Slice will be spinnin' away, plus snacks and prizes!

As if fighting cancer isn't tough enough... What a drag. (Not that I don't love DJ Slice)

What breaks my heart about this is that we all know how commonplace this stuff is. We all know people from our lives that bust their butts at work but don't have insurance or sufficient insurance. We all know people from our lives that have gotten sick and have been forced into fundraising for the life-saving care they need. It's called bullsh*t and someone as sweet as Ms S shouldn't have to go through any more of it than she already does. She's worked her whole life and she shouldn't now have to fight for funding for her treatment. She's got enough of a fight on her hands as it is.

I wrote about it yesterday but over the weekend a poll was released confirming that a truly overwhelming majority of Americans now supports substantive healthcare reform and increasing the availability of affordable healthcare. People don't just support the principle, they support the specific policy cure - a government administered public option plan that would compete to lower costs with the existing private insurance industry.

This isn't just Democrats and Independents. Even a majority of Republicans now believe that a public option is the only way to substantially reduce the cost of health insurance. It's not a partisan issue. We're all heartbroken when we have to donate toward someone's life-saving surgery or critical prescription drugs. We want to take care of each other.

In short, we have a national consensus for a public option plan.

Yet, for some reason, the US Senate appears poised to seriously dilute the healthcare reform we need. Our own Senators, David Vitter and Mary Landrieu, have voiced opposition to the public option. This, even though 1 out of 5 Louisianians lack basic health insurance.

In the case of Mary Landrieu, her stated opposition to the public option is an especially tough pill to swallow. She campaigned on a platform favoring healthcare reform. She even specifically pledged to support public option, a promise she has now admitted she's planning to break.

Given the truly staggering bipartisan consensus for the public option, critics - including this one - have questioned whether Senator Landrieu's broken promise can be traced to the $1.6 million she's taken from private healthcare interests and the ties between some of her former staffers and the private insurance lobby.

Landrieu's office has responded that the good Senator doesn't make policy decisions based on campaign donations.

To that I say put your money where your mouth is.

Give back the money you've taken from the private healthcare industry over the years so that the voters of Louisiana can be sure that your stand against working families and the astounding national bipartisan consensus for the public option is derived from a pure conscience.

See also the Daily Kingfish:

NEW ORLEANS, LA.- June 22, 2009 - Today, Louisianans for Real Healthcare Reform called on Louisiana's two senators to return the millions of dollars in campaign donations they have received from the healthcare industry.

Senators Vitter and Landrieu have come under intense criticism for an alleged conflict of interest in their acceptance of millions of dollars in contributions from the health insurance lobby, while at the same time opposing the inclusion of a public option to compete with private health insurance companies as a part of President Obama's plan for healthcare reform.

To remedy this, the group has asked Senator Vitter and Senator Landrieu to return the millions of dollars they have received from the insurance lobby. Zach Hudson, a spokesperson for the group, said that it is the only way for them to maintain credibility if they continue to oppose a public plan.

"Senator Vitter and Senator Landrieu have disappointed the working men and women of Louisiana in their opposition to a public plan that would dramatically lower the cost and increase choice for their constituents' healthcare," he said.

"If it is true what they say, that contributions are not effecting how they vote on healthcare reform, then as an article of faith they should return the money they received from these companies. Only then can they vote with a clear conscience and without any personal or political motivations."

Hudson went on to add that there is still time for the two Senators to change their minds on healthcare reform. "While we obviously have low expectations of Senator Vitter, given his history, Senator Landrieu has a proven track record of fighting and winning for Louisiana's working families. We still have hope that she will continue to stand with them and not with the insurance lobby."

Louisianans for Real Healthcare Reform is a grassroots coalition of activists, bloggers, students, and concerned citizens dedicated to pressuring Louisiana's congressional delegation to support a comprehensive healthcare reform plan that will lower cost and increase choice for the citizens of Louisiana.

We're looking to you, Senator Landrieu, to fight for us and to fight for the passage of real reform including the public option.

Once again, here is how you can get involved:

1. Call Mary Landrieu's offices. Identify yourself as a constituent and tell her you feel betrayed.

Washington D.C.: (202) 224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

2. Write a letter to Senators Landrieu and Vitter through the system set up by Dr. Governor Chairman Howard Dean.

3. Sign on to the petition that Change Congress and Karen Gadbois have started.

4. Multiply!!!!! Tell your friends and family to get on board. Hand them your phone and dial up Mary Landrieu for them. Tell them what's going on. Tell them how close we are. We have fallen short too many times on healthcare over the last sixty 60! years to sit idly by and fall short once more. Not when there is such broad-based agreement on what needs to be done. Phone, fax, email, beeper, postal service, telegraph, carrier pigeon, hologram - however you like to send the message - just do it!

Don't Miss

Dennis Woltering's interviews with Lower Mid-City homeowners from last Friday or Lower Mid-City businessman Mickey Weiser's op-ed in the Times-Picayune from yesterday.

My favorite line from the Woltering interviews belongs to Gail Ruth:

"I think people are getting screwed."

My favorite part of Weiser's op-ed:

HB 780 breezed through the House, 94-2. It crashed and burned in the Senate Education Committee, where it was "deferred" by a vote of 6-1.

You have to ask -- why are LSU and the State Office of Facility Planning so afraid of this bill? This bill should be embraced by LSU and any reasonable and thoughtful legislator. Wouldn't having a valid, up-to-date financing plan help speed the process? Who builds property or opens a business without clear and present funding? That's Business 101.

I should know; I took the course at LSU.

I further highlighted both today at SaveCharityHospital.com.

Psst: Senator Landrieu

Nate Silver discusses the Times poll I linked to earlier today:

The bottom line is that the health care debate is not really being played out in the court of public opinion. If it were, Congress would pass a robust plan with a public option that was funded by raising taxes on cigarettes, booze, and people making over $250,000, and we'd live happily ever after (or not). Rather, this is a behind-the-scenes fight at the committee level, where certain senators who have ample financial incentives to please the insurance industry have a disproportionate amount of control over the process.

I'm generally not one to carp about special interest money -- seeing politics through that lens is often an overly reductive formulation that serves as a catch-all excuse any time Congress does something you don't like. But on something like the public option, which has broad public support and which would probably reduce -- not increase -- the long-run bill to the taxpayers, it is just about the only way to explain what's going on in Washington.

C'mon, Senator Landrieu. Come on. Your stance on public option is transparent bullsh_t.

Only tourists deserve transit?

And only the least adventurous ones at that.

--

An official WCBF tip of the hat to Transport for Nola for keeping an eye on the RTA.

To briefly synthesize what's going on, and please correct any inaccuracies:

The city actually has a little bit of money for a new streetcar line. Perhaps more to the point, there is a lot of federal money available for public transportation via the stimulus bill. To tap those funds, we need to present a compelling project. More consequentially, we need a project that will serve real neighborhoods and real New Orleanians while also opening up some economic opportunities to under-performing areas.

The RTA, or rather, the private firm Veolia to whom the RTA has contracted away all of its responsibilities, recently pitched three separate proposals.

One would be a new streetcar line starting at Canal and Rampart that would run on Rampart and then all the way down St. Claude Avenue to Poland Ave. One variation would be to instead run the line down Elysian Fields to the riverfront instead of taking it all the way down St. Claude.

One would be a new line connecting the Union Passenger Terminal to Canal St. via Loyola Avenue.

The last would be a new line connecting the Convention Center to Canal St.

There's an opportunity for outrage here and it's obvious. Guess which plan has been dubbed 'preferred?'

Of course it's the one that only tourists will use - the one on Convention Center Boulevard.

There are a few really dumb reasons this plan has traction over the other more utilitarian options.

First, Veolia believes that the Convention Center route would have the greatest short-term ridership, thereby increasing revenue. However, this is an insulting rationale since the other options would surely contribute to more robust use of public transportation by the residential public over the long term as well as boost public support for future capital investments in transit.

The second rationale for the Convention Center Boulevard route is that the Convention Center folks have a little bit of extra money that they would throw into the project. This is insulting since that money is just sitting there from the Convention Center's failed phase four expansion. They should probably just return it to the taxpayers.

OR...

THEY COULD USE IT TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO THE STREETCAR THEY ALREADY HAVE!

That's right! The Convention Center already has a streetcar! The riverfront line sits behind the Convention Center and has low ridership because nobody knows it's there.

The guys at Transport for NOLA have a great compromise idea that would draw on the two other streetcar line proposals. I think it's the best proposal, the one most likely to get funded, and one that gives the city really strong options the next time money frees up for another expansion.

Their idea suggests running a streetcar line up Howard Avenue and down either Loyola or S. Rampart to Canal and then down Rampart to St. Claude and as far down St. Claude as money would allow, probably to Press St.

I think this line would develop really good ridership. After all, the St. Claude Avenue bus line has the highest ridership in the RTA.

I like this idea because it connects our streetcar lines into a discernible system. It connects uptown to downtown and offers incentive to build along the most depressed blocks of the CBD. Plus, it gives us a bunch of choices next time around whether we want to bring Elysian Fields Avenue into the mix or extend the St. Claude line all the way down to Poland.

View the Transport for NOLA resolution in pdf form here.

Sign on to it here.

The Transport guys have done a great job and really lay out a compelling case. It's not just that their proposal is the best for the city, but it is most likely to win federal funding. Read the resolution.

There is a really critical Thursday morning meeting about this as well:

WHEN: Thursday, June 25th, 10AM
WHERE:
RTA Headquarters
2817 Canal Street (one block lakeside of Broad Street)
New Orleans, LA 70119

Ladies and Gents, it's sexy to be a public transit wonk in the 21st Century.

NATIONAL CONSENSUS

What's the bad version of a daydream? A nightmare you have while awake... What is that called?

I think it might be called Mary Landrieu's inexplicable sell-out on healthcare.

Look at this new poll.


I mean really. A whopping 72% of Americans are demanding a public option as part of healthcare reform.

Even a majority of Republicans even support a public option and just not by a nose - by an eleven point margin.

Even a question raising the dreaded tax issue still yields incredibly strong majorities in favor of substantive reform including the public option.

Seriously, when was the last time a domestic policy issue yielded such broad national consensus? Has there been such a no-brainer big domestic issue in the last 30 years?

Given that Mary Landrieu wasn't afraid to campaign on her support for the public option and given that public support for such a program remains, without exaggerating, overwhelming, why has she now suddenly sold us down the river?

It's incredibly sad that the only credible answer that I've heard involves the hundreds of thousands of dollars she's accepted from private insurance interests over the years.

We need a champion for real healthcare reform, not an obstacle.

She could clear this all up if she would stop playing politics with our lives and actually be the leader we elected her to be.

We must keep hounding her. Imagine you're arguing with your health insurance company over witheld care or denied reimbursements. So now you should be ready to call daily.

Washington D.C.: (202) 224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

Ryan at the Daily Kingfish has also recommended using the emails.

Click here to email both Senator Landrieu and Senator Vitter.

(You know, given these poll results, it would appear that Senator Vitter is voting out of step with the majority consensus of his own party. Perhaps some of the conservative blogs out might care to chide Republican Senators for their opposition to the public option.)

Also, if you have not yet signed this petition, make sure you do now.

Abandonment canard dead and buried

LSU Med School is not going to leave New Orleans.

Public option supported by overwhelming majority of Americans

This just in from Greg Sargent's blog:

If this one doesn’t stiffen the spines of Dems who are wavering on whether to include a public health insurance option in the reform package, nothing will.

A new poll by a nonpartisan, D.C.-based research group finds truly overwhelming support for the public option. The kicker: The poll was bankrolled partly by previous opponents of health care reform, including one of the nation’s best-known insurance companies.

The poll — which was just released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a D.C. policy think tank — finds that a majority (53%) strongly back the availability of a public plan, while another 30% “somewhat” support it. That’s a total of 83% in favor of a public plan — a staggeringly large majority.

Even more interesting, guess who paid for the poll? From the release:

This survey was made possible with support from AARP, American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Buck Consultants, Chevron, Deere & Company, IBM, Mercer, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Principal Financial Group, Schering-Plough Corp., Shell Oil Company, The Commonwealth Fund, and Towers Perrin.

Not exactly a band of raging lefties. The American Association of Retired Persons and Blue Cross Blue Shield were among the opponents of HillaryCare in the 1990s.

While the news in this poll is not uniformly good for Obama’s plan by any means, the public plan is the main focus of debate right now, and on this, the poll is unequivocal. What’s more, it’s backed up by the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, which finds that three in four think the public option is important.

Senator Landrieu - WAKE UP!

Mary Landrieu's sell-out on public option touches a nerve

Last week, Senator Landrieu indicated opposition to the public option, perhaps the most critical measure being considered as Congress negotiates healthcare reform. Creating a public option would create an alternative insurance plan that would help cover those traditionally ignored by the private insurance industry and would increase the affordability of insurance across the board by encouraging price competition.

The Senator's aversion to the reform breaks a promise she made on the campaign trail leading to insinuations that she's been compromised by her reliance on campaign donations from and other ties to the private insurance and healthcare industries.

Landrieu's sell-out on healthcare reform has touched a nerve as many progressive bloggers have been hammering away on the issue non stop. Big organizations like Change Congress and Democracy For America have gotten in on the act as well and have launched a two-pronged campaign to pressure the Senator at the local and national levels.

I'm not sure that the Senator has ever really felt heat from her progressive base. She takes really bad votes all the time, on climate change for instance, on which she is not held accountable. I don't think I'm going out on too much of a limb when I make the generalization that many of Landrieu's supporters understand and are willling to accept that there are going to be times where the Senator votes against progressive interests.

For me and many others, it would appear, the issue of affordable and accessible healthcare is not up for negotiation. For instance, this letter from a former full-time Landrieu volunteer was distributed by Change Congress:

"I'm a lifelong resident of Metairie, Louisiana, and I volunteered over 40 hours a week for Senator Landrieu's campaign from February through November last year.

I believed in her. But now I feel very disillusioned.

As a college student, I am currently being covered by my parent’s health insurance, but once I graduate that coverage will stop. In this economic climate, it's going to be hard enough to find a job. Now I'm worried about finding affordable health insurance, too.

If Senator Landrieu votes against the public option, I may not have a choice. Health coverage may not even be a possibility for me. I am very disappointed that not only is she opposing the public option, but giving no explanation as to why.

I hope her contributions from big insurance companies aren't leading her to vote against the interests of her constituents and supporters like me.”

You good friend and mine, Karen Gadbois, has also agreed to work with Change Congress on the issue.

I live in New Orleans and run Squandered Heritage, a non-profit that roots out post-Katrina corruption.

I'm also a breast cancer survivor.

And even though I work full-time -- I'm uninsured.

Just last week, Senator Mary Landrieu announced she is siding with insurance companies by opposing President Obama's plan for a universally available public healthcare option like Medicare. Obama's public option would force the for-profit insurance industry to compete by lowering prices and offering better care. It would also help families like mine get the healthcare we need.

I'm disappointed in Sen. Landrieu. The big health and insurance interests gave her 1.6 million in contributions and now she's siding with them against working families like mine.

But that's not all. Lamar White of the Central Louisiana blog, CenLamar, wrote a really beautiful piece about why the public option matters to him.

The Public Option Is Not A Political Issue; It Is A Human Rights Issue:

I am a 27 year old with cerebral palsy. Fortunately, my disability is very mild, and it does not affect cognition. I have degrees in Religious Studies and English from Rice University, and I’ve spent the past two and a half years working as the special assistant to the Mayor of Alexandria, Louisiana.

Until I was ten years old, I was covered by my family’s private health care plan, Traveler’s Insurance. Because of my disability, I spent much of my childhood either in hospitals or in physical therapy.

--

At ten years old, Traveler’s told my family that I was no longer eligible for coverage.

At ten years old, I was told that, essentially, I was the best I could ever be; as I recall, they specifically refused any additional payments for physical therapy.

I had metal screws and metal plates in my body– things that were implanted as temporary fixes, as a way of guiding and instructing my growth, things that needed to come out.

--

Access to health care should be considered a fundamental human right. And in the richest country in the history of our planet, this access should be unfettered and should include the services of the best professionals in their fields.

More importantly, this fundamental right to access should never be predicated on the whims and desires of a for-profit corporation.

When taking a stand against the public option, you are effectively standing against the poor, the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled. Period.

And most importantly: I know that I am not entirely unique. I know there are, right now, kids just like I used to be, kids filing through the doors of our publicly-subsidized hospitals, kids whose families can only hope that their child will be able to see the doctor who drove up in a Porsche (this, to be sure, is my experience with a certain doctor), kids who are deemed uninsurable, and kids who will never have the opportunities that I had because, fortunately, despite my disability, I belong to a family who believed in exhausting every option.

Mary Landrieu is alienating her core supporters. Her reelection campaign website continues to feature a blogroll including myself, CenLamar, Your Right Hand Thief, and the Daily Kingfish. Three of the four blogs featured on her own reelection campaign website have come out against the Senator's sell-out to healthcare profiteers over the last week. (I'm sure you're not far behind, Oyster.)

And the phone calls have been pouring in. Normally when you call her D.C. office outside of regular business hours, you're invited to leave a voicemail. Yesterday I made an attempt at 5:37 ET and was disconnected after being told that the Senator's voicemail was full and could not accept any new messages.

We must continue to flood her offices with our concerns. Tell your friends. We have got to change her mind on the public option. This is the most important domestic issue for me and nearly everyone I know, democrats, independents, non-voters, and yes, even a few pragmatic republicans. Mary Landrieu promised to deliver substantive healthcare reform and promised to fight for a public option. We must force her to keep those promises to her supporters and to the working families of Louisiana.

Washington D.C.: (202) 224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

The cynic in me says that this can't work but you don't have to look far back into history to see evidence to the contrary. Just weeks ago, another moderate Senator, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, was backed down from his own statements against the public option after a flurry of outrage from his constituents. We can do this. Keep making calls. Tell your story.

Bigger Gamble Than We've Been Lead To Believe

If you haven't read this NY Times article from last week about the private biosciences industry, it's a must. I've never really challenged GNOBEDD and LSU/VA boosters' assertions about job creation and economic impact of investing in attracting the industry but the Times seems to indicate that it's not the silver bullet they've made it out to be.

At a recent global biotech convention in Atlanta, 27 states, including Hawaii and Oklahoma, paid as much as $100,000 each to entice companies on the exhibition floor. All this for a highly risky industry that has turned a profit only one year in the past four decades.

Skeptics cite two major problems with the race for biotech. First, the industry is highly concentrated in established epicenters like Boston, San Diego and San Francisco, which offer not just scientific talent but also executives who know how to steer drugs through the arduous approval process.

“Most of these states probably don’t stand much of a chance to develop a viable biotech industry,” said Gary P. Pisano, a Harvard Business School professor and the author of “Science Business: The Promise, the Reality and the Future of Biotech.”

“You can always get a few top people,” Mr. Pisano said, “but you need a lot of critical mass.”

Second, biotech is a relatively tiny industry with a lengthy product-development process, and even in its largest clusters offers only a fraction of the jobs of traditional manufacturing. In the United States, only 43 biotechnology companies employ more than 1,000 people, according to BioAbility, a consulting firm in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

There is no guarantee that if a blockbuster drug materialized, it would be manufactured and marketed in the same place it was developed and tested.

See also savecharityhospital.com

Sand Trap

Or should I say money pit?

As transparently insulting it is for the Louisiana Legislature to burn another $9.2 million propping up an effing golf course, the thing that makes me really ticked off is that New Orleans is proceeding full steam ahead with the construction of TWO taxpayer subsidized golf courses in City Park.

The idea behind these courses is that they'll add revenue once they lure the Zurich Classic away from TPC in Avondale.

Ummm not so much.

Seriously, is it just me or has literally every single public investment post-Katrina been an absolute joke?

I have written extensively in the past about the flawed ideology and corrupt individuals behind the redevelopment of the St. Bernard project.

Buried on ABC26

I'm really glad Cliff is back to discussing municipal issues again. On Sunday, he questioned the rationale behind the DA's hiring of fired NOPD officer David Lapene.

[W]hy would he hire someone that was fired from the police department for a fight that appears to be racially motivated? When I read the story I was trying to imagine what he had to do to get fired from the police department. It’s not like the NOPD has a history of zero tolerance for bad behavior so he had to really do or say something crazy to be terminated. There was five officers involved in the fight and he is the only one that got terminated. Is Leon Cannizzarro playing good ole boy politics at the expense of potentially losing trials down the line? The reason I say that is because I am sure not many people will know who David Lapene is when he is out looking for evidence or interviewing witnesses. My worry is what’s going to happen when that defense attorney tells the jury that will certainly have some black people on it, the person responsible for the evidence was once fired from the police force for fighting and shouting racial slurs at a bunch of black transit authority workers. All it takes is one person with enough distrust of the system to hang a jury.

That's the substance of the matter and Cliff does a great job explaining precisely why this was a really stupid hire by the new DA. Today David at the Gambit reported that Mr. Lapene has resigned. In a letter to DA Cannizzaro, Lapene wrote he was stepping down because "continuing my employment with you could interfere with your good work in attempting to make a positive difference in this community.”

I'd like to point everyone's attention to this report from ABC26's Meg Gatto, the substance of which has not seemed to permeate the rest of the media for reasons I don't understand.




This was not just a thoughtless hire. It smacks of nepotism. Cannizzaro got put through the paces on WBOK on Monday morning and he deserved it.

That said, this morning Clay lists a bunch of links related to the feud between Cannizzaro and Police Superintendent Warren Riley and really Riley's generally shameful stewardship of the NOPD. I really wish WBOK's morning team would give Mr. Riley the same tough questions they did Mr. Cannizzaro instead of worshipping him like he's god's gift to crime fighting like they have the last few times I've listened in.

Another thing to note is that ABC 26 continues to be the only embeddable local news station. Considering they're not at the top of the ratings heap, this strikes me as an important competitive advantage they've given themselves to help increase the impact of their reports. Their hounding of Mr. Cannizzaro over his daughter's connections to Mr. Lapene is, IMO, what precipitated Mr. Lapene's resignation.

Senator Landrieu: Who's it gonna be?

Are you looking out for us or are you looking out for them?

I continue to make calls. Won't you join me?

Call her in D.C. at (202)224-5824.
Call her in New Orleans at (504) 589-2427.

Tell Mary Landrieu to do the right thing. Tell her not to betray her constituents and her state. We need a public option as part of healthcare reform. We need her help to fight for it.

The high cost of health insurance hurts me and nearly everyone I know.

I will not have Senator Landrieu sell me out to appease a bunch of special interest lobbyists.

I'm Wearing Green

The news and photos and videos leaking out of Tehran are absolutely captivating. Andrew Sullivan has provided the best steady stream of hard information, witness accounts, and rumor all weekend long.

This photo, of a protester helping an injured riot cop, seems destined for timelessness.

For no apparent reason, I've always been attracted to Iran and to Persian culture. It's always been at or near the top of my list places to travel. Having not lived in cities with particularly large Iranian/Persian communities, I find myself struggling to figure out how I've had such a disproportionate number of crushes on girls of that background. The reason must be buried thousands of years deep in my ancestral blood.

A lot of folks are complaining about US cable media's total silence on the emerging protests. The thing I find kind of surprising about this is that the media conditions for this event - foreign, mostly unexpected, chaotic waves of information, occurring over a weekend - seem very similar to me to the Mumbai massacre. Yet with that event, cable media provided round-the-clock frenzied coverage. I wrote critically of the coverage of the Mumbai attack at the other end of the spectrum - that it was too sensational and that there was an irresponsible blurring of rumor and fact. The events in Iran are incredibly compelling and the new information is so fast-breaking - I can't fathom why cable news wouldn't want in.

Worse Than Originally Thought

Senator Mary Landrieu's refusal to embrace a public option as an integral piece of any substantive healthcare reform effort has had many of us fuming this week.

Ryan at Kingfish inferred that one reason Senator Landrieu might be so quick to sell out the working families of Louisiana might be that she has become beholden to the insurance interests that gave over $600,000 to her reelection campaign.

But it's actually much worse than that. The Public Campaign Action Fund, a non-partisan non-profit group devoted to strengthening campaign finance laws, has produced a far more depressing account of Mary Landrieu's ties to the private healthcare industry through campaign finance and the incestuous exchange of staffers.

Not good, Senator. Louisianians need serious healthcare reform. A public option is critical for reducing costs. This state has one of the highest percentages of uninsured in the country. It is shameful for the Senator to let her loyalties to sickness profiteers trump her responsibilities to the people of this state.

From the Public Campaign Action Fund:

Sen. Landrieu has depended on the insurance and health care industries to fund her campaigns for public office

• According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Sen. Landrieu has raised $1,668,693 from health care and insurance interests throughout her federal political career.
  
  
• Sen. Landrieu has received substantial contributions throught her career from leading health care industries, including HMOs and pharmaceutical companies:

Health Professionals	$600,366
Insurance	$376,731
Hospitals/Nursing Homes	$266,645
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$228,446
Health Services/HMOs	$160,005

• Sen. Landrieu has also received $677,014 from registered lobbyists and their political action committees throughout her career.
  
  
• Sen. Landrieu has received large contributions from some of the largest companies and groups in the health care and insurance industries.

Tenet Healthcare	$26,000
American Optometric Association	$25,500
GlaxoSmithKline	$25,000
American Hospital Association	$23,000
Amgen	$21,000
Blue Cross Blue Shield	$20,479

• Sen. Landrieu’s leadership political action committee, Jazz PAC, has received significant contributions from the health care industry throughout her career.

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$13,000
Health Professionals	$10,500
Hospitals/Nursing Homes	$6,000

• Jazz PAC has also received $29,000 from registered lobbyists and their political action committees
  .
• According to the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Party Time website, a number of health care lobbyists hosted a $2000/$1000 fundraising reception for Sen. Landrieu on July 28, 2008. The lobbyist hosts (and clients) included: Nicole Venable of McAllister & Quinn (Novartis, SERMO), and numerous lobbyists from the Chamber of Commerce.

Former staffers for Sen. Landrieu have made lucrative careers as lobbyists for the health care industry and other major business interests

• Donna Denison, a former staffer for Sen. Landrieu, is vice president with lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates. The firm’s first quarter 2009 clients (and fees) include: BJC Healthcare ($60,000), Fairview Hospital and Healthcare Services ($80,000), and Memorial Healthcare System ($70,000).
  
  
• Jeffrey Wiener, a former legislative assistant for Sen. Landrieu, is a lobbyist with Fabiani & Company. The firm’s first quarter 2009 clients (and fees) include: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals ($50,000), Lundbeck Research ($100,000), and Trius Therapeutics ($60,000).
  
  
• Jason Mathews, Sen. Landrieu’s former chief of staff, is director of congressional affairs with the Chamber of Commerce.

She has got to hear from us.

Call her in D.C. at (202)224-5824.
Call her in New Orleans at (504) 589-2427.

Next Up on HB 780

The Senate Education Committee.

TOMORROW.

Click the link for details and an easy way to email the Senators about your strong support for a viable business plan for the possible LSU medical complex BEFORE demolitions can occur.

Seriously Mary

SO MAD AT YOU RIGHT NOW!!!

Ryan at the Daily Kingfish has helpfully pointed out why you may be so quick to betray your supporters and the working families of Louisiana on lowering health insurance costs.

You have taken north of $600,000 from the insurance industry and you have broken an explicit campaign promise when you supported a pledge calling for a public option to lower costs.

I feel totally betrayed. You represent me not them.

Chris Bowers at Open Left is insinuating that you're a bigger obstacle to affordable healthcare than Rush Limbaugh.

You know what? As of now, it appears he's right.

Surely, a lot of progressives from other states are making calls to Mary's office about this but she needs to hear it from her constituents.

I'm going to call again tomorrow. This is unacceptable.

I am calling her in D.C. at (202)224-5824.

I am calling her in New Orleans at (504) 589-2427.

Intolerable

Mary Landrieu says she's against a public health insurance option.

This makes me FURIOUS. I am calling her now.

I am calling her in D.C. at (202)224-5824.

I am calling her in New Orleans at (504) 589-2427.

Look, I have come to accept that Mary Landrieu is always going to vote more conservative than I'd like. The reason I supported her was that I thought that at the very least, when there were really important lines in the sand to be drawn, she would vote for the interests of working people. I have not appreciated many of her votes so far since reelection but I still held out hope that on the big issues she'd be there.

I have voted for her and volunteered for her based on that. If she is anything other than an enthusiastic champion of lowered health insurance costs, she'll never have me as a phone banker again!

To play cowardly politics with healthcare is intolerable. It is a tipping point issue for me and I find any waffling on it to be unacceptable.

If we make it known how important this is to us, she may change her mind. She needs to hear from us before she takes an unequivocal position.

Her staffers are totally nice though so don't be too angry with them.

Calling all Virginia Democrats

In January I predicted that the Virginia Gubernatorial Democratic primary (TODAY) would be big story and a huge indicator as to the direction of the Democratic Party.

I was half right. This race indicates the direction of the party but it hasn't really been a huge story. It hasn't really been covered on mainstream cable news as much as one would have though, especially given that Terry McAuliffe makes for such trainwreck TV.

I guess Democratic Party reform efforts won't get any attention when the GOP can't even throw a damn dinner party without the whole thing turning into a soap opera.

Anyway, I still think it's HUGELY important to keep Terry McAuliffe out of the general election. I was thinking Brian Moran would be the alternative candidate to take him down but it turns out that Creigh Deeds has hugely impressed VA voters. Go with either.

Anybody but the hack.

Terrymania is a surefire way to undo the progress that the Left has achieved in Virginia.

If you've got a pal in Virginia, call 'em up and remind them to vote today.

On the threat that LSU will abandon New Orleans

I think it's dishonorable and immoral but I also think it's inaccurate.

See here.

Jumping the shark

Mayor Nagin quarantined in Shanghai after possible Swine Flu exposure.

Totally surreal.

Did Mr. Nagin name an acting mayor before his journey? Would it be the role of City Council to appoint one in the event he did not? Is the Mayor going to be fit to lead if he now must face down this mutant cyborg super flu?

This is actually one of the most graceful Nagin resignation scenarios out there.

Drink fluids.

Speaking of The_Swine_Flu: (nsfw)

Deal or no deal ctnd

I wondered on Friday whether or not an immunity deal would include some sort of gag order that might lead to the kind of categorical denial we heard from Anthony Jones' attorneys last week. Indeed that is a possibility but it doesn't totally explain why Jones' defense team would go so far as to issue such a strong push back.

In fact, there may be no explicit or implied immunity. There may yet be, however, implied leniency in exchange for grand jury testimony and perhaps explicit leniency down the road in exchange for testimony in potential future criminal cases. I'm not certain the DOJ is as liberal with the use of immunity as I was considering in different scenarios on Friday.

For immunity from the DOJ, I imagine you'd have to do a lot more than just testify. You'd have to come forward in the midst of the criminal activity, guide the investigation, and maybe wear a wire.

I'm not convinced that Jones is the keystone witness in the case. I've heard nothing to indicate he came forward at any point before it became obvious that Jones himself was likely to catch a charge.

Therefore, I think the deal for Jones is more likely to be a sliding scale implied leniency (in which the more helpful he is, the more likely charges will be plead down) and not immunity of any kind.

I know that there are attorneys out there who read this blog. I'd love if you'd weigh in with your thoughts on how this all works.

That's it. I find this all very interesting obviously.

Beautiful weekend.

Update: I haven't whined about it enough lately but this is another example of why I should have a daily talk radio show. I'd invite two lawyers on and we'd talk this out. Tens of people would listen. Tens!

Deal or no deal

From WWLTV on Anthony Jones and the grand jury, emphasis theirs:

Former federal prosecutor Chic Foret said Jones makes the perfect witness in a case like this. He said Jones was in the perfect place to know and observe what may have been going on at City Hall.

“For him to be on the frontlines, it would appear he was testifying with great confidence and that would indicate perhaps he has immunity,” Foret said.

Burns said his client Jones has never been offered immunity.

“Anthony Jones does not have immunity and has never been offered immunity by anyone nor has it ever been discussed or mentioned by any federal agent or AU,” Burns said.

The logical follow-up question that I'd like to know the answer to is, and maybe this is for Mr. Chic Foret and not Mr. Lon Burns:

Would an immunity deal prohibit disclosure or otherwise gag speaking about any contact regarding immunity?

Thoughts, Background on Anthony Jones, Lon Burns

Dambala has a post up questioning Anthony Jones' rationale for holding a press conference today to discuss his appearance before a federal grand jury and the allegations swirling around him.

I think the reason for the appearance is to create just enough space for himself so that he can keep his job and salary at City Hall so that he can pay for the legal representation of Lionel "Lon" Burns.

FYI:

I've heard Burns does not have a whole lot of white collar criminal defense experience. Also recall that he was forced to resign from Harry Connick's office back in the day after he was caught planting evidence. See this, this, and this:

In January 2001, the state appeals court held that George Lee III's charges for sexual battery and kidnapping could not stand because New Orleans prosecutor Lionel Burns withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense and jury. In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Lee also alleged that Burns planted inculpatory evidence.

During Lee's October 2000 trial, Judge Arthur Hunter declared a mistrial and held Burns in contempt of the court after he asked a testifying officer to pull a wad of napkins out of the pants Lee was supposedly wearing during the assault. The state's evidence showed that Lee would use napkins to clean himself after an assault; finding napkins in Lee's pants helped the prosecution's case. Yet Burns had not disclosed the napkins' existence to the defense. Hunter sentenced Burns to six months in prison for contempt, which was reduced to a $500 fine on appeal.

Additional notes on SB 75, Mayor's race

In my latest Mayoral race roundup, a reader wrote in to suggest that I'd been too hasty to remove trumpeter Irvin Mayfield from the list of potential contenders. This is probably right. He should be on there. It's hard to gauge where he'd fall on that list. People love Irvin Mayfield but I kind of doubt people will love him in politics.

Also, I indicated that State Sen. Murray might be playing to developers because of his sponsorship of SB 75, which would put the master plan to another referendum after a charter change was passed by voters last year. A commenter indicated that this was likely as HRI Properties, Pres Kabacoff's development firm, had paid for the T-P add that urged support for the bill.

Now, proof:

sb75ad

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Finally

I've been very critical of inflexible trailer eviction deadlines and have always been discouraged by the total lack of local leadership on the issue. This past Monday was another hard deadline that threatened to throw hundreds of poor and disabled individuals and families onto the streets.

So, I'm extremely heartened by the Obama Administration policy change that will keep roofs over the heads of our most vulnerable neighbors - seniors, the disabled, and the sick.

The Obama administration will announce plans today to virtually give away roughly 1,800 mobile homes to 3,400 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina who are living in government-provided housing along the Gulf Coast, officials said.

The administration also will make available $50 million in rental vouchers to income-eligible trailer occupants who move to targeted housing projects, and take over from Louisiana the job of helping residents find permanent homes, said a senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the formal announcement.

"We knew we needed to bring this program to a close," the official said. "We also want to ensure a humane and secure transition for all of them."

This is a much better policy than closing our eyes and pretending that the threat of eviction is a magic bullet for moving people into permanent housing. Good stuff. This announcement is a step in the right direction.

Lombardi Look-Alikes

I woke up this morning thinking that maybe I was a bit unthoughtful about pointing out the resemblance between LSU's John Lombardi and Uncle Junior. There must be a few other candidates that deserve at least some consideration.



I mean, he could just as easily be a young Henry Kissinger or an ageless Larry King. Larry doesn't have an age since he became a cyborg at some point during the Lewinsky scandal.

But then it hit me. Aren't thick black glasses pretty in right now? Don't I wear black glasses?

Yep. That's it. Lombardi is a drop-dead Johnny Depp.

Just like me.

Dead Ringer?

Go check out the latest at SaveCharityHospital.com. Last week LSU President Dr. John Lombardi made some rather impolitic remarks at a university get-together in New Orleans to discuss the floundering hospital process.

Make sure you go take a listen.




I mean, c'mon. Which one is John Lombardi and which one is Uncle Junior? Even he'd have to admit the resemblance is quite striking.

They're both equally foul-mouthed apparently, too.

Oyster once pointed out that Dr. Lombardi has apparently had some issues with his language in the past. See this column referring to an incident that occurred while Lombardi worked for the University of Florida.

He got into more hot water not long after that for allegedly bullying some visiting law school deans.

Not classy, not at all.

UPDATE: James Gill has also picked up on Lombardi's salty tirade.

Pearls before swine is putting it mildly. The sparkling intellects of LSU offer New Orleans a lifeline, but the populace is too stupid and backward to be roused from its torpor. Time is running out to get the rabble in line.

So says LSU President John Lombardi, who nevertheless remains determined to save New Orleans from itself. Lombardi is just the man for the job, being, as he is fond of pointing out, from the efficient north.

--

LSU, of course, would never do that. It doesn't deal in such small sums. For a few hundred million, however, it will let its superior imagination run riot. In seeking the full replacement cost of $492 million for Charity, LSU provided an account of the storm damage that was wildly exaggerated.

Doctors and military personnel who worked at the hospital immediately after the storm have testified that the hospital had been readied for re-use within weeks, and have produced photographs to prove it.

But LSU told a tale of terminal destruction in hopes of grabbing the maximum loot. FEMA was smart enough to see through the misrepresentation, setting fair compensation at $150 million.

Far from being embarrassed by its duplicity, LSU still hopes to get the full $492 million on appeal. Lombardi told his audience that the feds "owe" the state that much and that it is "the critical linchpin point amount." Does that mean the medical complex won't happen unless LSU can pull the wool over FEMA's eyes? That must be a challenge even for the geniuses who run LSU.

It may not be enough anyway, for LSU will still need to borrow at least $400 million, and state Treasurer John Kennedy said last week that bond underwriters will laugh LSU out of the room when they see its business plan for the medical complex.

Kennedy uttered those unkind words just hours before Lombardi addressed the troops, assuring them that the business plan had, in fact, been "validated by every smart consultant in the western world." You'd have to be as dumb as Lombardi thinks we are to believe that.

Gov. Bobby Jindal isn't. The LSU plan, he declared Monday, is inadequate.

The Punchline: Race to City Ha!

It has been many, many moons since WCBF last examined the upcoming race for Mayor.

Though there is no public campaign under way, there are a few candidates known to be running and several more that are known to be actively considering the possibility. Others might still yet drop in at the last minute.

The only thing that's certain is that the whole thing is going to be giant circus.

I'm going to try to rank potential candidates from least likely to most likely. I've maintained a very lengthy list of candidates in previous check-ins but I'm going to really try to pare this down as much as possible.

13. Honorable Mention: Bill Jefferson, Helena Moreno, Virginia Boulet, Jimmy Fahrenholtz, Eddie Sapir, Jackie Clarkson, Irvin Mayfield, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, Stacy Head, Edwin Lombard, Michael Bagneris, Arnie Fielkow, Paul Valteau, Michael Cowen, regularly assorted Manny Chevrolets (not excluding myself.)

Just names I've seen mentioned before but who either have denied interest, are devoid of name recognition, or otherwise have no compelling reason to run.

12. Rob Couhig - Sure.

11. Jay Lapeyre - Does the Chairman of the New Orleans Business Council want to be Mayor? Think he'll want to explain to voters what the super-secret NOBC is and does? Will he tell us who else is on it? Will he admit that they secretly control everything anyway and he really doesn't need to be Mayor to have power? Weird...

10. James Perry - Not sure how things are really going with this campaign. Any local article alluding to the Mayoral race leaves him out. That's not a good sign when other names mentioned as confirmed candidates - Austn Badon and Edwin Murray - aren't exactly kings of charisma. Word is the Perry campaign has hired a more experienced campaign hand to help get the message out.

9. Cheryl Gray Evans, Cedric Richmond, Troy Carter, Kenya Smith, etc. - I don't expect any of these folks to seriously run for Mayor. Evans and Richmond are likely considering challenging Joseph Cao for Congress. The reason that these names are lumped together on this list is that the timing of the 2010 Mayoral election and 2010 Congressional election are such that potential Congressional candidates may try to run something like a practice campaign in the Mayoral. It's a great way to raise money and improve name recognition. Candidates that don't make the Mayoral cut can quickly turn around and transfer their election funds. This option would seem especially intriguing for someone like Cheryl Gray Evans, who is reasonably popular in her Senate district but not well known enough citywide to really raise the money she'd need to win a Mayoral election. But a solid effort would really raise her profile and leave her plenty of time to regroup to take down Cao.

8. Edwin Murray - It will be interesting to see whether Murray's sponsorship of SB 75, which would put the Master Plan to a popular vote, reflects a groundswell of concern that the CPC and Council can't be trusted to vote on a plan in accordance with the charter change approved by voters from last November OR if it instead foreshadows a series of campaign donations from development interests. I don't mean that sentence to be as cynical as it probably reads - I'm told Murray is a reasonable guy - I just don't see how he raises any kind of money in this field.

7. Glapion/Gusman - I group these two together because neither has given any indication they're running. Roy Glapion Jr. has expressed some interest and remains viable because of the fundraising potential through his powerful family network but I have not seen any indication he's moved forward in even the most cursory way. I haven't heard a peep recently about Sheriff Marlin Gusman either, though it would appear to me that he could be a formidable candidate just based on the fact that he's decently popular and holds citywide office.

6. Warren Riley - It was in the papers that he's met with - or rather, sent someone to meet with - a big fundraiser/manager type. I'm still speechless about this. That he's this high on the list is a testament to the city's leadership vacuum.

5. Austin Badon - He's got Nagin's old campaign team and spends his time in the legislature doing favors for conservatives like promoting vouchers and resolving Congress to vote against EFCA. These things make me not like him. At all.

4. John Georges: With Arnie Fielkow supposedly out of the picture, John Georges has paved the way for the most expensive 3rd place finish in the history of municipal politics in the United States. He's got a phony website and is in the process of staffing up.

3. Karen Carter Peterson - I haven't heard that she's interested but she'd be a top contender if she decided to run. She seems to be the only person left with any semblance of a traditional turnout machine and has a large enough network that she'd be able to raise sums that others won't be able to touch. (Arnie Fielkow would be somewhere around here if he changed his mind and decided to run for Mayor.)

2. Mitch Landrieu - I kind of thought that Tulane/James Carville poll was just chumming the water for Mitch. He's the front-runner if he decides to run though I've heard he may be vying for a federal appointment instead. Either way, who the hell else would you rank as most likely?

1. VOID - Does anyone really even want this job? There is a tremendous vacuum here, particularly when one considers the lack of active and viable African American candidates in an election where African American voters will be the clear majority. This is going to be an absolute circus, what with the e-maelstrom unfolding concurrently on top of everything else. Circus might not be a strong enough term. It's going to be a clusterf*ck for the ages.

--
A little rushed and certainly fallible. What do you think? There is less than a year to go and it's just as confusing as it was back in December and January.

Melancon for Senate? Door Reopened

Says Politico.

What's the hold up? He's obviously the best candidate to take on David Vitter.

It's interesting that the Politico picked up on the Arnie Fielkow buzz.