Cao Meets With Jefferson

Link!

Anh Cao will sleep in a sleeping bag in the Rayburn building for awhile. That's awesome.

He also hasn't finished hiring a staff.

His people should get in touch with my people.

Wow

I just cannot bring myself to vote for anyone with that party affiliation right now. I'm a little bit prejudiced, well mainly because of what Republican governance has done to this country over the last several election cycles. When I woke up this morning, I was still thinking of either abstaining or voting for Malik Rahim. I ended up voting third party under the assumption that Jefferson would win big.

This is a truly stunning result.

The Jefferson Machine has been weakened significantly over the last two years. I look at Cheryl Gray's 2007 thrashing of Jalila Jefferson for LA Senate as a demonstration of that.

Yet after he cruised through the open primary and runoff with Moreno, I just figured he'd found a way to mobilize enough voters this one last time.

Without the Obama excitement getting people to the polls, turnout was abysmal. Cao won with just over 33,000 votes. That's not very many at all, even with a smaller population.

When a Republican wins in a city that voted near 80% for Obama, when a Republican wins in a district like ours after what Republican politicians did to this country, that the race was even competitive -- what does it say about popular confidence in the local leadership class?

New Orleanians have no faith in their government.

It speaks to a stunning leadership vacuum in this city. It is our first problem, the problem we must solve before we can credibly address any other.

Eric Kleefield at Talking Points Memo is already looking at 2010:

[L]ook for the Dems to put up a strong candidate in 2010 -- maybe one who isn't under indictment -- and make this seat their top pick-up target.

What people don't realize is that there's really no such thing as "the Dems" in New Orleans. Politics here is not partisan, it's tribal.

New Orleanians do not do a good job of communicating political conditions to the rest of the country. And the rest of the country sometimes writes New Orleans off to eccentricity or to drown.

Here's an incomplete list of themes that I often write about and think about:

1. New Orleans is corrupt as hell. The incredible leadership vacuum at the municipal level has lead to the city's unsteady and vision-less gridlock.

2. There are frightening and offensive quality of life issues.

3. It is emblematic of the ultimate national disillusionment with W. Bush, who should be banished from this city for the rest of time and with the concept of American geopolitical superiority, as the Katrina response demonstrated a sobering hollowness of capability reminiscent of tales of the USSR in the '80s.

4. Recovery policy is transparently unjust, racist, trickle-down horseshit. I believe that Barack Obama can only help this place by empowering and demanding his new Recovery Czar (in whatever form) live in New Orleans, engage in policy, and take strong public positions on regional issues.

5. If New Orleans weren't so kneecapped by this three-legged stool of racism, corruption, and incompetence, it would actually be well positioned to lead on matters of urban sustainability.

6. These are the most resilient people in America, some live in spite of government and some lives to spite the government.

I'd really really love for the Dems, the national ones, to come down here and take a look at this place as a pickup target in 2010. What they're going to find out is that the investment in leadership was needed a long time ago. New Orleans was desperate for competent, progressive leadership pre. It's that much more desperate post.

I hope local Democrats take notice of the political environment; Bill Jefferson's defeat today cannot be dismissed as a full exception. He'd been indicted by the Feds, but there are many more local officials who have been indicted in the minds of the public.


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Too wordy? Too preachy?
A downer? Dead-on?

Unnecessary Marginalization of Green Party

I'm generally trying to stay out of the Congressional campaign but I think the Times-Picayune's treatment of the Green Party entry is unnecessary or lazy or something in a way that annoys me.

It's one thing to inaccurately report the campaign finance figures but what is really annoying to me is this established meme that Malik Rahim is "little-known."

I don't think that's accurate or fair. Malik Rahim has international name recognition in some circles and has been very involved locally, regardless of how you feel about his level of effectiveness.

To repeat the meme, as the Times-Picayune has done, is pretty lazy.
And I think it's pretentious, too.

There are some pretty compelling stories out there about Rahim.

Full Speeed Ahead: Sailing in Circles

This weekend's election results were a major disappointment containing few silver linings and an ugly long-term outlook.


The Sad Truth: The 2nd Congressional district will see a runoff between the disgraceful William Jefferson and the uninformed conservative puppet Helena Moreno. For many weeks, I had anticipated this result and often used words like 'disastrous' and 'embarrassing' to describe a possible non-choice between Jefferson and Moreno. Somehow out of a slate of 7 below average candidates, we ended up a choice between the least qualified candidate and the most demonstrably corrupt candidate. This will not be viewed kindly by outside observers. This city desperately needs federal recovery dollars, and outsider perceptions of our 'worthiness' for such expenditures have already been battered by racist conservative media narratives. The reelection of someone as image-killing as Bill Jefferson or someone so patently unqualified for one of the city's highest offices represents another major blow to our civic credibility.

The Cynical Optimist: We'll have another crack at unseating Congressman Jefferson either when he's sent to prison or in two years. It gives us a chance to regroup behind a credible challenger about whom we can be relatively enthusiastic, a stark contrast to this year's slate of clothespin catalysts. I don't know how well we would have been served by erecting a new wall of Congressional incumbency around the likes of Troy Carter or Cedric Richmond.


The Depressing Facts: The Orleans Parish School Board is now lacks diversity in demographic makeup and in ideological philosophy. The grossly gerrymandered district maps have always encouraged a white majority, but post-K New Orleans magnifies those advantages. Much more substantively, the new school board has demonstrated an unfortunate disengagement from the most critical issues facing public education in New Orleans. The new school board includes conservatives in Brett Bonin, Woody Koppel, and Seth Bloom who ran on an ideological predisposition counter to the needs of a public school system. Far from actually possessing a plan to improve our public schools, these conservative candidates are primarily concerned with finding cheaper ways to produce the same results. Their primary goal, if I'm understanding their platforms correctly, is to reduce the school district's burden to the taxpayers. That is something that appeals to some people, particularly those that do not think they have a personal stake in the public school system, but this does not appeal to me. I believe education is a worthwhile investment for my tax dollar and I want a school board that will see to it that I get more impressive returns. This city needs strong public schools but an OPSB controlled by advocates of disinvestment is ideologically predisposed to not providing them.

The Smiling Idiot: A few strong progressives ran classy campaigns on little to no budget and began to build localized grassroots networks. Percy Marchand from District 06 and Amy LaFont from District 03 were extremely engaged in the actual issues facing the school systems from the very beginning. They each ran their campaigns on substance. They spoke out against the master plan because they not only took the time to read it but they truly engaged the material. They can be proud of that. District 06 is probably the least hospitable in the entire city for a progressive candidate like Percy Marchand, and the election results demonstrated this. Mr. Marchand is by far more qualified for the school board than Woody Koppel but the truth is that too many district 06 voters likely share Mr. Koppel's predisposition to decentralize and divest. Amy LaFont changed the debate in District 03. Her knowledge of the school master plan predates that of any of the other candidates by many months and her strident criticisms of the plan's effects on District 03 forced even Republican candidate Brett Bonin was forced to adopt a more skeptical rhetoric.


The Future:

In 2004, when I was still very depressed about George Bush's reelection, my father cheered me up with some clairvoyant analysis. He said that when Bush and his congressional cronies screwed up, there would be no where for them to hide the blame. He anticipated that Bush's reelection allowed for the total unravelling of the neoconservative movement because the only government for the neoconservatives to pin everybody's problems on would be their own. How lucky we are that the United States was strong enough to have come this close to withstanding the disastrous reign of the worst President of all time. We might just barely make it.

But is New Orleans that strong? Does New Orleans have the luxury of waiting?

How many more cycles of inept, corrupt, or conservative governance can this city withstand? How much longer can New Orleans be lead around the same circle of establishment consensus?

A lot of people I know romanticize New Orleans as a sinking ship where love for life is enhanced by the freedom gained from recognition of the inevitability of drowning. But a lot more people I know would love life a lot more if we'd just fix the holes in the boat. Can't we agree, at the very least, that this ship should sink more slowly? Our captains obliviously want to go full steam ahead into storm after storm, refusing to plug the gaping holes in our in-between moments of daylight. I don't know how much more water we can afford to watch pour into the hull before we decide to take our mutiny to the deck.

Can't we drop anchor, make repairs, ditch the sinking ship metaphor, and instead adopt one involving flight?

District 02: Empty Suits or Worse

I agree with everything adrastos says in this post.

I was disappointed with the choice of candidates when this election started but I thought that someone would step up and say the right things. I thought someone would step up and make a play for progressive voters.

Nobody went after Jefferson, who is clearly amongst the front-runners. Why not?

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I'm most disappointed in James Carter's campaign. He has had so many chances to fight for the citizens of this city this summer alone but has mostly sat on the sidelines. When James Carter had a chance to steal the spotlight and demand answers from the Mayor or from Ed Blakely during the NOAH scandal, Councilman Carter took a pass. When he had a chance to make a public stand against the Mayor's tiered reentry policy for Gustav, Councilman Carter took a pass. When the opportunity arose to get answers from the Mayor over his executive order suspending NCDC, Councilman Carter took a pass.

And now Councilman Carter continues to refuse to challenge the obviously broken demolition process. How many more mistaken demolition lawsuits does the city need to be hit with before Councilman Carter stops giving safety and permits the benefit of the doubt?

I have been trying to support him this whole time. I wanted an excuse to endorse him. Anything at all. Just one fiery rant to the paper on which to base it. Just one. My belief was that he was the least objectionable candidate of those with any chance to prevent a disastrous Moreno-Jefferson result on Saturday. But he never did anything to help the medicine go down. He did nothing.

So I cannot and will not endorse him.

Sorry, Councilman Carter. I was open-minded for as long as I could be. You blew it.

So where does that leave me for Saturday?

I think I'll be voting write-in for myself.

Someone please change my mind.

Round Up

- The only televised forum for the District 02 Congressional race will be put forth by the NBC affiliate, WDSU, which was candidate Helena Moreno's employer only months ago.

I wonder if they'll ask her anything substantive. She is totally unqualified for this seat. I hope people get a chance to see that firsthand.

It's ridiculous for WDSU to host this forum. Does no one understand 'conflict of interest?'

- Orleans Parish School Board member Jimmy Fahrenholtz, the lame duck from district 3, no-showed last Thursday's OPSB master plan hearing. He is not engaged enough to vote on the master plan and should recuse himself and assist in efforts to postpone a vote on any binding resolution until after he is replaced. A lot of people say that Jimmy is a good guy. If he's reasonable and you know him, give him a call and tell him he's wrong on the master plan and shirking the most basic responsibilities of his office.

It is especially frustrating because Mid City, which is in Fahrenholtz's OPSB district, is really getting the short end of the stick with the master plan. That Jimmy won't even go through the motions of attending hearings and asking questions is an insult.

- Please, please, please contribute to the comments section here. Help develop cogent criticisms of the facilities master plan. An opposition consensus must coalesce now, please lend your support.

Is James Carter Laying Down the Gauntlet or Is He Blowing Smoke?

Kudos to the T-P for covering yesterday's NPN meeting.

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend and threw out this crazy idea that everyone should be able to pick up debit cards from FEMA before evacuating so as to mitigate the negative economic impact of mandatory evacuation on individuals and families that depend on wages and live paycheck to paycheck.

And look:

Two New Orleans City Council members said Wednesday that they want to work with the state and federal governments to find ways to alleviate the economic distress that hurricane evacuations cause many people and small businesses.

Instead of having to spend all their money to get out of harm's way and then wait on reimbursement, evacuees could be given cards ahead of time for a set amount to cover fuel, food and lodging costs, Councilmen Arnie Fielkow and James Carter said.

Cool idea James and Arnie!

Carter said he is interested in talking to federal representatives about getting assistance to evacuees more quickly, in a fashion "more practical than reimbursement on the back end."

Well Councilman Carter, you are running for Congress aren't you? Is this something you'll commit to working toward? Is this something that's part of your agenda?

Or are you just "interested?"

I wonder how the other maybe-palatable candidates like Cedric Richmond and Troy Carter feel about such a change in federal disaster assistance policy?

C'mon guys, are we running for office here or what?

Clusterf#ck to Congress

It has been announced that the primary election to hopefully replace Congressman William Jefferson originally scheduled for this Saturday has been postponed for a month. We can rejoice that this is the case because none of the candidates have distinguished themselves.

Sure there are some posters and signs up, but even before Hurricane Gustav interrupted our regularly scheduled programming, one wouldn't have guessed that a critically important election was just one week away. It seemed as though candidates were just rolling out their first ads, just beginning to articulate their positions.

Now certainly there is a back-and-forth involved. It doesn't seem to me that my neighbors are paying particular attention to this race and had the election occurred as scheduled, I imagine we would see extremely low turnout on par with what we remember from last November. On the other end, we have a slate of candidates that has done next to nothing to engage the people of New Orleans in any meaningful way.

Remember that this Congressional seat is one of the most important posts in the city. The post represents the citizens' most direct line to the federal government. Our next Congressperson must not only be able to bring home the federal money so desperately needed for our recovery, but he or she must also know where that money should go.

We Could Be Famous is about a year old now and the one thing I've tried to touch on continuously throughout my work here is that while civic leaders have, in some cases, improperly allocated precious resources and/or administered with inexplicable incompetence, the single greatest overarching failure of this city's leaders has been the tacit acceptance of a reactionary recovery ideology. It is the inability or refusal to reconcile competing interests into an articulate recovery game plan that explicitly prioritizes still unaddressed immediate poverty-exacerbating emergencies AND develops a longer term vision for wise urban growth that has been the saddest failure of New Orleans' leaders. Incompetence and corruption are certainly contributing factors to this overarching failure but campaign demonization of these two phenomena alone will not distinguish a candidate in this election.

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To the candidates:


What is your plan?

What are your immediate priorities and what is your longer term vision?

Articulate these things to voters and do it now.

Stop treating your desired constituencies as idiots that need placating. See partners instead.

New Orleans may be a unique place but that does not mean that its citizens live in a box. Recognize the shifting national political dynamics and realize that you can and must articulate a positive progressive vision for this city's present and future as well as an idea of how Congress can help.

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I've been trying to follow this race as best I can but could not attend many forums due to my work schedule and competing civic events. We were less than a week from the election when the Gustav approached and I was still an undecided voter because no candidate seemed willing or able to meet the challenge that I shouldn't have had to express above.

I am still undecided but now there is another month for a candidate to express a detailed vision for New Orleans. Here is a brief rundown of some contenders:



THE NO WAYS

1. William Jefferson - Maybe he once was an effective bacon bringer but now he is a Congressional carcass. He has no credibility, no leadership position, and his colleagues don't even want to be in the same room as him out of fear of cameras.

2. Byron Lee - No Jefferson Parish official has a legitimate shot of winning nor can be trusted truly understand New Orleans. That his political life is inextricably linked to his cousin Derrick Shepherd is an even bigger problem.

3. Kenya Smith - The only way his candidacy could elicit anything other than the laughter of the citizens of New Orleans would be if he went straight to the press with each detail of every one of Mayor Nagin's many and obvious 2nd term failures.

4. Helena Moreno - Last night at my service industry job a gentleman with a WDSU credential came in and I jokingly asked him if he'd be supporting his colleague. He said with a deadly seriousness on his face, "Absolutely not, I work with her." That's a true story but more substantively, as the Oyster touches on, Moreno is not-so-gracefully masking her lack of knowledge of policy basics AND her devotion to conservatism and the Republican party platform. Beyond that, there's some personal/professional rumors swirling all over town to the point that I'm comfortable alluding to them. Now I don't really care at all about the personal lives of politicians insofar as they don't inform an individual's policies or decisions. Unfortunately, these particular rumors raise many questions about Moreno's ideas and expertise.



TEPIDLY GROPING FOR VICTORY:

5. James Carter - Has had every opportunity to demonstrate leadership on many critical issues from City Council and has largely shied away from such opportunities. He seems content to collect establishment endorsements and coast toward election day. He could win with a mandate if he'd step up and outline a detailed vision.

6. Troy "C" Carter - The initialed one seems to be running the most organized ground campaign, which I like, and by all accounts is holding his own in the candidate forums. He has nonetheless failed to distinguish himself in any substantive sense.

7. Cedric Richmond - Maybe the most impressive progressive legislative record of any candidate but he's GOT to answer questions about ties to William Jefferson and leave us 100% certain that he won't be even indirectly caught up in that probe. That his campaign appears to run out of the same building as the Jefferson lawyer is problematic.

Nolapulse on the 02?

Read this post by adrastos and this post by oyster.

Now what would it take for the New Orleans blogosphere to enthusiastically support James Carter in his bid to unseat William Jefferson?

I have my answer.

Handicapping the LA 02

Jeez guys, what are we going to do with this one?

I will tell you that the buzz at Netroots about this race was, 'jeez, what are you going to do about this one?'

What do y'all think?

Right now, I'm not liking anyone a whole helluva lot.

The most obvious cuts from my list are: Bill Jefferson.

Beyond that, there's Byron Lee, Helena Moreno, Troy Carter, Malik Rahim, James Carter, and Cedric Richmond.

I respect Mr. Richmond's work on the Angola 3 but still have many many concerns.

What are we going to do?