Word: nagin
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Making matters worse, some observers say, is the city leadership's apparent indifference to the bloodletting. Just weeks after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Mayor Ray Nagin, then in the very early stages of a heated reelection bid, dismissed warnings that many companies, like displaced residents, might opt to relocate. Nagin said he hoped they would stay. "But if they don't," he said with typical glibness, "I'll send them a postcard...
...comment might have been written off as one of Nagin's many verbal missteps. But in the months that followed, the warnings turned out in many cases to be true, even as the city's rebuilding effort languished, infrastructure repairs limped along, the state reimbursement program for damaged homes faltered and the New Orleans' infamous crime rate made a sickening comeback...
Donna Addkison, Nagin's chief economic advisor, disagrees. The administration "very actively pursues opportunities to attract, retain and grow businesses that are already located in Louisiana," she says. "There are over 16,000 businesses in the city, and I can tell you that this calendar year we have made 16,079 contacts with businesses. Sometimes our efforts may not be successful, because there are overwhelming business reasons that will lead them to make that decision [to leave]. But we do try very hard to make sure that businesses are aware of the federal, state and local incentives that...
...mayor has been uncharacteristically cagey about his intentions. Barred from running for a third term, and in possession of at least $500,000 in campaign funds, Nagin is said to have his eye on the 2008 gubernatorial race. Few people think he could actually win, but the real possibility of making it into a runoff against the G.O.P. fron-trunner, U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, would cement his status as the top dog among black Louisiana politicians and add to his stature with the national party...
...Then there's the Second District congressional seat now held, however tenuously, by Jefferson. Here, Nagin's chances of victory are far better, should a conviction or resignation leave the seat open in 2008. But Nagin would likely face some serious competition, from candidates who ran against Jefferson last time around or from other New Orleans area lawmakers sensing a rare opportunity to grab an open seat - one whom could be Jalila Jefferson, one of the congressman's five daughters and a member of the state legislature...