Last week, the jury in St. Francisville acquitted Sal and Mabel Mangano, owners of St. Rita’s Nursing Home in Saint Bernard Parish, of homicide for the 32 deaths patients in the days following Katrina. No one questioned that these people died; no one seriously questioned that most would have survived had they been evacuated. At issue was the conflicting announcements from various levels of government leaders about evacuation. It turns out that a number of nursing homes in the metro New Orleans area did not evacuate. The fact that only St. Rita’s had the large number of deaths made the Mangano’s the most apt target for prosecution, but the only thing that kept other nursing homes from being defendants is that they did not have the high level of flooding which drowned so many people.
The culprit in all this was the government, the jury said. And this time, they did not mean the federal government, but the local, parish, and state leadership that should have spoken early, clearly, and forcibly giving instructions to the community on hurricane preparation.
One aspect of this trial that has drawn a lot of talk is that Attorney General Charles Foti personally prosecuted it. This was a personal thing with him, we’re told, as he put the State of Louisiana and its resources into the case. To have it handed back to him in this way–his head on a platter might be a fitting way of putting it–was a great embarrassment. Furthermore, this is not the first such embarrassment Foti has suffered as a result of his post-Katrina prosecutions. Last year, he announced with great fanfare that Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses would be charged for homicides in the deaths of patients at the Memorial (Baptist) Medical Center in New Orleans. It got national coverage, and he was in the spotlight for months. Eventually, the New Orleans District Attorney and the grand jury considered Foti’s evidence and dropped the charges. The egg on our Attorney General’s face will never come off.
Filing for the governor’s race closed last week and New Orleans’ celebrity mayor C. Ray Nagin was not among those signing on. The odds-on favorite to win is U. S. Representative Bobby Jindal, a Republican who represents Kenner and this area. Polls show him at something like 60 percent. Walter Boasso, millionaire businessman from St. Bernard Parish–the state legislator who called for and eventually got the multiplicity of levee boards in our part of the world consolidated into just two–is a candidate. A number of other lesser knowns are running.
Jindal was a boy wonder in the state government in the 1990s. Governor Mike Foster put him in charge of the state hospitals, and Jindal only 25 years old. From all reports, he did excellently. Congressman David Vitter says years ago when he interviewed Jindal for some kind of scholarship program, he came home and told his wife that he had met someone who made him feel dumb. No question about Jindal’s brain power. There are other questions about him.
All the candidates want debates, of course. When you’re an unknown, a debate puts you on the same platform as the big dogs. The big guys, on the other hand, resist debates for that very reason. Why give the opponent an assist? Jindal says he will limit himself to two debates only.
My question about Congressman Jindal is not a judgment, but just that, a question: what has he done to help Louisiana since Katrina? If he has stood out in any way, I have yet to hear it. Senator Mary Landrieu and to a slightly lesser extent, Senator David Vitter, have been champions for the state. One has to wonder if Jindal was hedging his bets, not wanting to offend so he could win the governorship. The response to that is: why do you want it if your purpose is not to help the state?
These nights I’m reading Robert Shrum’s “No Excuses.” This political consultant for a number of high profile Democrats gives the inside scoop on various campaigns he has been associated with for over 30 years. It’s fascinating to read of meetings where he and his colleagues are interviewing, say, Congressman Richard Gebhardt or Senator Bob Kerrey, on why they want to be president–and having a hard time getting a good answer other than, “I’ve always wanted to be president.”
It’s fascinating to watch the play between political expediency and rock-hard convictions, between doing what will get votes and doing what is right regardless.
No one reading this should interpret this as my endorsing Shrum’s book. While he claims to be a Christian and speaks of going to worship, he takes liberal positions on a number of social issues–gay rights, abortion, and such–without giving the first reason or justification for his beliefs other than that this is his position.
So why read such a book? For one thing, it’s just interesting to read what goes on behind the scenes in politics. For another, it’s educational to see why people do what they do. And then, once in a while, you stumble across a paragraph that is worth the price of the book.
“When the going gets tough,” Shrum writes, “leaders fall back on what’s most basic in themselves.”
Shrum illustrates that point with examples from Bob Kerrey, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and our current president, George W. Bush.
He writes, “I’m convinced that for Kerrey, the most important lesson was, Don’t follow the plan, because when he did in a nighttime action in Vietnam where the intelligence and the maps were wrong, he nearly lost his life. He saved himself and his men and won the Medal of Honor by improvising….” Therefore, Shrum points out, Kerrey does not trust game plans and likes to shoot from the hip.
“For Bill Clinton, the guiding lesson, brilliantly displayed in (the) 1992 campaign, throughout his life, and in his presidency, is that he can talk his way out of anything.”
“A former colleague of Al Gore’s described Gore’s life maxim this way–that his father, also a senator from Tennessee, taught him that the way to become president was to be the smartest person in the room, which led him at times to puffery and condescension, and his over-aggressive attitude toward George W. Bush in their first debate.”
“And perhaps the root of this Bush’s stubborn refusal to admit mistakes or change course is seeing his father’s presidency shattered after he reneged on ‘Read my lips, no new taxes.'”
The assignment for tonight, class, is to consider your own life and decide how you will answer this question: “What is most basic in my life? That is, what am I most likely to fall back on when the going gets rough?”
One has to wonder what event or characteristic in the life of New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin made him the way he is. By that I refer to the way he has shut down contact with the city council and does not seem to care what criticism anyone throws his way. He is in the last of his two terms as the chief administrator of the city and if he has any interest in leaving a legacy of good will or achievements, he’d better get started quickly.
The Saturday (September 15, 2007) Times-Picayune carries an editorial about a candidate for state attorney general who evidently has not figured out that old-style politics no longer are acceptable in Louisiana. According to the article, Shreveport attorney Royal Alexander is trying to raise campaign funds by compromising the office of attorney general before he even gets it.
Members of the Louisiana Association of Ambulatory Healthcare had asked Alexander to help them oppose possible cuts in federal health care payments. He responded in an email, offering to “reach out to my D.C. staffer friends”–he used to be the chief of staff for a congressman–and help them. But, it’s going to cost you, he warned.
The email said, “I’m extremely busy. So, in return for the precious time I am going to take away from my campaign for Attorney General to assist you, I am going to ask you to make a substantial financial contribution to my campaign.” And if that was not blatant enough, he made it stronger. There’s a limit of $5,000 on campaign contributions to Alexander, so he suggested that they contact other association members to give the same. And in case anyone failed to get the point, Mr. Alexander left no doubt about his motives in helping them.
“I am trying to become our state’s next Attorney General,” he said, “and I don’t have time to waste on projects for people who don’t care about helping me…. The money I will save you if we reduce or eliminate these cut s will more than offset your contribution.”
Some recipient of the email turned it over to a reporter and that’s how it became news. When asked about all this, Alexander saw nothing wrong with his approach. Just how things are done, he said.
When one recipient replied to Alexander that he would be contacting other association members to line up contributions, the candidate responded, “I have no doubt that if I become our state’s next Attorney General I will certainly be in a position to help your industry. Please let me know when we can schedule a fundraiser….”
Dear me. What in the world is this character thinking. He just sabotaged his candidacy–and since we have found out about his shoddy ethical standards, good for us that he did. I hope other newspapers will cover this story and the word will get out. I don’t know who else is running for Attorney General, but better the inept Charles Foti than the corrupt Royal Alexander.
The newspaper is calling for an investigation into this matter by the Louisiana Ethics Board. If anyone should wonder, yes, we do have ethics in Louisiana. Not that you’d know it by some of the lowlifes we’ve elected over the years. But we have a whole battery of men and women of high ethical standards determined to create a new climate for government in this state.
We have a new Inspector General in New Orleans. Robert Cerasoli is the new marshall in town. If the past is any indication, it will take a couple of years for the word to get around that the old politics are no longer acceptable. In the meantime, watch for more revelations about more of our elected officials.
One tidbit of gossip on the political front. Jefferson Parish council-at-large member John Young divorced his wife Mary Lou McCall (or she divorced him) when it became apparent he was carrying on with State Senator Julie Quinn of Metairie. Julie’s husband was understandably irate, and they have divorced too after some blazing headlines.
Now, John Young’s grown son has declared his candidacy for his father’s seat in the fall election, and Mary Lou McCall registered to run for the senate against Julie Quinn. The Quinn/Young team yelled foul, saying Mary Lou had moved out of the district. Friday, a judge agreed and declared that McCall can not be a candidate for the senate. Shucks. Just when this was getting good.
Or bad, depending on how you look at it.