Nagin for governor troubling
Published 12:20 am Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Politics in Louisiana have always been somewhat of a three-ring circus with corruption as the ringmaster.
Aside from a few good men, the state’s leaders have succeeded at making much of the nation shake its head in disbelief.
And if the indicators are right, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin may be about to make more than a few heads wobble.
Someone close to Nagin said last month that the mayor would soon announce a run for the governor’s office. Naginforgovernor.com says “under construction and coming soon.” And he’s already been on a few fundraising trips.
Why would someone so controversial who is tied up in literal piles of debris in his own city seek higher office?
That’s a question the political experts are asking themselves.
‘‘He’s clearly seeing his election potential differently than most of Louisiana. Statewide, Ray Nagin is dead in the water,’’ G. Pearson Cross, an assistant professor of politics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette told the Associated Press.
Nagin has three years left on his term in New Orleans. He has plenty of work left to do, and it’s time he cut the dramatics on TV and radio and got down to business in his own city.
New Orleans needs a full-time mayor who is worried about rebuilding the city, not someone using the problems as a platform to climb up another rung on the political ladder.
A Nagin run for governor would only further make a mockery of politics in Louisiana, and we hope the indicators are flat wrong.