Ray Nagin in the News Again

NEW ORLEANS — C. Ray Nagin, a former corporate executive who became mayor in 2002 pledging to modernize city government and instead became an emblem of government dysfunction in the months and years after Hurricane Katrina, was found guilty in federal court on Wednesday on 20 counts of bribery and fraud.

The verdict marks a dubious milestone in a city long associated with an ethically loose style of politics: It makes Mr. Nagin the first New Orleans mayor to be charged, tried and convicted of corruption.

  NYT

But no doubt NOT the first New Orleans mayor to engage in same.

He was found guilty of all but one of 21 counts, including bribery, wire fraud and filing false tax returns. Sentencing has been set for June 11, Mr. Nagin’s 58th birthday. Mr. Nagin could face 20 years in prison by federal sentencing guidelines.

[...]

In one case involving a contractor’s $10,000 payment to Mr. Nagin’s sons, the jury agreed with Mr. Nagin. But they sided with the government on the rest — a total of illicit proceeds that the government put at half a million dollars.

All politicians should check in with Mssrs. Cheney and Bush to learn how to get those dollars "legally".

He told reporters he maintained his innocence, and his lawyer, Robert Jenkins, said Mr. Nagin intended to appeal.

Yeah, good luck. I understand there are a number of businessmen who engaged in the bribery who have already testified in their own cases.

A cable TV executive with no prior governing experience, [...] Mr. Nagin was elected in 2002 as an outsider dismissive of the old political machines.

Where have we seen that before? An Irish neighbor when I lived in Seattle gave me perhaps the best advice a voter could get: Start with the knowledge that all politicians are corrupt; then deal with that.