Mafia tactics

If you happen to have a public disagreement with Stacy Head over her enthusiasm for destroying affordable housing in New Orleans, she will take steps to fuck up your life.

A March 2007 exchange between Head and lawyer and confidante Nyka Scott makes reference to protests being staged by public housing advocates outside Head's Uptown home at a time when the City Council was beginning to mull the demolition of four large complexes. Scott and Head talked of planning a "HUGE" rally at the home of Washington, whom they blamed for the picket sessions at Head's house.

"They have declared war, " Scott writes. "We will get 100's to go to Tracy's house. I plan on going by the week to get a picture of her house. She paid $175,000 for it in 2000."

Responds Head: "Would sugge4st (sic) that Nancy Marshall needs to reassess her property since it has likely gone up in value. You wanna get -- -- -- -- -- to tell her that?" The name is redacted.

It's telling that Stacy and her friends are more concerned with taking out their petty personal grudges against rival lawyers than they are with the actual people whose lives these political disagreements affect. It's all about Stacy and her right-reformist-enlightened lawyer buddies getting the best of their "ASSS" political opponents and their "old time political bs" (quoting previously published Head emails). Who really gives a crap about those Wal-Mart shoppers and their "RICE KRISPYS" anyway? All they do is hold up the goddamned checkout line.

And, no, Ms. Washington wasn't the only target of this sort of thing.

About a month before that exchange, Head wrote to someone named Rachel -- the recipient's last name and e-mail address are redacted in the message posted at Head's Web site -- in response to a forwarded statement from Bill Quigley, director of Loyola University's law clinic.

In his message Quigley encourages volunteers to repair plumbing and electrical problems in public-housing units that had been recently reoccupied against the orders of local and federal housing officials.

"I have bcced 2 of my most trusted friends on this, " Head writes, referring to the blind carbon-copy function. "They are considering filing a bar complaint against Quigley for his promoting people to break the law. If you are aware of any other possible ethics violations committed by he or Washington, please let me know."

The important thing to remember here though is that, come election time, we'll hear from all the Yuppie Lefties in town about how great Head has been at ridding us of all the nasty "politics of the past" or something like that. What they'll mean is that they prefer a nasty person who is openly nasty to poor people better than a nasty person who merely fails poor people. But they'll like the way they say it better.