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Friday, February 23, 2007

It doesn't take a genius

Even I can put these two stories together.

Election is over, but cash keeps coming
Nagin nets $410,000, keeps 'options open'


Though he is barred by law from seeking a third term and has expressed no interest in another office, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin collected more than $400,000 in contributions in the months after his re-election last spring, campaign finance reports filed with the state show.

The steady flow of cash into Nagin's war chest between June and November -- some of it from out-of-state fundraising events -- allowed him to pay off lingering debts from the hard-fought mayoral contest and left him with nearly $260,000 in the bank as of Dec. 31, according to the reports.

With hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state aid expected to begin flowing in the months ahead, political observers say it should come as no surprise that companies looking to play a role in the city's recovery would want to curry favor with a City Hall administration that will have some influence on how the money is spent.


Pairs well with

Nagin wants to run Road Home in N.O.

With the New Orleans region still suffering from a lack of permanent housing 18 months after Hurricane Katrina struck, Mayor Ray Nagin said Thursday that the time has come for Louisiana to give the city control over the Road Home program.

"The Road Home program in its current format will not work," Nagin told a congressional subcommittee that met Thursday in New Orleans to address the housing crisis. "It is overwhelmed, undermanned and technically flawed. Let's take all the people registered for it in New Orleans and let us administer the program with local institutions. I think we can get it done for you very quickly."

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