Sal Perricone: The reson for and solution to all of the city's problems

The city wants out of the NOPD consent decree.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu was a strong proponent for the 492-point agreement from its introduction last summer, but recently changed course, citing the $55 million cost of implementation, on top of expected costs associated with the Orleans Parish Prison consent decree, which was preliminarily approved by Judge Lance Africk on Jan. 22.

The city's motion alleged misconduct on the part of DOJ in three areas, including the involvement of disgraced former Assistant United States Attorney Sal Perricone as a DOJ "point person" during negotiations.

Look, a $55 million plus unfunded mandate is a pretty scary proposition; particularly with the cost of.. well... everything else skyrocketing and the "cavalry not on the way" from Washington or Baton Rouge as the Mayor likes to say. So it's not surprising that the city might want to try and back out of such a commitment. Hell, it's plausible that they're doing the right thing considering the circumstances.

But the Perricone angle... that's just pure genius.

—DOJ’s Designation of Sal Perricone as the U.S. Attorney’s “Point Person” During the NOPD Consent Decree Initial Investigation and Negotiations 

Mr. Perricone attempted to become the Superintendent of Police during the Landrieu administration and his subsequent blogging related to Mayor Landrieu, Superintendent Ronal Serpas, the timeliness of the signing of the proposed consent decree, the appropriateness of a court-appointed police monitor, secondary employment (“paid details”), and the need for DOJ intrusion in the reform process. Reports have shown that Perricone was the originator of the comment that the paid detail system was the “aorta of corruption” in the NOPD. Such invective in a public forum by the DOJ’s representative who was engaged in the negotiations wholly undermines the integrity of the negotiation process.

 Recall that one of wanna be NOPD Chief Perricone's NOLA.com handles was "CampStBlue." Also some day the world at large will cease referring to participating in a newspaper website's comment threads as "blogging." But it is apparently not this day.

Anyway in order to buy this at all, you'd have to buy the part about an assistant US Attorney in the local office being the US Department Of Justice's "Point Person" in these negotiations.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this is at least a slight overstatement of Perricone's role.