The recall petition, filed by Sherlyn Claverie and her organization Moses Plight is being withdrawn according to an attorney working with her, however there is no legal mechanism in place to actually 'quit' on a recall effort. Therefore this petition appears to be dead in the water and this may hamper a future, more focused effort. There is discussion of having a more organized petition campaign, but legal bases must first be covered before a more visible campaign can begin, which would include advertising and communicating with the media. Check back here for details. It should also be noted that recallnagin.org has no affiliation with Ms. Claverie, Moses Plight or the online petition you may have previously signed.
Cleaning up corruption is high priority for Mayor Nagin?
Friday, October 6th
Times-Picayune
Frank Donze
Sunday, October 8th
Times-Picayune
Stephanie Grace
Wednesday, October 11th
Times-Picayune
James Gill
Think a recall is impossible? Maybe an indictment would be easier. If you have not been keeping tabs on several frontpage stories in the Times-Picayune regarding Mayor C. Ray Nagin and former Chief Technology Officer Greg Meffert and his Imagine Software company contracts and affairs, now is the time to get caught up. Below are some links to the stories that you MUST read. Please send these to your friends and help us build a better New Orleans. Click on the headline to view the article.
Frontpage: Sunday, September 17th
Times-Picayune
Gordon Russell
Frontpage: Wednesday, September 20th
Times-Picauyne
Gordon Russell
Wednesday, September 20th
Times-Picayune
James Gill
Tuesday, September 19th
Times-Picayune
Stephanie Grace
Tuesday, September 19th
Times-Picayune
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error."
-- U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382,442
Do you have a blog about the recall efforts? Have you already started a grassroots movement? So have we. To be successful, we need to hear from you so we can all work together. Email us please.
Mayor C. Ray Nagin has failed us. It may be impossible to recall him considering many voters are still not able to return home one year later and reaching out to them is extremely difficult. But for those of us who could return, we must unite and demand more.
Those who elected Mayor C. Ray Nagin are feeling betrayed and frustrated. Those who did not elect him are voluntarily evacuating New Orleans en masse. We are losing quality companies and individuals. Change starts locally. Our local leaders have not changed their methods of governing since Hurricane Katrina, when it was very obvious to the rest of the world that change was needed. It showed to the world something that we locals already knew. That New Orleans is a politically dysfunctional place and as such, our society suffers. The politicizing, corrupt, strong arm tactics of the Nagin administration have been well documented and are surfacing more visibly around the internet and in the media since Hurricane Katrina. Those of us still living in New Orleans know the history of our leadership. Many of us have tolerated it as the 'way of the land'. We can no longer be so complacent.
The benevolent citizens of the United States of America have come to our aid through kind charitable donations as well as allowing their tax dollars to be designated to help us rebuild. We may have differing opinions on Federal policy related to overseas warfare and even many domestic policies, but we can all agree that we must rebuild our ravaged City of New Orleans to be even stronger than before the storm. We cannot adequately rebuild the City of New Orleans without proper local leadership. The citizens of the United States as individuals (and via our Federal government) have stepped up. However, our local leaders are letting us down.
A formal recall of Mayor C. Ray Nagin may be a practical impossibility, however our peaceful verbal protests through continued discussions in the streets and forums on the internet must be heard to voice our disgust with our leaders. We must no longer tell stories in restaurants alone between our circles of friends. We must be public and vocal if we expect things to change. We need the national spotlight on New Orleans problems. No more can we hide in fear of telling our stories or voicing our opinions. The fear that has been instilled in us by our local leaders.
"Crime is contagious....if the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law."
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
Why does New Orleans have such an extreme crime problem? Maybe we should look at our leaders as the reason for this epidemic. For years, political corruption, aggression upon its own citizens and incompetent behavior has been well documented in the words of our neighbors. Everybody in the City of New Orleans knows the history of corruption and incompetence here. Many have personal stories of how they have been directly affected by local government cronyism, threats by government leaders and manipulation of Federal, State and Local tax dollars to benefit select individuals or companies. Now, we are all suffering as a result of years of our neglect in holding these elected officials accountable. Hurricane Katrina gave us an unexpected opportunity to clean the slate and right the course of our future. One year later, our government is failing us and we are now demanding accountability and change. We want no more hateful speeches. We want no more divisive blame games. We want no more public corruption. We want accountability and action. We want our leaders to work for us; not for their friends and not for themselves. They are failing us and we are failing ourselves by not holding them more accountable.
In time, let this website be a place where you will read of specific stories of the ways that the Nagin administration has conducted business over the years. We will be collecting signatures via this website to voice support for real change. We will show the world outside of New Orleans that we do not endorse our local leadership and request that forward-thinking individuals consider moving to New Orleans to help lead us. You will read stories that have been published in local media. You will read stories of people who have been victims of the Nagin administration. You will read stories that you've heard in the streets, but have gone unreported in the local press. Let this site, along with the many others that are now starting to surface, be the voice of the people. And may the world hear us, because our local leaders do not.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? We will.
Do you have a story? Would you like to be put on our mailing list to be notified of when the site is updated/launched? Speak up. Email us. We will be publishing stories when the site is complete as well as news articles and information about local leadership. We, like several other sites, intend to be public watchdogs. We aim to attract a national audience to our plight as we struggle to rebuild the City of New Orleans and struggle to get our Mayor to help us in our efforts. We will not post your correspondence or story on this site without your consent and will always respect requests of anonymity. This site does not make any money, nor does it accept any financial donations from public or private entities. We are not in bed with any public officials at the Federal, State of Local level. We are not an organized, official group. We are not endorsed by any agencies or institutions. We just want change in New Orleans and hope you will join us by sharing your stories. We have many that we have accumulated already and will be publishing here. We hope that you will be a part of our community.
Here are a few links to some of those already peacefully marching toward change. If you would like your site added to our list, please email us.
|