Sunday, August 3, 2008
Why Hasn’t Nagin (or Someone in his Administration) Been Prosecuted?
Posted by Clancy DuBos on Sun, Aug 3, 2008 at 6:28 AM
The Times-Picayune reported on Saturday, Aug. 2, that Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration took six months to respond to a public records request. The request was for copies of the résumés of 21 people who applied for the city’s top IT job, held until recently by the college-degree-challenged, résumé-enhancing Anthony Jones. The TP mentions the six-month delay in getting the résumés almost in passing.
Bloggers have criticized the daily newspaper for years, and rightfully so, for going easy on Nagin. When Marc Morial was mayor, the TP was tenacious in its insistence that public records requests be honored in a timely fashion — within 72 hours, according to state law (La. R.S. 44:1-41).
That same law provides civil remedies, including attorneys’ fees and penalties of up to $100 a day that can be paid to the records requester. The law also imposes criminal penalties against anyone with custody or control of a public record who violates the law or hinders the inspection of a public record. Those penalties include fines of $100 to $1,000 or jail time of one-to-six months for a first conviction. Subsequent convictions trigger fines of $250 to $2,000 for each offense, or imprisonment for two-to-six months — or both.
So, why hasn’t Nagin, or someone in his administration, ever been prosecuted? More to the point, why hasn’t the TP filed a criminal complaint — or at least a lawsuit? The paper didn’t hesitate to file a lawsuit when Marc Morial was mayor.
Kinda makes one wonder…
Comments (5)
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"why hasn’t the TP filed a criminal complaint — or at least a lawsuit?" Ummm...can the Gambit do it?
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No, not unless we are the requester. In the past, we have sued public officials civilly (first we threaten to sue, and that usually works, then we sue). Gambit sued then-Criminal Court Clerk Kimberly Williamson-Butler, for example, when she failed to turn over public records we requested a few years back. We not only prevailed in court but also got a judgment of nearly $9,000 in attorneys' fees. If someone gets egregious about it, we would not hesitate to file a criminal complaint. I'm really kind of surprised that the TP hasn't taken Nagin to court; the paper traditionally is on the forefront of pushing public records and open meetings issues, much to its credit.
Recall that the TP started a suit against the Nagin administration over the release of crime reports -- and prevailed in getting what they wanted.
Jackie Clarkson had opportunity to join head, feilkow and midura in getting 4th vote needed to fire jones. She let the mayor move him to a protected civil service position at 85K plus a car and a phone. Pple need to know this. i know that it's true. someone should look into this. why is she being so nice to him? why are so many tolerating so much?
