When Eddie Jordan finished first in the Oct.
5 primary for district attorney by a large margin -- 35 percent to 24 percent
-- and then won the endorsements of most other candidates, everyone knew second-place
finisher Dale Atkins would have to go on the attack to get back in the game.
It was only a question of when and how.
Atkins' first attack came late last week.
More are likely.
Her first volley focuses on Congressman Bill
Jefferson, Jordan's chief political ally and the man with whom Jordan aligned
himself after leaving the U.S. Attorney's job last year. The ad notes that Jordan
joined Jefferson's political group, the Progressive Democrats, and that his
photo appeared on the organization's ballot, with Jefferson's, in the mayor's
race earlier this year against then-candidate Ray Nagin. The ad blasts Jordan
for saying he wanted to be known as "political" in allying himself with Jefferson,
who has a penchant for injecting himself into local political matters. The ad
concludes, "Eddie Jordan and William Jefferson -- politics, not prosecution.
We stopped them once. Let's stop them again."
A lot of folks were angry with Jefferson in
the wake of the contentious mayoral election. Many blamed him for steering the
affable Richard Pennington down an uncharacteristic path of negative campaigning
and for viciously attacking Nagin, who is now a very popular mayor. Nagin is
sitting out the DA's runoff after backing third-place finisher James Gray in
the primary. Gray has endorsed Jordan.
The Jefferson connection is not the only potential
weakness in Jordan's armor. Many fault him for not prosecuting state Sen. Cleo
Fields in the Edwin Edwards case, even though Fields was caught on video stuffing
$20,000 in cash down his pants in EWE's office during a meeting with the former
governor. Jordan has defended his decision not to prosecute Fields. Look for
Atkins to remind voters of that.
But Atkins likewise has controversial supporters,
namely retiring DA Harry Connick. The singing DA's endorsement sounded golden
in August, but now hits nothing but sour notes. Connick's office dropped pending
felony charges against the two men now accused of murdering Chris Briede, setting
them free to commit the Briede murder. Worst of all, Connick initially blamed
police for not gathering sufficient evidence -- and then claimed the victims
of the earlier crimes weren't willing to testify. Cops as well as victims have
disputed both claims.
And just last week, Connick tossed most of
the corruption charges brought by Nagin's administration against cabbies and
city workers in the crackdown at City Hall. There again, Connick blamed cops
for not building strong cases, even though in some instances they had confessions.
Nagin now says his team is working with the feds.
There's ample fodder for Jordan to return
fire, if and when he chooses to do so.
Which means the final days of the DA's race
will be a nasty "he said, she said" affair.
In fact, it became that on one level even
before the attacks, when fourth-place finisher Franz Zibilich endorsed Jordan
-- only to see his wife endorse Atkins 90 minutes later.
It's that kind of race.
