We are paying reparations now..

We owe them so much... Hard working selfless people in city hall.

That guy is still mayor of New Orleans?

HOLY FARK!!!!

Holy crow! $650K for flowers and limo rides?!?

Oh wait, it was really closer to $18,500 for flowers and limos.

/yeah, still wasteful, but not $650K wasteful.

zobear: Holy crow! $650K for flowers and limo rides?!?

Oh wait, it was really closer to $18,500 for flowers and limos.

/yeah, still wasteful, but not $650K wasteful.

Yeah, I'm wondering what the other $590k of their $650k number was spent on...

KyngNothing: zobear: Holy crow! $650K for flowers and limo rides?!?

Oh wait, it was really closer to $18,500 for flowers and limos.

/yeah, still wasteful, but not $650K wasteful.

Yeah, I'm wondering what the other $590k of their $650k number was spent on...

Oh, office supplies and mailing and other "typical" expenses...

Errk: That guy is still mayor of New Orleans?

HOLY FARK!!!!

Don't remind us. He got elected 9 months after Katrina, probably a lot like Bush post-9/11. It was a huge mistake, I remember telling everyone.

But if you look at our excellent history of electing qualified individuals to all sorts of posts.... ugh.

KyngNothing: zobear: Holy crow! $650K for flowers and limo rides?!?

Oh wait, it was really closer to $18,500 for flowers and limos.

/yeah, still wasteful, but not $650K wasteful.

Yeah, I'm wondering what the other $590k of their $650k number was spent on...

Apparently lunches at Lilette.

Typical Republican. This is why the GOP will never be in power again.

Oh wait, the other guy from Louisiana... never mind, carry on.

This is why I laugh every time you farkers tell me the (R) party is dead.

Katrina damage there will never be fixed, the endless government cash will continue to be a goldmine for local officials there.

Mosey: Typical Republican. This is why the GOP will never be in power again.

Oh wait, the other guy from Louisiana... never mind, carry on.

I LOL'd

Wait...the hero of Katrina is a farkwad?

Say it ain't so!

Stop thinking in terms of D and R and just realize that all officials = some variation of the mafia. Then things make a lot more sense. No one wants to feel like a sucker for paying protection money, though, so it all continues.

Life in Chocolate City! must be nice.

$23,487.26 on food for meetings and event catering. No problem here.

$22,000 for housing of staffers in Baton Rouge. No problem here.

$10,058.90 for flowers; THIS is a waste.

and $8,440.69 for limousine/executive car service for Nagin.

No problem here.

Look at the budgets of any big or medium size city mayor.

KyngNothing: zobear: Holy crow! $650K for flowers and limo rides?!?

Oh wait, it was really closer to $18,500 for flowers and limos.

/yeah, still wasteful, but not $650K wasteful.

Yeah, I'm wondering what the other $590k of their $650k number was spent on...

Hookers...blow...

vernonFL: Look at the budgets of any big or medium size city mayor.

Having worked for 2 county governments and 1 university, the other thing that simply baffles me about bugetary spending in large organizations is the "spend it or lose it" mentality. There is absolutely no incentive to be frugal. There's no, "Hey, we'll take what you don't spend and put it into some brand of trust or rainy-day savings for the organization." Pisses me off in my current position - especially come May/June.

I'm sure there's probably some accounting reason for this, but still...

I have a feeling that lawyer took up the other 590k

zobear: I'm sure there's probably some accounting reason for this, but still...

Local governments in my state are required by law to run a balanced budget. Which means they constantly raise taxes to balance the budget. Then incoming cash rises, so expenditures rise, till they once again exceed incoming cash - then taxes, by law need to be increased. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This thread needs some Beer Looter action

downstairs:
Don't remind us. He got elected 9 months after Katrina, probably a lot like Bush post-9/11. It was a huge mistake, I remember telling everyone.

But if you look at our excellent history of electing qualified individuals to all sorts of posts.... ugh.

Uh...

actually...

You know what? fark it. I don't care enough to correct people on the internet anymore.

downstairs:
Don't remind us. He got elected 9 months after Katrina,

No, he got RE-elected.

After visibly, massively screwing up. On camera.

About half of the stuff folks blame on FEMA was actually supposed to be Nagin's job. Preparedness, evacuations, recovery - it all was supposed to hinge on the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana. It was planned that way, they knew it was planned that way, and all they had to do was make a couple of phone calls and send a few faxes. Which they didn't.

And after we all pointed out how much Nagin screwed up before, during, and after Katrina, the citizens of New Orleans said, "hey, I have a good idea, let's let him screw up even MORE!"

$650k is the total budget for that office - the listed expenses are the "exceptional" ones. This is quite the non-story with a senstationalized headline


From the referred article (new window)

Invoices that were reviewed from the mayor's office cover employees directly under him and those in his Office of Communications, roughly 40 people total. Their spending totaled more than $657,000 last year. Outside of typical expenses such as office supplies and mailing, these invoiced purchases included:

- $10,058.90 for flowers;

- $23,487.26 on food for meetings and event catering;

- $22,000 for housing of staffers in Baton Rouge for lobbying efforts during the extended 2008 legislative session, although city spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said via fax the actual expenditure was $19,800;

- $8,440.69 in limousine/executive car service for Nagin during three trips to Washington, D.C.;

- $6,185 for event decorations; and

- $1,575 for jewelry.

Phil Herup: This thread needs some Beer Looter action

That's original.

Nothing's too good for the Mayor of Chocolate City.


/his words, not mine.

KyngNothing: zobear: Holy crow! $650K for flowers and limo rides?!?

Oh wait, it was really closer to $18,500 for flowers and limos.

/yeah, still wasteful, but not $650K wasteful.

Yeah, I'm wondering what the other $590k of their $650k number was spent on...

My guess is Heineken.

Phil Herup: This thread needs some Beer Looter action

I think that young man is just coming back from the supermarket after buying drinks for his dad.
Typical Repug spin.

flannelled fool: zobear: I'm sure there's probably some accounting reason for this, but still...

Local governments in my state are required by law to run a balanced budget. Which means they constantly raise taxes to balance the budget. Then incoming cash rises, so expenditures rise, till they once again exceed incoming cash - then taxes, by law need to be increased. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Well, consider yourself lucky. I live in California, where not only the pols but the populace at large have been buying everything they fancied for the last fifty years by issuing bonds - that have to be paid back, with interest. Better tax and spend than borrow and spend.

That's my motherfarkin Nagin right there!

Nagin: I've got coverage. If somebody approach me wrong, I'm going to cold cock them. That's the bottom line. You can come with that foolishness if you want, but you'll see a side of Ray Nagin that you haven't seen.

You really have to love the guy.

+1 subby. You made me chortle.

Time for some mandatory drug testing for all mayors in LA. And by all mayors, I mean concentrate on NOLA for all 3 days it takes to snag Ray "HalfAssPimpin" Nagin.

/Crack izzahelluva drug.

Are you really surprised ?

This IS the city that kept "Cold Cash" William Jefferson in office for so long, as well as Mary Landrieu.

I like to think of it as the purest form of Democratic expression... a politician who truly represents his people.


/From the real Louisiana, cajun country.

Anyone who votes according to letters next to names gets what they deserve.

And all the 'superior' folks here who would never do such a thing (chuckle) get theirs too.

Just one more reason why I think we should just dynamite the levees and let it all go. Nagin is a national disgrace and embarassment.

Do we at least warn the Republican citizens to get out before we set off the explosives and kill everyone there ?

Mordant: Do we at least warn the Republican citizens to get out before we set off the explosives and kill everyone there ?

The Republican party is dying. We should just leave them there and put them out of their misery.

/Hates to see a dumb brute suffer.
//I keed. I keed.
///Actually loves to see a dumb brute suffer.

One of the best fake Twitter accounts is Nagin's: Link (new window)