Ray Nagin

Clarence Ray Nagin Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former businessman and politician who served as the 60th Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, from May 2002 to May 2010.

Nagin became internationally known in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His wider response to the disaster was widely criticized for his delayed evacuation order, failure to utilize available city resources like school buses for evacuation, and for ordering residents to a poorly equipped Superdome as a shelter of last resort. He has faced accusations that these actions contributed to the deaths of many residents and demonstrated poor leadership during the crisis.

Before entering politics, he held executive roles at Cox Communications. After leaving office, he founded a consulting firm and self-published a book about his experiences during and after the hurricane. In 2014, Nagin was convicted on charges of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering related to a city corruption scandal and was sentenced to ten years in federal prison.

Nagin was born on June 11, 1956, in New Orleans' Charity Hospital, to a family of modest means. His childhood was typical of that of urban youth, and his father held two jobs: a janitor at New Orleans City Hall by night and a fabric cutter at a clothing factory by day. After the factory shut down, his father became a fleet mechanic at a local dairy to earn sufficient pay to support his family. His mother was employed as manager of a Kmart in-store restaurant.

The family lived on Allen Street in the 7th Ward, followed by a stay near their family parish, St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in Tremé, and then a move to the Cutoff section of Algiers. Nagin attended St. Augustine High School and O. Perry Walker High School, where he played basketball and baseball. He enrolled at historically black Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, on a baseball scholarship, played on championship teams, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 1978. He became a Certified Public Accountant.

After graduating from college, he went to work in the purchasing department at General Motors in Detroit, Michigan. He moved to Los Angeles, California, then to Dallas, Texas in 1981 to take Internal Audit Manager and Division Controller jobs with Associates Corporation.

In 1982, Nagin married Seletha Smith, a New Orleans native. Together, they had three children. In 1985, Nagin returned to New Orleans to become the controller of Cox New Orleans, the city's cable television franchise, run by the Cox media conglomerate. The franchise had a history of customer complaints, low profits, and stagnant growth, and was one of the poorest-performing components within Cox. Nagin was quickly promoted to general manager. In 1989, he was appointed to oversee all of Cox properties in south Louisiana as vice-president and general manager of Cox Louisiana, earning $400,000 annually, according to CNBC's "American Greed".

In 1993, Nagin enrolled in the executive MBA program at Tulane University. Nagin also lobbied at the local, State, and Federal government levels, as many of the businesses he managed were regulated and required formal franchise renewals. His public profile was high because he hosted a twice-weekly television call-in show for customers.

In 2004, he endorsed John Kerry for president. Following media reports that he had previously been a registered Republican, Nagin addressed those claims on Tavis Smiley Show in 2006, stating that he "never was a Republican" and that he has been a "life-long Democrat", and several news organizations that reported he was originally a Republican were forced to issue retractions. However, he periodically gave contributions to candidates of both parties, including Representative Billy Tauzin in 1999 and 2000, as well as Democratic Senators John Breaux and J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. earlier in the decade. Nagin endorsed conservative Republican Bobby Jindal over conservative Democratic Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Blanco in the 2003 runoff for governor.

Nagin entered the race for mayor on the final day of qualifying.

Shortly before the primary mayoral election, on January 17, 2002, the New Orleans Times Picayune and Gambit Weekly endorsed Nagin.

In the first round of the mayoral election in February 2002, Nagin won first place with 29 percent of the vote. Some of his opponents were the Police Chief Richard Pennington, State Senator Paulette Irons, and City Councilman Troy Carter. In the runoff on Saturday, March 2, 2002, Nagin defeated Richard Pennington with 59 percent of the votes to become the 60th mayor of New Orleans.

The 2004 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the City of New Orleans, as certified by CPA firm KPMG, highlighted many significant accomplishments of the Nagin administration. New Orleans gained 4,500 jobs that year. U.S. Census Bureau figures showed about 38,000 New Orleanians had risen out of poverty as the national average increased. According to The American City Business Journal, per capita income in New Orleans was rising at the fastest rate in the nation.

Southern Business and Development named New Orleans number eight on the list of "comeback kids" in the south. New Orleans had back-to-back record tourist years, 10.1 million in 2004. A Yahoo/National Geographic Traveler poll named the city its number one family destination. Since 2002, the area had seen over $400 million of film productions, including movies like the Oscar award-winning Ray, starring Jamie Foxx, and All the King's Men, featuring Sean Penn. According to MovieMaker Magazine, New Orleans was the fourth-best place to film a movie and had earned the title "Hollywood South".

In November 2004, the Nagin administration passed the city's largest bond issue, $260 million. New Orleans also jumped from 69th to 38th on Intel's list of "Most Wired Cities". The city's website went from being unranked to the 4th best in the nation.

As Hurricane Ivan threatened the Gulf of Mexico in September 2004, Nagin urged New Orleanians to prepare for the storm. He advised those planning to stay not only to stock up on food and water, but also to make sure they had "an axe in the attic", a reference to the many people trapped in their attics by rising floodwaters when Hurricane Betsy hit the city in 1965. Nagin issued a voluntary evacuation call at 6:00 p.m. on September 30th, leading to heavy interstate traffic as some 600,000 metro New Orleanians left.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina entered the Gulf of Mexico. Early on Friday, August 26, Mayor Nagin advised New Orleanians to keep a close eye on the storm and prepare for evacuation. He then made several public statements encouraging people to leave but promising that if they did not evacuate, "[w]e will take care of you". By 10:00 a.m. Saturday, a mandatory evacuation was called for low-lying areas in the surrounding parishes—St. Charles, St. Tammany, Plaquemines, and Jefferson—and a voluntary evacuation for St. Bernard Parish. Nagin had, however, ignored federal and state offers to assist and a recommendation to evacuate the entire city.

At the time of the 2006 election, at least two-thirds of New Orleans' residents were still displaced. One candidate said in his Times Picayune interview he was running because the city's demographics had dramatically changed. There were three unsuccessful lawsuits filed to prevent delaying the original election date.

In the April 22 election, Nagin was the front runner with 38% of the vote. Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu came in second with 29%. Nagin and Landrieu faced each other in a run-off election on May 20, 2006. Nagin defeated Landrieu 52% to 48%.

Nagin's second term began on June 1, 2006. He was intensely criticized by the local media throughout this term. For example, his "100-day plan" to accelerate the rebuilding of New Orleans was bashed for what critics said was a tardy release, lack of details and activity in moving forward. Nagin administration spokesperson Rob Couhig backed away from a 100-day promise, stating that it was not meant as a "time period," but as a short-range initiative to improve quality-of-life issues. Delays in FEMA reimbursements and federal recovery dollars reaching the city caused many significant delays.

He was also a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.

In 2006, Nagin was also criticized for devoting time to extensive lobbying in Washington, DC and a national speaking tour. Nagin's administration said this was necessary in order to correct inaccurate perceptions of New Orleans and secure recovery support.

In addition during 2007, a drastic increase in the city's violent crime rate led to more criticism of Nagin. Nagin called for and got help from the Louisiana National Guard and U.S. Justice Department. However, Nagin continued to be heavily criticized by the local newspaper. He reignited complaints when he said news of two killings should keep focus on the city's needs for more help and, "while sad, keeps the New Orleans brand out there."

Nagin hired recovery expert Dr. Ed Blakely in 2007 to head up a dedicated Office of Recovery Management. The Rockefeller, Ford and Bill & Melinda Gates foundations provided grants for critical staff enhancements. During the end of 2007 and into 2008 Nagin guided the city through an extensive planning process that documented a $14 billion need. However, the state only allocated 2% of the plan and it took almost three years to receive any of these federal recovery dollars.