Why stir a roux with one hand when you can do it with seven? If two heads aren’t better than one, then seven sure are. How many people does it take to pick a new police chief? One or seven? If you chose one, then you just don’t understand City Council logic. Mayor Cantrell may not understand it either. But she’ll be given a lesson soon enough. If not we will see the council check Mayor Cantrell again.
Surely you’ve heard. Shaun Ferguson fell on his sword. You remember him. He used to go by NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson, or chief in colloquial terms. But not anymore. He bowed out of his position last week, leaving mayor Cantrell in a pickle. Appoint his successor now while she still has the power or wait until the Council has a say in the new year. Giving the Council a say is what the majority of voters decided.
Related: Council Treats Mayor Like a Child
Cantrell’s inner gangsta must be seething. Voters overwhelmingly elected to weaken the mayor’s powers. And with her political emasculation set to take place officially on January 1st, Cantrell has one last chance to stick it to the Council. And this is it. However that would also mean sticking it to voters. What to do, what to do? Unlike Cersei Lannister, she is not in a position to choose violence. Neither time nor the people are on her side. And that pesky recall effort is now direct mailing signature cards to voters.
So, when word leaked early last week that Cantrell was going to appoint a new police chief before year’s end and deny the Council its hearing, Council President Helena Moreno clutched her pearls, aghast. “How are we supposed to take this unprecedented opportunity to grandstand and solidify ourselves as future mayoral candidates if the present mayor won’t play ball,” she must’ve wondered. J.P.Morell was all indignation and finger wagging. Even Eugene Green, one Cantrell’s knights on the Council, was like, “Um ma’am the voters have spoken.”
Council To Check Mayor Cantrell Again
Almost every time Cantrell has stepped to the Council she’s been sent back to her chambers with an “L”. Joe Giarrusso took a leg from under her during the Public Works fiasco. J.P. Morrell led the P.R. regarding the first class flights. And after going another round with Moreno, Cantrell finds herself on bended knee, conceding once again. Her concession this time is an invitation to the council to take part in the process of replacing the chief. Presumably before the year is out.
The Council is going to take one look at that invitation and return it straight to sender. There will be note attached that says that’s what the confirmation hearings are for. The best Cantrell can hope for now is a compromise. She can appoint a temporary replacement while a local and national search takes place. Circumventing the Council at this point will likely just result in more recall signatures.
Future and former mayors must be shaking their heads in judgment. If this were Game of Thrones, they’d say, Teedy you have not done a good job of protecting the Realm. The Realm being the mayoral powers. The ones the City Charter grants.
In a term and a half, Cantrell has done what no mayor has done before her. She has weakened the brand. Previous mayors enjoyed numerous ways to reward their supporters with spoils. A nice appointment to one of the city’s departments, for example or supporting a non-profit through the Wisner Fund. Not anymore though. That’ll be a huge part of the legacy of Cantrell.
This could’ve been avoided if she had heeded a simple mathematical fact that’s obvious and undeniable. When it comes to flexing political power, seven is always greater than one. So the be prepared for Council To Check Mayor Cantrell Again
First thing — that not being allowed to grandstand is gold/gold. Second — I’m not sure you’re correct in your assessment of people wanting to get rid of the mayor. I mean if they really wanted to then why did they have to put out the mailer. There were events everywhere. It can’t be they were scared. If that were the case they wouldn’t sign it at all, because signatures have to be verified. Okay, I concede I know a few people who are afraid of retaliation, but not everyone. Third — Our mayor should be glad to share this responsibility with others. They too can take the blame for the chief’s incompetence. I do like the fact that Ferg is finally catching folks and telling us about it. The mayor still has the ultimate decision to make. I doubt seriously she’s looking for the worse candidate possible. I think police departments do themselves a disservice when they announce crime, but never talk about their efforts to solve it. And then I think we miss the opportunity to understand the psyche of some of these delinquents – both juveniles and adults. Once these folks are captured the public needs to know the why. And then we should be able to locate others and plug them in so they don’t have the why. There was a statistic presented the other day and it’s actually old news — it’s cheaper to send someone to school than prison. Fourth — So, I think a larger discussion than who is going to be the pattyroller is what are we going to do to have a healthier community. Who is going to insure that the babies we are forcing to be born have proper 0-5 care and a quality 1st to 12 grade life(not just school, but breakfast, lunch, dinner and after school and career development and exposure.)? Lastly, I just wish we can all focus on a greater city. A new pattyroller or a new mayor is not going to improve our city one bit. We still have privatized schools who get to choose which kids get to attend. This model is nowhere in the country that has a stellar school district. This year alone they are closing down 2 schools. So, we’re just going to uproot the students. On the otherhand NORD is coming along. Road repair is coming along. And this mayor continues to move around the globe bringing people to the city. She went to Baton Rouge to bring more of our tax dollars back to the city. She’s not by any means perfect. We’re still not hiring Black contractors at the right rate. Our affordable housing issues persists, because of property hoarding and lack of str enforcement and the council who wants power to appoint people, but refuses to use their regulatory authority over bad landlords and utilities. Like you can appoint yourself to do that better. You can dismantle New Orleans & Co. and give power back to the people how tourism tax dollars are spent. It’s fun trying to fight for more power and control, but what about using it. You can appoint yourself to not spend 60% of the city’s budget on law enforcement and what 7% on youth and families. Approve that.