— Liz Murrill would rather have people laid off for the holidays than let the city borrow money to make payroll. What a gal, that Liz.
— Liz Murrill would probably disagree with that statement. Liz would probably say, I’d rather the city of New Orleans turn control of its finances over to the state in exchange for not laying people off for the holidays. In Liz’s world, that’s just a simple negotiation. In the actual world, it’s a hostage situation. So far, the city has vowed to not pay the ransom.
— Liz Murrill operates under a peculiar form of logic. Let’s call it Liz logic. Liz logic is all about the conditionals, those if and then statements. It goes something like this: If the same people who presided over the city’s budget deficit are left to run the city, then the city is going to have budget deficits (she’s talking to you, Mayor-elect Moreno and Council President Morrell).
Logically Speaking
In colloquial terms, that logic can be summed up in one word; that word is lazy. Liz reached her conclusion with no regard for specifics, specifics like:
- Budget-wise, the mayor’s financial team was full of mixed messaging and internal confusion.
- Budget-wise, Mayor-elect Moreno will have more insight and control over the budget than she did as a councilperson.
- And Budget-wise, there’s a whole slew of budget hearings going on right now, one that Liz is apparently paying no attention to. If she was paying attention, then she could explain what proposals she sees being presented that will lead to the same ole deficits.
— Clearly, Liz logic is not reflexive. Because under Liz logic, neither her nor Gov. Landry should have a job. It goes like this: If the same people who presided over the state’s bottom 5 ranking are left to run the state, then the state will always rank in the bottom 5. For the record, Liz and Landry, aka L&L, have been a tandem in state government for 10 years. So…exactly when should we be expecting resignations?
— And Liz Murrill tends to say peculiar things. Actually, peculiar might be an understatement.
Receipt #1
“It isn’t true that New Orleans is this island that can operate on its own, and that they somehow fund the rest of Louisiana; they don’t.”
AG Liz Murrill
Yes, exactly. Mardi Gras pales in comparison to Crowley’s Rice Festival. Jazz Fest can’t compete with whatever Shreveport and Lafayette have going on. And of course, if the Saints ever moved to Baton Rouge, the Super Bowl would definitely follow them there.
Related: Montaño’s Money Mess: The Truth Behind New Orleans’ $160 Million Deficit
Receipt #2
“Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a clear warning [about the budget] in January of this year, and a call to action, but nothing happened.”
Ag Liz Murrill
She’s right. Nothing happened, including Mayor Cantrell issuing any type of warning or call to action. Her CAO Gilbert Montano issued a warning, initially. But three months later, he took it back. Instead of a financial cliff, Montano forecast a catapult, a jump-off to a $100 million surplus instead.
This mixed messaging the Council dealt with reinforces the aforementioned points made in 1), and 2) about how things may be different going forward.
Liz Murrill shows she isn’t qualified to manage the city’s finances if she doesn’t understand how we got here or what’s proposed next.
To quote Councilman Oliver Thomas,
“We need to be telling them to mind their damn business. Go fix the state.”
Councilman Oliver Thomas
Or resign, logically speaking.
Kenneth Cooper
Veteran New Orleans Journalist • Columnist • Cooper’s Collage
Kenneth Cooper is a veteran New Orleans journalist whose column, Cooper’s Collage, has become one of Black Source Media’s most distinctive voices. He writes the way New Orleans thinks — in multiple directions at once, connecting the sardonic to the serious, the political to the personal, never letting a target escape without a precisely aimed observation.
Cooper covers Louisiana and New Orleans politics, Saints football, and the cultural life of Black New Orleans with the authority that comes from decades of watching the same cast of characters fail in the same predictable ways. His format is the collage — several subjects, one through-line, each section ending with a pivot that lands harder than it looked coming.
He is unimpressed by politicians of any party and unafraid of uncomfortable truths. He does not perform outrage. He delivers verdicts. Cooper’s Collage publishes on Black Source Media and is required reading for anyone who wants to understand New Orleans without the official version.
Columnist — Black Source Media
Kenneth Cooper
Veteran New Orleans Journalist • Columnist • Cooper’s Collage
Kenneth Cooper is a veteran New Orleans journalist whose column, Cooper’s Collage, has become one of Black Source Media’s most distinctive voices. He writes the way New Orleans thinks — in multiple directions at once, connecting the sardonic to the serious, the political to the personal, never letting a target escape without a precisely aimed observation.
Cooper covers Louisiana and New Orleans politics, Saints football, and the cultural life of Black New Orleans with the authority that comes from decades of watching the same cast of characters fail in the same predictable ways. His format is the collage — several subjects, one through-line, each section ending with a pivot that lands harder than it looked coming.
He is unimpressed by politicians of any party and unafraid of uncomfortable truths. He does not perform outrage. He delivers verdicts. Cooper’s Collage publishes on Black Source Media and is required reading for anyone who wants to understand New Orleans without the official version.
They want to control New Orleans. Nothing more or less. Full control
When the state has residents and voters who are disengaged the elected have no need for logic or accountability. They only need to throw out a few buzzwords..like I support Trump, or Obama did it so we must oppose it. Nothing about education, health outcomes or any responsibility for the perennial race to the bottom in these areas. Let us not even discuss cancer alley and the fact that the mass polluters come to Louisiana because no one else would have them, including other red states.