Mayor blames Lee Zurik
for ... 'everything'

Nagin insists life would be great
if no one reported his screw-ups

By Rudy M. Vorkapic

The Levee inside-the-mayor’s-mind writer

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has decided that WWL-TV reporter Lee Zurik has skyrocketed from the person responsible for “hurting this (city’s) recovery” to actually being to blame for – as the mayor told The Levee – “everything.”

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been forced to take down thousands of billboards offering a reward for WWL-TV reporter Lee Zurik, who is accused of airing accurate reports about the mayor's lackadaisical public schedule and mismanaged mayoral programs. The Times-Picayune and other local TV stations, all of which have been chasing Zurik on his stories, also donated to the program designed to stop criticisms of the mayor.

Asked to clarify what he meant by “everything,” Nagin’s office eventually provided a list blaming Zurik for everything from male-pattern baldness to disco.

Zurik immediately called a news conference in response, calling the mayor’s actions “inaccurate, biased and reckless.” He said the mayor’s ongoing history of half-cocked comments and misinformation is “hurting this (city’s) recovery.”

“How are you helping this recovery?” an irate Zurik asked the mayor. “How is that helping this recovery? It is not. And it’s hurting this city and you need to stop it.”

Later, pointing out to the mayor that there was no way to verify that Zurik was responsible for “everything,” the mayor eventually provided three more lists, each seemingly more obtuse and unverifiable than the one before.

As a result, the FBI, HUD, the city’s inspector general, numerous mental health experts, activist Karen Gadbois and others have begun investigating the mayor’s latest program of buying thousands of Crimestoppers-like billboards throughout New Orleans that offer up to a $5,000 reward for Zurik.

Under the clouds of those investigations, Nagin was forced to order his NaginStoppers billboard program shut down.

Mayor Ray Nagin sleeps through the fact that his constant misinformation is killing us.

Nagin remains aghast that Zurik would accurately report the truth on the blatant mismanagement of a mayoral program that used federal funds to pay for the gutting of flood-damaged homes owned by qualified elderly and low-income residents. The program is suspected of paying connected contractors for work never done or for work done for unqualified recipients.

Zurik’s initial report aired at the same time a Congressional delegation was in New Orleans to consider additional funds for the city.

“Thank God we had Bill Jefferson among that group of congressmen to provide New Orleans credibility,” the mayor said of his buddy Jefferson, who is facing extensive federal bribery charges.

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