Who, and what, is
Katrina the Clown?

Public records show scores of misdemeanors, no felonies

By Rudy M. Vorkapic

The Levee clown writer

Katrina the Clown served as New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin's recovery czar for four days in 2006. Despite Katrina rarely being seen without alcohol, the mayor swears he never thought she had a drinking problem.

Who is possible mayoral candidate Katrina the Clown?

Katrina the Clown burst onto New Orleans political scene a year after the federal levees failed when Mayor C. Ray Nagin tapped the mute clown with a drinking problem to headline his ill-timed one-year “celebration” of the horrific levee failures.

The mayor had planned a Katrina Comedy Night, a Masquerade Ball and fireworks in the then-still-blue-tarp-roofed and highly flammable city as part of his planned one-year celebration of the levees failing, water flooding 80 percent of New Orleans, and people dying.

In the wake of local and national ridicule, the mayor eventually announced cancellation of the events not because they were generally received as thoroughly atrocious ideas, but because he said there simply wasn’t enough time to make them as fun as he had hoped.

The Levee reported other Nagin celebration ideas may have included an Army Corps of Engineers-sponsored reflooding to create a “Ninth Ward Dunk Tank,” a spirited “Chop Your Way Out of the Attic” contest, free Coast Guard helicopter basket rides, and, to top it all off, Katrina the Clown.

There are few public records about Katrina other than a slew of misdemeanor convictions for public intoxication dating back to 1931 and a long record of involuntary commitments for psychological evaluations.

Katrina the Clown’s handlers proudly note that she has not been subject to psychological treatment since Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal earlier this year moved such help for Orleans Parish residents across Lake Pontchartrain to St. Tammany Parish.

They also note that she has overcome being mute not by mastering sign language but by becoming an expert mime.

She and Nagin reportedly met years ago while both were street performers in Jackson Square, where Katrina mimed, often scaring children. Nagin made scores of cash dressed even then as a mayor, but standing perfectly motionless like a statue and doing nothing.

Nagin ran into her as mayor as she was being thrown out of City Hall trying to eek out a meager living distributing copies of The New Orleans Levee.

After canceling the federal levee break celebration, Nagin quickly tapped Katrina the Clown to replace his just-hired recovery czar Ed Blakely.

During Blakely’s introductory news conference in December 2006, the new recovery czar testily addressed reporters, answering the question, “What is on your agenda?” with an answer that ended with, “I’m not answering questions unless they’re really questions. That sounds like a threat.”

Nagin quickly replaced Blakely with Katrina the Clown because he was upset that Blakely had said anything at all and he felt a mute could better represent his administration.

Blakely earned the job back apparently with promises to better tote the administration’s policies. He left his post in May, returning home to Australia.

In the four days that she took over as recovery czar for Blakely, Katrina the Clown had agreed to be paid in daiquiris, but ran up a bill of $87,462. It is unknown whether she would like to be paid with daiquiris if she becomes mayor.

She has since served ably as The Levee’s mascot.

“Katrina the Clown loves her job as The Levee’s representative on the local and national stages and does not plan to resign at the present time,” the clown’s media juggler Rita Bendin-LaBonk said.

Also, with so much in common with the electorate, Katrina the Clown’s opponents are expected to challenge her eligibility to even become mayor, citing the archaic city charter rule of requiring five years of residency before an election.

If Katrina the Clown runs, her opponents are expected to go to court and argue that her not remembering or drinking to forget much of the last five years in New Orleans is the same as not being a resident.

Pundits, though, note that such a move may further endear residents to her.

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