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THE COUNCILMANIC GANG OF 13
The much ballyhooed Council At Large forum was last night. Dr. A and I got there early to help post directional signs to Nunemaker Auditorium, which is pretty hard to find, y'all. The Jesuits who run Loyola don't like making anything easy and finding the space is not BUT once you stumble upon the venue, it's first rate.
The first candidate to arrive was my personal favorite, Quentin Brown. I got to know Quentin last year when he ran for the District B seat. He was in vintage form and tried out several of his stock campaign lines on us, which are damn good. Quentin is a natural born stand-up comic, Debrisville division. He's the Shecky of local gardeners, y'all. I learned last night that Quentin is Councilwoman Stacy Head's yard man but Stacy is staying neutral in the race. Wise choice: good yard men like Quentin are harder to find than candidates for the council, who are a dime a dozen...
After affixing flyers hither and yon, I hung out at the door of the auditorium acting as a greeter. I felt like Joe Louis at a Vegas Casino only more obscure and a tad less punchy. I had excellent company in my friend Julie G, the belle of Faubourg Marengo. She was concerned that I wasn't taking notes for the blog. My reply: I have a photographic memory and if I forget the details I embellish the hell out of them. Shocked to hear that? I thought not...
One of the things we did as doorpeople (without epaulets *or* epithets for that matter) was to greet the candidates, tell them where to go (literally, not figuratively) and inform them that they could only distribute propaganda outside the hall. The only one who wasn't happy about that was Mama D but, then again, she wears a perpetual scowl. She got into it with fellow African-American firebrand Malcom Suber in the hallway before the forum. I don't know why she was pissed off but I suspect it doesn't take much. Suber was quite dignified in response, which caused Mama D to walk away from him muttering and shaking her head.
The biggest surprise of the evening was how punctual the candidates were, even Jackie Clarkson showed up on time. The only late arrivals were Diana Bajoie, who apologized for her tardiness, and Crazy Kim who did not. I guess Jesus gives her a pass in the manners department.
Julie and I spoke to several of the candidates before the forum. Virginia Boulet was super friendly even after what must have been a traumatic meeting with Perfesser Morris of the mime blog earlier in the week. Cynthia Windy-Lewis was as loud and verbose in person as on teevee but she's much more attractive. She's also very petite, which doesn't come across on tevee because her head is as big as her mouth. I was surprised to find her personally likeable. Will it change how I blog about her? Not at all. A rumor swept the hall that C Ray might endorse her but I'm dubious: Cynthia supported Mitch Landrieu in the last election and Nagin holds grudges, man. Besides, his endorsement is usually the kiss of death. Hmm, maybe C Ray will endorse her for that very reason...
Since there were 13 candidates, the answers were short and the time limits were rigorously enforced by timekeepers Dr. A and Debbie P. Dr. A is positively tyrannical with her timer, which led to a mild Mama D tirade. Dr. A stood her ground and moderator Lee Zurik backed her up. Zurik did a fine job as the ringmaster of this circus but one of the candidates, Malcolm Suber, didn't believe that neighborhood groups had written the questions, he was convinced that Lee's masters at WWL had done so. Trust me, Malcolm, WWL doesn't care about the master plan, which Mama D thought sounded like a throwback to Jim Crow days. It was one of her nuttier moments.
Okay it's time for some random and discursive comments about the forum. There were too many participants for me to even consider calling anyone a winner.
---> Quentin Brown was, of course, the liveliest candidate. He promised to have a stack of subpeonas on his desk at City Hall *when* he's elected. He spotted Council President Arnie (Mr. Rogers) Fielgood in the crowd and said: "When I'm elected I wanna walk the streets in tennis shoes with Ernie Fielkow and help the po-leese." "Ernie" roared with laughter. Btw, Quentin is threatening to stop running for office if he doesn't win this time around so I may have to vote for him to buck him up, y'all.
---> Radio big mouth Kaare Johnson came off better than expected. I expected him to come off as a strident winger but he didn't. He came off as a fairly reasonable guy; whether he is or not, I don't know since I don't do talk radio. My main impression of Johnson came when he arrived: the dude is short, "short people got no reason to live" short...
---> Kimberly Butler Williamson seems to be back on her meds. She didn't have that deranged look she did whilst running for Mayor but she did have some nutty moments. Her best line was this malaprop, "Corruption is an issue that's close to my heart.' It got the biggest non-Quentin laugh of the evening.
Because of Lee Zurik's presence, Crazy Kim launched into a tirade about WWL's coverage of her unfortunate incarceration. She claimed that they never broadcast the fact that she was "exonerated." Lee merely raised one of his legendary eyebrows and moved on.
---> The biggest surprise about Mama D was how quiet her voice is. Whereas Cynthia Windy-Lewis sounds as if she swallowed a bullhorn, Mama D spoke in a hoarse whisper. Perhaps it's her way of trying to not come off as a strident nut, if so the content undermined that effect. She rarely lost a chance to spin conspiracy theories and to inform us that "the people" want her to run. Listen to the people was her refrain, listen to the people. Whatever. She also informed us that people from the Lower Ninth Ward had been forcibly evacuated to England, Canada and Hawaii. England? I did not know that.
---> One of the few interesting exchanges of the evening was between Virginia Boulet and my main main Quentin. Ms. Boulet seemed to be influenced by her encounter with the Perfesser so she launched into a specific denunciation of our slacker Mayor saying that he was "disengaged and might be moving to Dallas." Quentin spoke next and said: "If the dude's so bad, why did you endorse him? I knew he was lazy so I voted for the other guy." Touche, Quentin.
---> Dr. A found CPA Tommie Vassel to be the dullest candidate by far. She said that every time he spoke, she zoned out. He is, however, the best looking male candidate by a mile or even a kilometer. I blew my chance to ask him the question I've been dying to pose: "If you're a vassal, who's your suzerain?" Enquiring feudal and medieval minds want to know...
---> Of the three best known candidates, I thought that Diana Bajoie came off the best. She was calm whereas Clarkson and Windy-Lewis were both a bit strident. Every time Cynthia shouted spoke, I jumped and wanted to say: "Take that microphone away." Cynthia is the Ethel Merman of NOLA politics; she can really belt it out. I wish I'd remembered to bring ear plugs...
In the end, I don't think the forum changed many minds. I remain more or less undecided but I'm leaning towards casting a protest vote for the candidate I like the best, Quentin Brown or for Virginia Boulet now that Ashley has withdrawn his fatwa against her. There's bound to be a run-off so then I can lie back and think of England (or is that hold my nose?) and vote for the least objectionable choice. Such is the nature of the real world of realpolitik.
Mamma D made me wish I had stayed behind and evacuated to England. She
always comes up with exotic locales for "her people"
I was sitting next to Dr. A, but when I saw those time paddles I got scared
and moved.
It looked like a tiny blogger cabal where you moved next to BSJ David.
Thanx for the write-up. Wish I could have made it, but your blog is the
next best thing to being there.
Send me to Hawaii in the winter and then evacuate me to London for the
summer. Eh, good deal.
All Quentin, all the time. The more I look at the race, the more he seems
like the best choice. Straight up. Seriously.
How was Tommy Lewis? His answers at the LWV got me thinking he may be
competent/acceptable.
Lewis was dull and unmemorable. The whitest guy in the room; even whiter
than Ed McMeetings. He looks like a Republican to me. In a word:
Unimpressive
Quentin was a bit more restrained than the Dist B forum and did make some
good comments. I love his rant about how "I don't really want to be here
y'all, I have other things I could be doing." and why he keeps running for
election. I felt bad for him when he talked about the woman turning her dog
on him - I'm sure it's the truth - and people laughed. I know people
weren't laughing because he got bit, it's his delivery. Maybe you and I
should put on our tennis shoes and campaign door-to-door with him, so white
people won't be afraid to open their door. I also loved when he asked
Stacey Head would he make more money being a council member or cutting
grass and she said "cutting grass" without missing a beat. A DBCC forum
just wouldn't be the same without him!
I almost feel bad when I call Quentin nutty because he's such a sweet guy.
I like him enormously.
I don't know what's worse, this election or Jefferson/Carter. There simply
are NO candidates wort supporting. I usually enjoy train wrecks but this
is just awful.
Suber is at least intelligent if you wanna go far left.
I almost skipped the forum because I hadn't had much sleep all week, so I
had trouble paying attention. I didn't really think of Clarkson as
strident, conceited or something, whatever it was, I didn't like the way
she came across. I did like the fact that she was the only candidate who
seemed to really think that the city council shouldn't be able to overrule
boards like the planning commission or the HDLC. Johnson said the same
thing, but I got the impression he didn't really know what they were -- I
think he referred to them as neighborhood groups, he definitely called them
experts. Personally, I'd like a charter change that would make it harder,
like 6 votes, to overrule commission decisions, but the council should have
some power to overrule the boards. Johnson did sports talk at WWL, when he
talked politics, he always seemed like somebody who made an effort to be
middle-of-the-road, never like a wing-nut.
Great reporting. Put me on the Quentin train. Anyone who calls C Ray out
for being a lazy bum has got something right.
If Boulet is willing to start explicitly distancing herself from Nagin and
expressing regret, I'm leaning in her direction.
People from Lower Nine have been evacuated to Hawai'i? This is news to me!
Where are they? I would say we could get together and watch the Saints
games, but a) they are rarely televised here, and b) well, you know.
Virginia Boulet wouldn't have left any non-au-courant people with the
impression that she'd ever endorsed Nagin previously if Quentin hadn't
pointed it out.
That's a good point, Ray M. She needs to deal with her C Ray problem
directly.
To hell with me being Boulet's strategist.
And in case anyone is interested, crazy Kim wasn't just late, she was 28
minutes late. I was at the door when she sauntered up with her entourage.
Kaare Johnson was tardy as well (but seated before questions were asked)
and was taking his sweet time talking to people in the hall. I told him
"they are waiting for you." Not that anyone in New Orleans expects anything
to start on time, though Ed McMeetings tried his best.
Krazy Kim has an entorage? Who is willing to be seen in public with her?
Councilmanic-depressives? Well, in Post-K New Orleans...
Uh, Bruce there are multiple versions of the old "think of England" theme;
not just one.
Adastros, I don't know which was more amusing. The Forum or your comments.
I truly am in awe of your memory. To be able to blog on a debate without
taking a note is miraculous to me. I am leaning toward Tommie Vassel. He
seemed smart (albeit boring).
Right. I just picked the one I found most pungent...
Julie, thanks for verifyinh my story about not taking. You're an
eyewtiness.
Thanks for the write-up. I'm with you, I'm sure there is going to be a
run-off. I think I am going to vote for Jackie Clarkson because she gave
birth to the brilliant Patricia Clarkson. Do any of the other candidates
have offspring nearly as impressive? Also, and almost as important, your
synopsis makes me think Clarkson gets it that someone needs to take charge
of this city. I was hard on her during the last election because she was in
office when the train went completely off the rails. Revelations since then
have made me think that Clarkson's and everyone else's hands have been tied
by corruption, more than we ever imagined. I would be gobsmacked if
Clarkson is corrupt, but it's getting where I don't trust anyone.
I think Jackie is probably going to run first and make the run-off. I'm not
sure where she goes from there though. She did seem less arrogant this time
round.
Love affair? Au contraire, ma soeur. I just think I'd pull the lever for
her instead of Willy-Lewis.
Any truth to the rumor that Edwin Edwards is running as a late entry? I
wonder where he stands on the issues.
Can we make like a game of Scrabble and swap out all the tiles for a fresh
set? I'm utterly frustrated with trying to pick someone to vote for in
this election.
Did Suber say that this was a black position? He told Norman Robinson that
white people shouldn't be running for this at-large slot because Dutch
Morial's group determined that it would always be a black slot. Don't know
if he's backing down from that statement.