the cynthias: steamroll them June 24, 2006
Back during The Most Important Election of All Time, the shell-shocked refugees of New Orleans East and Gentilly re-elected the Cynthias, Hedge-Morrell and Willard-Lewis, to represent them on the city council. These two were part of the problem from the beginning and they should have been fired, but this is a democracy and who really knows if the voters of those districts had any better alternatives. Willard-Lewis, from New Orleans East, is the phony chattering kindergarten-teacher-lady who used to have a TV show. Hedge-Morrell is the uninspiring wife of uninspiring legislator-turned-clerk of criminal court Arthur Morrell. These two Cynthias have every right to do everything they can to represent their constituents. They are working on my last nerve, however, when they prevent my council woman from representing me.
I noticed a little item on Blagueur that told me that the New Orleans City Council had voted to defer voting on a resolution to implement an ethics board and an independent office of the inspector general. This is a provision from the 1995 charter revision that has been deferred for over ten years. I couldn’t imagine why this would be a controversial vote. It should have been a unanimous slam dunk, but the council voted 6-1 to defer it. What the hell? I voted for Shelley Midura and Arnie Fielkow precisely because I was led to believe they were in favor of, y’know, ethics.
The Times-Picayune article by Bruce Eggler gives you a good idea of what happened:
The seven-member ethics board was supposed to have been appointed by July 1996 and to have enacted a code of ethics for city workers and contractors by Dec. 31, 1996. But the board has never held a meeting, and the code has never been written… The inspector general would have wide powers to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in city government, but no one has ever been named to the position.
Apparently, Midura proposed that her governmental affairs committee be directed to look at the inspector general position, see how much it would cost and present a proposal to the council for debate and a vote. She had lined up Oliver Thomas, Fielkow, James Carter and Stacy Head as co-sponsors of the resolution. So what happened?
But Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis objected to the resolution, saying the council shouldn’t consider it until a “fiscal note” has been prepared saying how much the office would cost.
Midura said there was no way to figure out the cost until the committee does its work, and that all the resolution called for was a committee hearing, which would cost nothing.
“We can’t do a fiscal note until we know what the best practices in other cities are, and we can see what the costs might be and what grants might be available,” Midura said.
But Willard-Lewis repeated her position, and Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said she had not had a chance to read the two-page resolution, which Midura said she sent to all her colleagues last week.
With that, Thomas moved to defer the issue for two weeks, promising that in the meantime he would “help (Midura) put it together so we can get this done.”
Midura said after the meeting that she might decide to schedule a discussion of the issue before her committee even if the council never passes the resolution.
By sitting there and acting like they are deaf, mute and blind, the Cynthias derailed my councilwoman’s ethics proposal, which started out with a majority of the council behind it. When two city council members dump sand on an ethics proposal, what does that make you think? And why did Oliver Thomas cut off the debate? Why didn’t the clear majority just steamroll the Cynthias? It’s an ethics board, not a 40-story hotel next to someone’s house. What is the downside of voting in favor of a resolution to direct a committee to EXPLORE fulfilling this provision in our charter?
I suppose the Cynthias will now use Midura’s desire for an ethics board and an inspector general for horse-trading. They will throw obstacle after obstacle in the way of any attempts at reform in city government, all the while saying they are representing their districts. I predict the Cynthias will be the major obstacles in the way of any attempts at intelligent rebuilding of this city, as well. They are both holding a tenuous grip on power because so many of their constituents are gone. Midura represents devastated Lakeview, but also a good chunk of Uptown and into Mid-City. Even in the unlikely event that Lakeview is returned to nature, Midura will still have a constituency. James Carter’s and Stacy Head’s districts (Algiers and the French Quarter, and Uptown) are the most thoroughly repopulated zones in the city.
At some point we are going to have to accept the fact that the population has shifted and there are fewer people here. It is becoming apparent to me that the Cynthias are not representing anyone but themselves. There are so few people living in their districts that they are holding an inordinant amount of power over the rest of us. In my district, Uptown and council-at-large, the people voted to change the old ways of doing things. I don’t want to horse-trade about ethics any more than I want my city council arguing over whether or not the moon is made of green cheese. Some things should just be obvious, even to the Cynthias.
It’s possible that the issue isn’t completely dead, so I am going to e-mail all the council members and tell them how much I value ethics and accountability in city government. I am also going to tell them that I hope this is the last time a majority of the council gets clothes-lined by the Cynthias. Both their districts may soon be represented by only one Cynthia, so all Cynthias better get on the clue train.
New Orleans City Council e-mail addresses:
Oliver Thomas: OMThomas@cityofno.com
Arnie Fielkow: AFielkow@cityofno.com
Shelley Midura: SMidura@cityofno.com
Stacy Head: SHead@cityofno.com
James Carter: JCarter@cityofno.com
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell: CHMorrell@cityofno.com
Cynthia Willard-Lewis: CWLewis@cityofno.com
- Posted in : main, new orleans
- Author : dangerblond
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