Ray Nagin reflects at church on Katrina anniversary | Local Politics

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Sunday suggested that his and Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s federal indictments are part of a concerted effort to diminish the legacy of the city’s political leaders of color. 

In a rare public speech at Household of Faith Church in New Orleans East, Nagin, who served two terms beginning in 2002, also reflected on Hurricane Katrina on the eve of its 20th anniversary, ripped into what he said was biased media coverage by this newspaper and other outlets, and offered advice to state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a candidate to replace Cantrell who was present for the talk.

A jury in 2014 found Nagin guilty on 20 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, bribery and tax violations, making him the first mayor to be convicted on corruption charges. He was handed a 10-year sentence, but served a little more than half after he was released in 2020 during the pandemic.

Cantrell, meanwhile, was indicted this month on multiple counts of wire fraud, obstruction of justice and lying to a grand jury in an effort to hide a romantic relationship with her former NOPD officer bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie. Vappie has also been indicted on many of the same charges in an indictment that spans 18 counts.

Telling the congregation to “pay attention” to what he said were attempts by the media, the state and others to usurp power from the city’s Black political leaders, Nagin called the timing of Cantrell’s indictment “curious.”

Cantrell’s indictment was announced “while the mayor is still in office, three months before the election. Are they trying to say certain people shouldn’t be leading you? I’ve seen this before. I went through it,” he added.

Nagin was indicted in 2013, after he left office. Cantrell is the only sitting mayor to be indicted while in office.

“I don’t know if they did anything right or wrong. But I never knew a love affair was a federal crime,” he added, referencing Cantrell and Vappie.

A former Cox Cable executive, Nagin handily won the 2002 mayor’s race against former city Police Chief Richard Pennington, and was elected to a second term a year after Hurricane Katrina after he edged out more votes than then-Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu. He moved to Frisco, Texas after his term ended, and has lived there and in Dallas, according to city records. 

Nagin told the crowd his own case, in which a jury found him guilty of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes and free granite slabs from a family countertop business in exchange for funneling city work to the contractors that paid him, was “manufactured.” (He has long maintained his innocence.)

As he has before, he referenced the “chaos” that engulfed the city after the levees broke and rattled off a list of his administration’s accomplishments in its leadup and aftermath. Showing emotion at times, he also recalled a sense of abandonment by state and federal agencies after water inundated 80% of the city and left an estimated 100,000 people stranded, most without access to running water, shelter or air-conditioning amid the stifling heat. 

At one point, he pulled out a “Da Mayor in Your Pocket” toy that became popular locally after his comments on the government’s response efforts. “I’m going to share with you a bit of what I said,” he told the crowd before pressing the toy’s button. 

“Excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed,” Nagin’s voice replayed to the crowd. 

As his speech neared a close, he gave a nod to Duplessis, who he referred to as his “brother.” He said the state senator would be heavily scrutinized if elected as mayor.

“You need to stay prayed up. Because it’s a hell of a job,” he said. “Especially if you have an independent voice.”