[EM] Newcomers Claim New Orleans Runoff
DEMOREP1 at aol.com
DEMOREP1 at aol.com
Sun Feb 3 08:33:08 PST 2002
D- A report from the real political land about a top 2 runoff election.
Any CW in the 48 percent of the votes NOT for the top 2 ???
Only the Shadow knows !!!
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Newcomers Claim New Orleans Runoff
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two men who had never run for office, a cable executive
and the police chief, led 13 opponents in Saturday's primary for mayor to
reach the March 2 runoff.
With 432 of 442 precincts - 98 percent - reporting, Cox Cable executive Ray
Nagin had 36,396 votes, or 28 percent. Richard Pennington, on leave as
superintendent of police, had 30,300 votes, or 24 percent.
``This is about New Orleans growing,'' Nagin, 45, told his supporters. ``It's
about one of the greatest cities in America finally waking up and saying,
`We're sick and tired, and sick and tired of the same old politics.'''
Nagin's self-financed grassroots campaign had no backing from any of New
Orleans political organizations. However, he was endorsed by the city's daily
newspaper, The Times-Picayune, and two weekly tabloids - Gambit, the free
alternative paper, and Louisiana Weekly, a paper aimed at black readers
Pennington, 54, in a speech claiming the second spot, said security would
continue to be part of his campaign. ``The Super Bowl is here; this is a safe
city,'' he said.
State Sen. Paulette Irons had 23,529 votes, or 18 percent. Councilmen Jim
Singleton and Troy Carter had 16,619 and 13,335 votes, or 13 and 10 percent.
Opponents said both men were too close to Mayor Marc Morial, who could not
run for a third term. Pennington was recruited and appointed by the mayor;
Nagin's partners in the New Orleans Brass hockey team are friends of
Morial's.
Each says Morial will not influence his decisions if he is elected.
Pennington had been expected to make the cut. But nobody else - except
candidates and their partisans - would predict his opponent.
A referendum on raising the city's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, $1 above
the national minimum, also was on the ballot. It passed, but legal challenges
are certain.
With 98 percent of the precincts reporting, the vote was 70,635 yes to 41,330
no, a 63 percent to 37 percent split.
``The business and social leaders of New Orleans have gotten by for decades
by giving the citizens and workers promises and parades, and now the voters
have clearly said `Enough! We want real jobs with real wages,''' said Wade
Rathke, chief organizer of Local 100 of Service Employees International
Union.
The mayor's race got off to a late start after Morial mounted a campaign to
lift the city's two-term limit. Voters soundly rejected the bid in October
and the field of candidates ballooned.
Pennington, who has widespread name recognition as a popular reformer - he is
credited with cleaning up a corrupt police department - was among the late
entries.
Irons, 48, had been the only major aspirant before the third-term referendum.
But she was hurt by Pennington's candidacy - and the revelation that a
brother described in campaign ads as a victim of ``violence in the streets''
actually died in a shootout with police after a robbery.
Singleton, 68, has spent 24 years on the City Council. His age has been
portrayed as a drawback for a high-profile job.
Troy Carter, 38, elected to the council in 1994, has become a successful
businessman in recent years.
Term limits keep both Singleton and Carter from running again for council.
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