ray-naginNew Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin expressed bewilderment Wednesday when asked about a November 2005 trip he and his family took to Jamaica courtesy of a technology firm whose owner had several city contracts.

“You know, it’s tough for me to recall that because that was right after Katrina, that was November after Hurricane Katrina,” Nagin said during an impromptu news conference at Civil District Court. “Everything for me is a blur.”



News of the first-class flight to Jamaica came after an earlier revelation that NetMethods, owned by city technology vendor Mark St. Pierre, also paid for a December 2004 trip to Hawaii taken by Nagin, his wife and his three children.

The Metropolitan Crime Commission filed a formal complaint against Nagin with the state Board of Ethics on Wednesday, seeking an investigation into the trips.

When asked a month ago about the Hawaiian excursion, Nagin said he didn’t know who paid for it. Later, he said he believed the costs were covered by his former chief technology officer, Greg Meffert, but allowed that a private firm might have paid.

In a recent deposition, Meffert said NetMethods financed the Hawaiian trip, which the Meffert and Nagin families took together.

Nagin indicated Wednesday that the steady flow of new information has failed to jog his memory.

“You know what? The more I look at that stuff and read it, the more confused I get,” Nagin said. “And I’m one of the main players in this.

“At first they were saying that the company paid for the trip to Hawaii. Now, supposedly there’s no evidence of that. Now, they’re saying that he paid for a Jamaica trip.” Read More…

Filed under: Current Affairs • Politics

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