My friend, Bob Cerasoli got one in the Washington Post this morning.
What's New in New Orleans
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25
NEW ORLEANS -- The imposing presence of Robert A. Cerasoli as the city's first inspector general is the clearest sign that the changes Hurricane Katrina wrought on New Orleans in 2005 were not limited to physical devastation. By declaring war on municipal corruption, Cerasoli has signaled that life in the Big Easy no longer will be so easy.
Read the whole article here.
Nothing like a well-deserved pat on the back! Keep up the good work, Bob! Happy Pitcher's & Catcher's Day!
Most of us down here are impressed with Cerasoli, but the column was ridiculously premature. For all practical purposes, Cerasoli has only just started the job. He accepted the job last Summer, but didn't get the budget to hire a staff until last month.
ReplyDeleteNovak was trying to advance the idea that the problems in New Orleans stem from local leadership rather than the federal response. I think it's both and actually blog about local leadership much more frequently than the federal government. But to make his point, Novak makes some statements that are simply laughable, e.g. improvements in health care and combating the crime problem.
He also cites a grossly misleading $120B aid figure in a way that implies that the bulk of it went to the New Orleans area. The figure is exaggerated and the aid has been spread out over several states.
None of the above is meant as a criticism of Robert Cerasoli; I'm impressed with the man and optimistic about his chances of bringing about real improvements. I just think that Novak wrote the column before we could accurately judge Cerasoli's performance for his own partisan reasons.
I am sure you are better informed than I on this matter. I was simply cheering on my fellow Bostonian.
ReplyDeleteWe agree on the basics: Bob's a good guy who will do his best in the job.
I sited Novak because he wrote about Bob on Valentine's Day, not because I'm a fan.