New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Businessman Nagin ran for mayor as his first foray into politics. It shows -- and I mean that in a good way. Immediately upon taking office, Nagin took a scouring pad to Crescent City corruption. He raided the Taxicab Bureau, arresting some 80 employees -- including his own cousin -- and had the bureau’s director marched out of City Hall in handcuffs. When the city director in charge of the bureau called a press conference to criticize the raid, Nagin fired her on camera, and later had her arrested, too. Since then, several other city officials have been fired, indicted, and convicted for fraud, bribe-taking and corruption.
Nagin also crossed party lines and endorsed Republican whiz kid Bobby Jindahl for governor last year, a move that cost him political support from key constituencies.
