The Party That Must Not Be Named

The Associated Press has been doing this sort of thing for a long time, but it helps to point out the obvious. A public official, widely criticized for being, frankly, inept at his job; a man who lost a major lawsuit that proved that his office had engaged in racial discrimination; a man who harbored a wanted, violent, criminal in his own house; resigns from office. What political party does that man belong to?

Well, you can bet that if the man belonged the Republican party that the headlines and about every third word in the story would have pointed that out. You can also bet that if the party is never mentioned - at all, in any way - that it is a Democrat. So it is with New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who is resigning because of all the things mentioned - and who is, despite the complete blackout in the story, a Democrat.

Anger over Jordan's performance, fed in part by his decisions to abandon two high-profile prosecutions and his apparently inadvertent sheltering of an armed robbery suspect, rose again this week when a federal judge refused to delay payment in the discrimination case. That opened the door to the possible seizure of assets of his office.

"I'm hoping my departure will end the threat of the seizure of the district attorney's office's assets," Jordan said.

Baty Landis, co-founder of the anti-violence group Silence is Violence, said the move was best for New Orleans.

"Mr. Jordan always struck me as an intelligent man, but for some reason he was unable to operate as the district attorney," Landis said. "This has got to be good for the office. The morale there has been so low. There has been so much criticism and a total lack of leadership. This is a new start for them."

Jordan lost the discrimination lawsuit against dozens of his former employees in 2005. The white former employees said they were fired by Jordan, who is black, because of their race.

Mayor Ray Nagin on Tuesday reiterated that the city would not pay the judgment, saying that it could not afford it and that it would set a bad precedent.

Richard Leefe, an attorney for the fired employees, said Jordan's resignation will not end the threat of seizing the office's assets.

"It sounds as if we are being used as an excuse, but it was never about him. The judgment is against his office, and we still want to be paid," Leefe said.

Wikipedia entry on Jordan here. The man who fled to and took shelter in Jordan's house committed an armed robbery and is the primes suspect in a home invasion and shooting of a New Orleans police officer and his wife a day later. Jordan refused to meet with police for three days after the incident.

That is at least one less problem Bobby Jindal will have to deal with, isn't it?