Monday, September 26, 2005

What is Mayor Nagin's Punishment?

As I watch the continued story of the nursing home owners indicted for negligent homicide in New Orleans, it leaves me wondering what Mayor Nagin's punishment will be for a similar level of negligence. My prediction? No punishment, but for kicks let's compare the two situations:
The Manganos

Executives of a Residence

Established Emergency Procedure

Failure to Implement Plan

34 Dead

34 Counts of Negligent Homicide
Mayor Ray Nagin

Executive of a City

Established Emergency Procedure

Failure to Implement Plan

Around 600 Dead

Airtime for Hysterics and Accusations
I don't really know if Nagin's on the hook for anything, or even has a chance of being removed from office at the next election. And many of those dead would have stayed behind even if the evacuation had been carried out according to plan. But it seems to me odd that we hold private business owners so much more responsible than government executives.

If that's the case, maybe the way to get government to keep their promises is to privatize it. It'd be great, each city has a list of services they require, companies bid to provide them, and when it hits the fan, they either do what they promised or they go to jail. I like it.

No comments: