It might be funny if it wasn't so bloody racist...

So, Cameron Henry, Representative-elect for LA State House District 82 wants to impeach Eddie Jordan. Here's what this genius has to say:

"What he has done to that office is downright embarrassing, and I think they have to get to another stage -- and he's not the person to get them there," Henry said.

The majority of district 82 is in Jefferson Parish. Henry represents a few blocks of Uptown, and now he wants to lead the charge to remove someone elected by the whole of Orleans Parish from office. When a white Republican pulls a stunt like this, the first thing that comes into my mind is, would he be doing this if Jordan was white?

The answer, of course, is a resounding no. As the WDSU article points out, this would be the second attempt at removing Jordan from office, the first coming back in July when Jordan's office refused to prosecute a suspect in a high profile murder case.

Henry says he'll enlist the help of State Senator-elect Steve Scalise, who is currently State Representative from District 82. Governor-elect Piyush Jindal says he'll call for a special session prior to the new legislature taking office. Henry wants Scalise to file the impeachment charges to get the ball rolling.

It's interesting that Mr. Scalise would feel that Jordan's conduct of late merits impeachment, but the conduct of Jordan's predecessor, Harry Connick, Sr., did not. After all, Connick allowed his prosecutors to withhold exculpatory evidence from the defense in at least two capital cases, those of Curtis Kyles and Shareef Cousin. Kyles spent 15 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The costs of defending the Orleans Parish DA's office in the appeals process for these men went well beyond the paltry $3.7million judgement against Jordan for employment discrimination. Who does Curtis Kyles see about getting the years he lost in prison thanks to NOPD and Harry Connick's office back? Surely these incidents rise to Cameron Henry's "embarrassment" standard.

Cameron Henry is after Eddie Jordan for one simple reason. The Orleans Parish DA's office was the last great public office bastion of hope for white racists in Orleans Parish. When Connick retired in 2002, it was clear that the next DA would be black, but at least they could get someone loyal to Connick in the office, namely former prosecutor Dale Atkins. Jordan defeated Atkins at the polls, then proceeded to fire all of the support staff in the office, because they were loyal to Connick and worked for Atkins' election.

This is the sort of thing that happens all the time with jobs in a political office. You back the wrong horse, you clean out your desk on the last day of your boss' term. The problem was, this time, the incoming office holder was black, the staffers he fired were white, and the people he hired to replace them were all black. Connick's people sued Jordan and won, and now the white folks use this as a club, referring to Jordan as a "convicted racist." Jarvis DeBerry has a great column in Da Paper today, offering his theory on Jordan:

I know it's popular among some folks to describe Jordan as a "convicted racist," but that's wrong, if for no other reason than the implication that racism is a criminal offense for which one can stand trial. It's also wrong because if he'd had such irate opposition to the presence of white people, he'd have fired the white folks on his legal staff, but he didn't.

His real offense is weakness. He allowed himself to be controlled by his mentor U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and didn't put up a fuss when one of the congressman's staffers came into Jordan's office to clear enough room to place the people Jefferson wanted to bestow with jobs.

I'm not sure Jefferson is a racist in that scenario, but it really doesn't matter if he is or isn't. The only thing that matters is the discriminatory effect: 36 white employees were let go, and almost all of them were replaced by black employees.

No, I don't think Jordan and Jefferson are racists, not based on this incident alone, at least. I do think they're stupid, though. They knew they were firing white folks and replacing them with black folks, leaving themselves exposed to this litigation.

This is typical of the attitude of the white minority in New Orleans. When white politicians make political moves, it's "just politics." When black pols do it, it's "corruption."

Part of me would like to see Jordan get the boot, not only because he's not a very smart man, but also because I'd like to see a white Republican take over the DA's office. I seriously doubt any Republican can do any better at cleaning up the mess that is our judicial system, simply because they're white and "conservative." The problem is, we have a serious crime problem in the area, and we really don't have time for Republican experiments that will do no more than personally enrich them while making the situation in the city worse.

You can ping this entry by using http://www.nola-blogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/ruebourbon.cgi/1030 .