Stacy Head
Encyclopedia
Stacy Aline Singleton Head (b. 1969, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
) is a member of the New Orleans City Council
.
, Saint Helena Parish, Louisiana
. She has a (younger) brother, Michael Lynn Singleton.
Head is by profession an attorney-at-law; she clerked for Phelps Dunbar LLC from 1991 to 1995 when she finished her juris doctor
degree at Louisiana State University
's Paul M. Hebert Law Center
and began working for Stanley, Flanagan & Reuter LLC. Her association with politics had begun when, as an undergraduate, she worked for the Louisiana Legislature although at the time she anticipated no notion of ever seeking elective office. That interest began in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
when the New Orleans City Council "unanimously asked Gov. Kathleen Blanco
to extend daylight-saving time just for Orleans Parish"—an idea which Head found not only "impractical" but also "tinged with mad futility"; she compared it to King Canute's attempt to hold back the sea. In June 2007 she completed Harvard University
's John F. Kennedy School of Government
course for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.
and becoming the first white person to represent District B in 31 years. Head's candidacy benefited from concerns about governmental effectiveness and efficiency in dealing with Hurricane Katrina
and its aftermath, developers who had obviated the desires of neighborhood residents, and affinities between incumbent Gill Pratt
and then-Congressman William J. Jefferson
(D
), already under investigation on a variety of felony charges. On the Council, Head soon became known for her insistence on specific presentation of facts and numbers by individuals who face her perspicacious questioning during meetings of the City Council. Bruce Nolan
of the Times-Picayune has described as "intense, caffeinated personal" Head's approach to her work on the Council. New Orleans writer Nordette Adams (nomme de plume Vérité Parlant) has described Head as a "drama queen" (together with less-flattering designations).
, was alleged by WWL-TV
New Orleans Channel 4 (CBS
) to be on too-friendly terms with the office of mayor Ray Nagin. The Council generally supported Head's inquiries.
but without proper redaction by city attorney Penya Moses-Fields, to remove statements protected by law. Washington, sympathetic to White, had set about to post the messages on the internet when a federal court, at the request of sources supportive of the Council, enjoined Washington from doing so and subpoenaed (and acquired) White's computers to thwart the possibility that messages on them from the Council might become published.
That e-mail controversy followed on the heels of an earlier e-mail controversy, after WWL-TV
New Orleans Channel 4 (CBS
) sued the mayor's office in an attempt to gain 6 months of e-mails as a public record.
In the context of the convoluted e-mail controversies Times-Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry proposed (perhaps tongue in cheek) that Council members communicate exclusively by means other than e-mail. DeBerry's column was met with a letter-to-the-editor rejoinder by Steven J. Lane (a legal counsel in the city attorney's office), who—after analyzing the potential insecurities of communication via snail-mail, fax
, telephone
, and face-to-face conversation
—described DeBerry's recommendation as folly. DeBerry observed that Lane's assertions his office needed more time to vet the e-mails was met by Civil District Judge Madeleine Landrieu's retort that "We're not going to take thousands of hours"; then DeBerry commented:
On 2009 May 27 the Times-Picayune reported that the number of e-mails involved in the suit by WWL-TV was 135,144 and that vetting of them could take up to 15 months, despite a cautionary statement that "We're not going to take thousands of hours" by District Judge Madeleine Landrieu. On 2009 May 29 the Times-Picayune editorialized against a request by Lane that Louisiana Attorney General
Buddy Caldwell
issue a legal opinion
on the amount of time available to redact the e-mails and the nature of information which can be withheld. The editorial insisted that
ordered by the state supreme court
, Washington briefly posted on the internet certain of Head's e-mail messages. The messages, wrote Bruce Eggler in the Times-Picayune,
Observing that in the e-mails Head had labeled Clarkson an "ASSS" (sic), James Gill took the occasion to criticize Head's spelling:
When Head began publishing the e-mail messages herself on 2009 May 18, she was promptly interviewed by WDSU-TV. In the interview Head said that "The person who hates me deep down more than anything has had my e-mails" in referring to Tracie Washington.
As Head's e-mail messages became public, by 2009 June 25 it was apparent that "hostility" (the word used by the Times-Picayune) between Head and Washington involved assessments of Washington's house, messages by Head to her lawyer confidante Nyka Scott alleging that Washington's home had been under-valued by the assessor to lower Washington's taxes. Head's e-mail also revealed thoughts and potential plans for a retaliatory demonstration in front of Washington's house after a demonstration by Washington's supporters in front of Head's house. Head had incorrectly indicated Washington's house as being in the assessment territory of assessor Nancy Marshall, but the property is actually in the territory of assessor Henry Heaton. Both Marshall and Heaton said that Head had never communicated with either of them about the valuation of Washington's property—a request that they said would have been unethical in that the City Council reviews appeals of assessments retroactively but does not interfere with assessments of individuals proactively. City Council president Arnie Fielkow
clarified:
Head denied that alleging an underassessed value for Washington's property had anything to do with their nemesis relationship:
On 2009 December 7 an echo of the e-mail controversies reverberated when New Orleans police chief Warren J. Riley claimed that Head had written a derogatory e-mail about him. He had apparently trashed the e-mail and was unable to retrieve it when questioned at a press conference.
community and then for her support of Republican
candidate Anh "Joseph" Cao
, in his successful 2008 challenge to incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson
, considered Gill Pratt's ally or even mentor. Two days (on 2009 December 8) after Cao's victory, WDSU-TV carried a statement by Mayor Nagin
that Head had made "race-baiting" comments. The vitriolic quality of the environment had already been evident in allegations on a left-wing web site dubbing Head a "notorious racist and poor people hater" as well as a "partner in evil" with fellow Council member James Carter
, an African American. The recall petition officially began on 2008 November 3, when recall leader Malcolm Suber formed, for the purpose, an organization calling itself Citizens for Accountability and Transparency in Government (CATG). On 2009 March 9, a week after the petition garnered the support of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
, Suber claimed to have collected over half the requisite signatures, despite protests from African American
constituents who defended Head on WDSU-TV New Orleans Channel 6 (NBC
). James Gill
, Times-Picayune essayist, lampooned the situation with a column titled "Of all the accusations against Stacy Head, only one sticks—she's white" (Suber is black; Cao is Vietnamese American
). Head dismissed the leaders of the petition to recall her as "poverty pimps" pursuing their own agendas. Political scientist Ed Chervenak described the recall effort as the "opening shot in an anybody-but-Head councilmanic campaign" to emerge in Summer 2009. Head at first declined to indicate her reelection plans or lack of them but soon, and generally, indicated to WDSU-TV and WIST-Radio New Orleans AM 690 (Fox News Radio
) her intention to be a candidate for 2010 reelection. The recall drive failed to produce the required 18,000 signatures within 180 days. Head had this to say about the leaders of the recall:
As of 2009 July 23, no challenger had "stepped up" explicitly. Head was reelected on 2010 February 6 with 67 percent (10132 votes) to 33 percent (5021) for Corey Watson, an electrical engineer and minister whose father had founded New Orleans' Watson Memorial United Ministries.
Head subsequently endorsed Cao in his 2010 reelection campaign in which he was challenged by Democrat Cedric Richmond
.
-TV New Orleans Channel 8 (Fox
), Nagin said, with regard to the councilmembers' e-mail messages, that White had "followed the policy"; Nagin declined, however, to rule out disciplinary action in either White's case or that of the city's Chief Technology Officer, Harrison Boyd, who supplied the e-mail messages to her. But simultaneously, in another proceeding, Nagin had been defending his own e-mails from disclosure, whereupon Times-Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace accused him of "inconsistency" and noted a similar behavior with respect to New Orleans Katrina-recovery czar Ed Blakely
; Grace wrote:
On 2009 May 22, James Gill
posited a network of individuals tied to former congressman Jefferson
(whom Mayor Nagin
had endorsed for reelection) as out to get Head’s head. Gill noted that Gill Pratt
had been Jefferson’s aide when Jefferson served two terms in the Louisiana Senate a generation earlier, from which position she advanced to the state House of Representatives
and then to the New Orleans City Council, all the while, according to Gill, steering "vast sums of money to non-profits established by Jefferson’s brother, Mose Jefferson
, and his sister, Property Tax
Assessor
Betty Jefferson"; then "the Jeffersons just helped themselves to the money" until Mose was "charged with bribing" the Orleans Parish School Board. Head was a fly in the Jeffersons’ ointment as she upended Gill Pratt from reelection to the City Council. Renée Gill Pratt, the columnist said, was at the "Celebration of Service" staged for Jefferson two weeks prior to the start of his 2009 June 2 trial on 16 felony counts. As Gill Pratt—after Head defeated her for reelection—was appointed director of one of the Jeffersons’ non-profits, Tracie Washington came on the scene, organizing a "Justice for Jefferson Steering Committee" in which she, as chairwoman, said that the "Machiavellian twisting of Karl Rove
and his Brownshirts" had been directed, in league with the press, at Jefferson as victim. Head provided additional effrontery by endorsing Joseph Cao
, the Republican
who ousted Jefferson from Congress. On 2009 August 5, virtually 7 months after the day when Cao defeated him, William J. Jefferson was convicted on 11 felony counts; two weeks later Mose Jefferson was convicted on four counts involving bribery.
In the meantime Head had continued assaulting the garbage-collection fees, on 2009 July 30 proposing to eliminate general-fund subsidies to the fees so that residents, irrespective of neighborhood, would face the actual costs on their bills. Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell
countered that "I don't think that will pass" whereupon Head responded:
in Amite, Louisiana, seat of Tangipahoa Parish.
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, 2006 April 22
Second Ballot, 2006 May 20
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
) is a member of the New Orleans City Council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
.
Early Life and Career
Stacy Head was born in 1969 as the daughter of Katherine Hamberlin Singleton and Ernest Lynn Singleton. She grew up in GreensburgGreensburg, Louisiana
Greensburg is a town in and the parish seat of St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 631 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. Greensburg is one of the oldest towns in Louisiana....
, Saint Helena Parish, Louisiana
St. Helena Parish, Louisiana
St. Helena Parish is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Greensburg. As of 2000, its population was 10,525.St. Helena Parish is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Baton Rouge–Pierre Part Combined Statistical Area.-History:For the past...
. She has a (younger) brother, Michael Lynn Singleton.
Head is by profession an attorney-at-law; she clerked for Phelps Dunbar LLC from 1991 to 1995 when she finished her juris doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
's Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
The Paul M. Hebert Law Center is a law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University....
and began working for Stanley, Flanagan & Reuter LLC. Her association with politics had begun when, as an undergraduate, she worked for the Louisiana Legislature although at the time she anticipated no notion of ever seeking elective office. That interest began in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
when the New Orleans City Council "unanimously asked Gov. Kathleen Blanco
Kathleen Blanco
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco was the 54th Governor of Louisiana, having served from January 2004 until January 2008. She was the first woman to be elected to the office of governor of Louisiana....
to extend daylight-saving time just for Orleans Parish"—an idea which Head found not only "impractical" but also "tinged with mad futility"; she compared it to King Canute's attempt to hold back the sea. In June 2007 she completed Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
's John F. Kennedy School of Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
course for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.
Election to city council
Head was elected to the New Orleans City Council in 2006, defeating incumbent Renée Gill PrattRenée Gill Pratt
Renée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans...
and becoming the first white person to represent District B in 31 years. Head's candidacy benefited from concerns about governmental effectiveness and efficiency in dealing with Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and its aftermath, developers who had obviated the desires of neighborhood residents, and affinities between incumbent Gill Pratt
Renée Gill Pratt
Renée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans...
and then-Congressman William J. Jefferson
William J. Jefferson
William Jennings "Bill" Jefferson is a former American politician, and a published author from the U.S. state of Louisiana. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented , which includes much of the...
(D
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
), already under investigation on a variety of felony charges. On the Council, Head soon became known for her insistence on specific presentation of facts and numbers by individuals who face her perspicacious questioning during meetings of the City Council. Bruce Nolan
Bruce Nolan (columnist)
Bruce Nolan is a staff writer and religion columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He also writes occasionally for other publications....
of the Times-Picayune has described as "intense, caffeinated personal" Head's approach to her work on the Council. New Orleans writer Nordette Adams (nomme de plume Vérité Parlant) has described Head as a "drama queen" (together with less-flattering designations).
Garbage and e-mail controversies
In 2008, Head began delving into the relationship between fees collected and services rendered by the Sanitation Department, which, along with its director Veronica WhiteVeronica White
Veronica Toussaint White—born 1963 in Louisiana—is Director of Sanitation for the City of New Orleans, having held that position under appointment by mayor Ray Nagin since 2003. She received her pink slip from mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu on April 22, 2010....
, was alleged by WWL-TV
WWL-TV
WWL-TV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station serving New Orleans, Louisiana, southeast Louisiana and parts of southern and coastal Mississippi, and is the primary CBS station for South and Coastal Mississippi. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 36...
New Orleans Channel 4 (CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
) to be on too-friendly terms with the office of mayor Ray Nagin. The Council generally supported Head's inquiries.
Retaliation to garbage inquiry
White retaliated by giving thousands of e-mail messages, from the computer accounts of the four white members of the Council, to activist lawyer Tracie Washington, under the proviso of freedom of informationFreedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
but without proper redaction by city attorney Penya Moses-Fields, to remove statements protected by law. Washington, sympathetic to White, had set about to post the messages on the internet when a federal court, at the request of sources supportive of the Council, enjoined Washington from doing so and subpoenaed (and acquired) White's computers to thwart the possibility that messages on them from the Council might become published.
That e-mail controversy followed on the heels of an earlier e-mail controversy, after WWL-TV
WWL-TV
WWL-TV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station serving New Orleans, Louisiana, southeast Louisiana and parts of southern and coastal Mississippi, and is the primary CBS station for South and Coastal Mississippi. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 36...
New Orleans Channel 4 (CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
) sued the mayor's office in an attempt to gain 6 months of e-mails as a public record.
In the context of the convoluted e-mail controversies Times-Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry proposed (perhaps tongue in cheek) that Council members communicate exclusively by means other than e-mail. DeBerry's column was met with a letter-to-the-editor rejoinder by Steven J. Lane (a legal counsel in the city attorney's office), who—after analyzing the potential insecurities of communication via snail-mail, fax
Fax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
, telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
, and face-to-face conversation
Conversation
Conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people who are following rules of etiquette.Conversation analysis is a branch of sociology which studies the structure and organization of human interaction, with a more specific focus on conversational...
—described DeBerry's recommendation as folly. DeBerry observed that Lane's assertions his office needed more time to vet the e-mails was met by Civil District Judge Madeleine Landrieu's retort that "We're not going to take thousands of hours"; then DeBerry commented:
-
- I don't know how to reconcile Lane's suggestion that going through all the e-mails amounts to a Herculean task with Lane's suggestion that going through all the e-mails can take a few weeks with Lane's suggestion that going through all the e-mails can take "thousands of hours."
On 2009 May 27 the Times-Picayune reported that the number of e-mails involved in the suit by WWL-TV was 135,144 and that vetting of them could take up to 15 months, despite a cautionary statement that "We're not going to take thousands of hours" by District Judge Madeleine Landrieu. On 2009 May 29 the Times-Picayune editorialized against a request by Lane that Louisiana Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Buddy Caldwell
Buddy Caldwell
James David Caldwell, Sr., or Buddy Caldwell , is the Republican attorney general of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Prior to serving as attorney general, Caldwell was the district attorney for Madison, East Carroll, and Tensas parishes from 1979 to 2008...
issue a legal opinion
Legal opinion
In law, an opinion is usually a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling....
on the amount of time available to redact the e-mails and the nature of information which can be withheld. The editorial insisted that
-
- The state's Open Records Act is a straightforward statute, with ample jurisprudence and set mechanisms for resolving disputes in court.
Internet posting
On 2009 May 13, prior to a stayInjunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
ordered by the state supreme court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
, Washington briefly posted on the internet certain of Head's e-mail messages. The messages, wrote Bruce Eggler in the Times-Picayune,
-
- appeared to have been chosen to cause her [Head] maximum personal and political embarrassment.
-
- They contain disparaging references to City Councilwoman Jackie ClarksonJackie ClarksonJacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson is the current president of the New Orleans City Council and a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives...
and other public figures and an irate description of the allegedly extravagant purchases of a food-stamp recipient in line ahead of Head at a grocery. In the latter message, Head, a DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, threatens to vote for "the freak" RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential candidate John McCainJohn McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
and his "trash bag" running mate, Sarah PalinSarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
.
- They contain disparaging references to City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson
Observing that in the e-mails Head had labeled Clarkson an "ASSS" (sic), James Gill took the occasion to criticize Head's spelling:
-
- It is quite an achievement for an elected official to turn off Democrats and Republicans in one sentence, and no doubt Head will be more careful with her e-mails from now on. Perhaps that will improve her spelling.
When Head began publishing the e-mail messages herself on 2009 May 18, she was promptly interviewed by WDSU-TV. In the interview Head said that "The person who hates me deep down more than anything has had my e-mails" in referring to Tracie Washington.
As Head's e-mail messages became public, by 2009 June 25 it was apparent that "hostility" (the word used by the Times-Picayune) between Head and Washington involved assessments of Washington's house, messages by Head to her lawyer confidante Nyka Scott alleging that Washington's home had been under-valued by the assessor to lower Washington's taxes. Head's e-mail also revealed thoughts and potential plans for a retaliatory demonstration in front of Washington's house after a demonstration by Washington's supporters in front of Head's house. Head had incorrectly indicated Washington's house as being in the assessment territory of assessor Nancy Marshall, but the property is actually in the territory of assessor Henry Heaton. Both Marshall and Heaton said that Head had never communicated with either of them about the valuation of Washington's property—a request that they said would have been unethical in that the City Council reviews appeals of assessments retroactively but does not interfere with assessments of individuals proactively. City Council president Arnie Fielkow
Arnie Fielkow
Arnie Fielkow is a Democratic politician from New Orleans. In November 2006, he won a seat on New Orleans's City Council as a Member at Large, and served as City Council President. He was reelected in 2010. In fall 2011, he announced his resignation...
clarified:
-
- I don't think it's right of us that are privileged to be on City Council to be asking others to look at assessments of particular people. I think that's very wrong.
Head denied that alleging an underassessed value for Washington's property had anything to do with their nemesis relationship:
-
- If somebody has done something that I perceive is wrong, are they then immune from me taking any appropriate action? I can't live that way. I try very hard to be even in the way that I deal with things. There are multiple entities that I've reported to the IRS, multiple entities that I've reported to the assessor as questionable nonprofit status.
On 2009 December 7 an echo of the e-mail controversies reverberated when New Orleans police chief Warren J. Riley claimed that Head had written a derogatory e-mail about him. He had apparently trashed the e-mail and was unable to retrieve it when questioned at a press conference.
Recall drive
Head faced a recall petition in late 2008 continuing into 2009, ostensibly for not representing the African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community and then for her support of Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate Anh "Joseph" Cao
Joseph Cao
Anh "Joseph" Quang Cao is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. In April 2011, he announced he will be a candidate for Attorney General of Louisiana in 2011, however in September 2011 he pulled out of the race.He was the first...
, in his successful 2008 challenge to incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson
William J. Jefferson
William Jennings "Bill" Jefferson is a former American politician, and a published author from the U.S. state of Louisiana. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented , which includes much of the...
, considered Gill Pratt's ally or even mentor. Two days (on 2009 December 8) after Cao's victory, WDSU-TV carried a statement by Mayor Nagin
Ray Nagin
Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr. is a former mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Nagin gained international note in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the New Orleans area....
that Head had made "race-baiting" comments. The vitriolic quality of the environment had already been evident in allegations on a left-wing web site dubbing Head a "notorious racist and poor people hater" as well as a "partner in evil" with fellow Council member James Carter
James Carter (politician)
James Carter was elected in 2006 to represent District C on the New Orleans City Council. A native of New Orleans and graduate of both McDonogh 35 High School and New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts , Carter received both his B.A. and juris doctor degrees from Howard University in the...
, an African American. The recall petition officially began on 2008 November 3, when recall leader Malcolm Suber formed, for the purpose, an organization calling itself Citizens for Accountability and Transparency in Government (CATG). On 2009 March 9, a week after the petition garnered the support of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
, Suber claimed to have collected over half the requisite signatures, despite protests from African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
constituents who defended Head on WDSU-TV New Orleans Channel 6 (NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
). James Gill
James Gill (columnist)
-Background:James Gill is a graduate of the University of Liverpool who emigrated to the United States in 1977. Since 1986 he has been a columnist for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Times-Picayune columns:...
, Times-Picayune essayist, lampooned the situation with a column titled "Of all the accusations against Stacy Head, only one sticks—she's white" (Suber is black; Cao is Vietnamese American
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
). Head dismissed the leaders of the petition to recall her as "poverty pimps" pursuing their own agendas. Political scientist Ed Chervenak described the recall effort as the "opening shot in an anybody-but-Head councilmanic campaign" to emerge in Summer 2009. Head at first declined to indicate her reelection plans or lack of them but soon, and generally, indicated to WDSU-TV and WIST-Radio New Orleans AM 690 (Fox News Radio
Fox News Radio
Fox News Radio is an American radio network programmed by Fox News Channel.- History :In 2003, Fox News began syndicating one minute radio updates to radio stations via syndication service Westwood One. On June 1, 2005, Fox News Radio employed 60 people and provided five minute newscasts at the top...
) her intention to be a candidate for 2010 reelection. The recall drive failed to produce the required 18,000 signatures within 180 days. Head had this to say about the leaders of the recall:
-
- Given the momentum that reform and progressive politics has [sic] had recently, they are, I'm sure, having trouble dealing with their obsolescence. . . . This is a last-ditch effort to maintain relevance.
As of 2009 July 23, no challenger had "stepped up" explicitly. Head was reelected on 2010 February 6 with 67 percent (10132 votes) to 33 percent (5021) for Corey Watson, an electrical engineer and minister whose father had founded New Orleans' Watson Memorial United Ministries.
Head subsequently endorsed Cao in his 2010 reelection campaign in which he was challenged by Democrat Cedric Richmond
Cedric Richmond
Cedric Levon Richmond is the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which includes most of New Orleans. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life and education:...
.
Mayor's outlook and Jefferson factor
In a mid-March 2009 interview on WVUEWVUE
WVUE-DT, broadcasting on virtual channel 8, is a TV station in New Orleans, Louisiana, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company. WVUE is owned by Louisiana Media Company, with studios in the Gert Town section of New Orleans and transmitter in Chalmette, Louisiana.- Digital television :WVUE-DT...
-TV New Orleans Channel 8 (Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
), Nagin said, with regard to the councilmembers' e-mail messages, that White had "followed the policy"; Nagin declined, however, to rule out disciplinary action in either White's case or that of the city's Chief Technology Officer, Harrison Boyd, who supplied the e-mail messages to her. But simultaneously, in another proceeding, Nagin had been defending his own e-mails from disclosure, whereupon Times-Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace accused him of "inconsistency" and noted a similar behavior with respect to New Orleans Katrina-recovery czar Ed Blakely
Ed Blakely
Edward James Blakely is known primarily for having been Executive Director of Recovery Management for the City of New Orleans. He is currently Honorary Professor in Urban Policy at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney....
; Grace wrote:
-
- The fact that many of the mayor's records had been purged didn't come to light until WWL went to court. In a separate suit . . . outgoing Recovery Director Ed Blakely said in an affidavit that he deleted most of his e-mails after being told that his inbox had exceeded its space limit. The message came two months after the [Times-Picayune] newspaper requested the records.
On 2009 May 22, James Gill
James Gill (columnist)
-Background:James Gill is a graduate of the University of Liverpool who emigrated to the United States in 1977. Since 1986 he has been a columnist for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Times-Picayune columns:...
posited a network of individuals tied to former congressman Jefferson
William J. Jefferson
William Jennings "Bill" Jefferson is a former American politician, and a published author from the U.S. state of Louisiana. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented , which includes much of the...
(whom Mayor Nagin
Ray Nagin
Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr. is a former mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Nagin gained international note in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the New Orleans area....
had endorsed for reelection) as out to get Head’s head. Gill noted that Gill Pratt
Renée Gill Pratt
Renée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans...
had been Jefferson’s aide when Jefferson served two terms in the Louisiana Senate a generation earlier, from which position she advanced to the state House of Representatives
Louisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 Representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of...
and then to the New Orleans City Council, all the while, according to Gill, steering "vast sums of money to non-profits established by Jefferson’s brother, Mose Jefferson
Mose Jefferson
Mose Oliver Jefferson was a member of the New Orleans family that includes his younger brother, convicted felon and former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson...
, and his sister, Property Tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
Assessor
Assessor (property)
An assessor is a specialist who calculates the value of property. The value calculated by the assessor is then used as the basis for determining the amounts to be paid or assessed for tax or insurance purposes....
Betty Jefferson"; then "the Jeffersons just helped themselves to the money" until Mose was "charged with bribing" the Orleans Parish School Board. Head was a fly in the Jeffersons’ ointment as she upended Gill Pratt from reelection to the City Council. Renée Gill Pratt, the columnist said, was at the "Celebration of Service" staged for Jefferson two weeks prior to the start of his 2009 June 2 trial on 16 felony counts. As Gill Pratt—after Head defeated her for reelection—was appointed director of one of the Jeffersons’ non-profits, Tracie Washington came on the scene, organizing a "Justice for Jefferson Steering Committee" in which she, as chairwoman, said that the "Machiavellian twisting of Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...
and his Brownshirts" had been directed, in league with the press, at Jefferson as victim. Head provided additional effrontery by endorsing Joseph Cao
Joseph Cao
Anh "Joseph" Quang Cao is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. In April 2011, he announced he will be a candidate for Attorney General of Louisiana in 2011, however in September 2011 he pulled out of the race.He was the first...
, the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
who ousted Jefferson from Congress. On 2009 August 5, virtually 7 months after the day when Cao defeated him, William J. Jefferson was convicted on 11 felony counts; two weeks later Mose Jefferson was convicted on four counts involving bribery.
In the meantime Head had continued assaulting the garbage-collection fees, on 2009 July 30 proposing to eliminate general-fund subsidies to the fees so that residents, irrespective of neighborhood, would face the actual costs on their bills. Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell is a teacher, a former school administrator and a Democratic politician from New Orleans.-Education:Hedge-Morrell holds a Bachelor of Administration in Elementary Education from the University of New Orleans and a master of science from Loyola University New...
countered that "I don't think that will pass" whereupon Head responded:
-
- We always want to get something for nothing in government. . . ; our job . . . is to get people to the harsh reality that we have to pay for services.
Personal life
Head is married to accountant Jeremy Thomas Head, and the couple has "two children and one dog" according to her New Orleans City Council web site, which also lists her involvement in Trinity Episcopal Church and a host of civic activities. As a teenager she was chosen queen of the Oyster FestivalOyster Festival
The Norwalk Oyster Festival is an annual fair in the city of Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. The festival takes place on the first weekend after Labor Day in Veterans Park, near Long Island Sound....
in Amite, Louisiana, seat of Tangipahoa Parish.
See also
- Ed BlakelyEd BlakelyEdward James Blakely is known primarily for having been Executive Director of Recovery Management for the City of New Orleans. He is currently Honorary Professor in Urban Policy at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney....
- Anh "Joseph" Cao
- James CarterJames Carter (politician)James Carter was elected in 2006 to represent District C on the New Orleans City Council. A native of New Orleans and graduate of both McDonogh 35 High School and New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts , Carter received both his B.A. and juris doctor degrees from Howard University in the...
- Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson
- Cheryl A. Gray EvansCheryl A. Gray EvansCheryl Artise Gray Evans represented District 5 in the Louisiana Senate prior to her resignation in 2009. She formerly served in the Louisiana House of Representatives .-Background:...
- Arnie FielkowArnie FielkowArnie Fielkow is a Democratic politician from New Orleans. In November 2006, he won a seat on New Orleans's City Council as a Member at Large, and served as City Council President. He was reelected in 2010. In fall 2011, he announced his resignation...
- James GillJames Gill (columnist)-Background:James Gill is a graduate of the University of Liverpool who emigrated to the United States in 1977. Since 1986 he has been a columnist for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Times-Picayune columns:...
- Cynthia Hedge-MorrellCynthia Hedge-MorrellCynthia Hedge-Morrell is a teacher, a former school administrator and a Democratic politician from New Orleans.-Education:Hedge-Morrell holds a Bachelor of Administration in Elementary Education from the University of New Orleans and a master of science from Loyola University New...
- Mose JeffersonMose JeffersonMose Oliver Jefferson was a member of the New Orleans family that includes his younger brother, convicted felon and former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson...
- William J. Jefferson
- Angus LindAngus LindAngus Miller Lind is a retired columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Lind retired in July 2009 after 39 years with The Times-Picayune and the now-defunct afternoon newspaper, The States-Item. He began as a general assignment reporter for The States-Item in 1970, and covered the biggest...
- Shelley Stephenson MiduraShelley Stephenson MiduraShelley Stephenson Midura is a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana and a former member of the New Orleans City Council. A Democrat, she represented District A from 2006 to her retirment in 2010. She first won election when she defeated Republican incumbent Jay Batt...
- Helena Moreno
- Ray Nagin
- Rosalind PeychaudRosalind PeychaudRosalind Magee Peychaud is a Democratic former state representative for Louisiana House of Representatives District 91 . As of 2009 Peychaud became deputy chief of staff for U.S. Representative Joseph Cao, a Republican who represents Louisiana's 2nd congressional district...
- Renée Gill PrattRenée Gill PrattRenée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans...
- Chris RoseChris Rose (journalist)Chris Rose is a New Orleans, Louisiana, writer. For years best known for light-hearted writing in the Times-Picayune, he gained greater attention for his chronicles of the effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans since 2005. He left the paper in late 2009, and joined the New Orleans alternative...
- Jim SingletonJim SingletonJames Milton Singleton , a prime mover in the New Orleans political organization BOLD , serves on the nine-member Louisiana Gaming Commission, having been nominated for the position by Xavier University of Louisiana president Norman Francis and appointed by Governor Bobby Jindal.-Role in...
- Sheila StroupSheila StroupSheila T. Stroup is a "Living" section columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Her column, rather than dealing with the celebrated news events of the day, invariably has to do with perceptions of the otherwise-unnoticed aspects of life, particularly in her native Northshore Region...
- Tracie Washington
- Veronica WhiteVeronica WhiteVeronica Toussaint White—born 1963 in Louisiana—is Director of Sanitation for the City of New Orleans, having held that position under appointment by mayor Ray Nagin since 2003. She received her pink slip from mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu on April 22, 2010....
- Cynthia Willard-LewisCynthia Willard-LewisCynthia W. Willard-Lewis is a Democratic Party member of the Louisiana State Senate, being elected from District 2 in an October 2, 2010 special election to replace Ann Duplesis, who resigned to take a position in Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration....
External links
- Stacy Head - Veronica White altercation, New Orleans City Council video on YouTube
- New Orleans City Council argues over trash pickup, WWL-TVWWL-TVWWL-TV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station serving New Orleans, Louisiana, southeast Louisiana and parts of southern and coastal Mississippi, and is the primary CBS station for South and Coastal Mississippi. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 36...
New Orleans Channel 4 (CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
) on YouTube
Election history
Councilmember, New Orleans District B, 2006Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, 2006 April 22
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| Renée Gill Pratt Renée Gill Pratt Renée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans... |
Democratic | 7,042 (40%) | Runoff |
| Stacy Head | Democratic | 6,691 (38%) | Runoff |
| Others | n.a. | 3,893 (22%) | Defeated |
Second Ballot, 2006 May 20
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| Stacy Head | Democratic | 10,214 (54%) | Elected |
| Renée Gill Pratt Renée Gill Pratt Renée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans... |
Democratic | 8,694 (46%) | Defeated |