New Orleans Mayoral Candidate Makes Chicago Stop

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on May 8, 2009 7:20PM

A mayor that takes vacations funded by private companies that do business with his city; that feuds with a city council over budget issues; that butts heads with local media over transparency issues. Sounds familiar, right? While many cities experience the same plight we do in Chicago, perhaps none is as unique as New Orleans. And never has there been a better opportunity for a change in regime as there is right now in the Big Easy as controversial and embattled mayor Ray Nagin is on his way out thanks to the city's term limits. If the race for mayor of New Orleans in 2010 is anything like 2006, it's going to be a crowded field; 2006 saw a primary with over 20 candidates listed on the ballot. Now, one outsider candidate, James Perry, is taking his campaign on the road to seek nation-wide support in his bid to help bring New Orleans back and it's brought him to Chicago.

Perry, who labels himself as a progressive candidate, is a civil right attorney and currently the Executive Director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC). Perry has also targeted the controversial Road Home program. Yesterday, Perry spoke to a group of Northwestern students about poverty and the rebuilding of New Orleans and will host a fundraiser tomorrow afternoon at the Three Peas Art Lounge.

Perry's Political Director, Nathan Rothstein, explained that Perry's "outsider" status was a big reason behind the tour. Because Perry has not run for office before, "it's difficult for us to raise money in traditional ways. We've done appearances at Yale and Princeton ... usually we'll speak and a school and have a corresponding fundraiser in the city. We've done four or five around the country." And when I asked Nathan, "Why Chicago?" he mentioned the large number of former New Orleans residents that relocated to Chicago as a result of Hurricane Katrina [full disclosure: I was, ultimately, one of them]. He added, "I think there are a lot of strong connections between New Orleans and Chicago. They share similar race and class issues. There's also a strong community of people in Chicago who are from New Orleans and Southern Louisiana," who are still concerned with what's happening in New Orleans. For more on Perry, check out this interview.

James Perry, Saturday, May 9th, 4 p.m. Three Peas Art Lounge, 75 E. 16th Street