Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, who rose to national prominence by blaming the Bush administration for his own incompetence in preparing for and handling Hurricane Katrina, has been indicted by a federal grand jury , Gordon Russell of NOLA.com writes that the indictment contains: 21 counts of corruption, alleging that while in office, Nagin took cash bribes and gifts from three city contractors and used his power as mayor to leverage a granite installation contract from Home Depot as the retailer was building a store in Central City. Despite New Orleans' reputation for political shenanigans, Nagin is the first mayor in the city's history to be indicted by a grand jury on corruption charges. Interestingly, like so many other former residents of the Big Easy, Nagin moved to Texas when his term in office was over. Reportedly, Nagin turned down a plea bargain: Earlier this week, New Orleans TV affiliate WWLTV reported that Nagin turned down a plea...(Read Full Post)