Rooting Out New Orleans Corruption with Few Tools

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MELISSA BLOCK, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And I'm Michele Norris.

Since Hurricane Katrina, 67 officials had been indicted on public corruption charges in Louisiana. And faced with that grim statistic, the city of New Orleans just hired its first inspector general. He's got a tough road ahead.

NPR's Carrie Kahn reports, he doesn't have a staff, a car or a permanent office.

CARRIE KAHN: To find Robert Cerasoli's temporary digs, you have to take the elevator to the third floor of a local library.

Mr. ROBERT CERASOLI (Inspector General, Louisiana): When we get to my office, you don't have to...

KAHN: We don't have to whisper anymore.

Mr. CERASOLI: Yeah.

KAHN: His office is a small study room in the back of the stacks.

Mr. CERASOLI: This is my humble abode in the library at Loyola University. We -I'm taking up residence until they decide to give me money to do my job.

KAHN: Cerasoli was given $250,000 for the rest of the year to start up the inspector general's office. But with his salary taking up most of the budget, and with no guarantees of future funding, he's reluctant to sign a lease on an office, hire staff, or buy a car. To get around the city, he takes taxis and bums rides, mostly from reporters.

So, you get into a lot of strange cars these days?

Mr. CERASOLI: Yeah. Going after you.

KAHN: Cerasoli's unconventional ways have irked some city council members.

Mr. CERASOLI: Everyone here has a city car and they get gas - free gas. So, it's unusual for somebody to come along and refuse a car and gas. But, you know, if you would want to change systems and you want to change the way of doing business, and that's something you have to start thinking about.

KAHN: While serving as Massachusetts's inspector general, Cerasoli made a name for himself uncovering defects in Boston's Big Dig highway project. Residents joked that Cerasoli won't have to dig too deep to find corruption in New Orleans. The local congressman is currently under federal indictment and a popular city councilman just pleaded guilty to taking bribes.

James Bernazzani, the FBI special agent in charge in New Orleans, insists the vast majority of public officials are honest. But he says the corrupt ones here take skimming the cream to new heights.

Mr. JAMES BERNAZZANI (FBI Special Agent In Charge, New Orleans): A corrupt public official in Louisiana will skim the cream, steal the milk, hijack the blood and look for the cow.

KAHN: Loyola politics professor Ed Renwick traces the roots of New Orleans' corruption back to Louisiana's governor, Huey Long. Renwick says during Long's tenure in the 1920s and '30s, all major state decisions were routed through the governor's office.

Dr. ED RENWICK (Political Science, Loyola University): Here, if you want a contract, not all roads lead to Baton Rouge and city hall. But a lot of roads lead there.

KAHN: Inspector General Cerasoli says he's not going into the job believing the city is inherently corrupt.

Mr. CERASOLI: Corruption is neither greed-based nor need-based. It is merely opportunity-based. And where there's an opportunity for corruption to exist, corruption will exist. And that is my quote.

KAHN: To close off those opportunities, Cerasoli says he'll need 21 employees and a $2.6-million budget. Stacy Head is one of New Orleans' newest council members who campaigned on funding the inspector general's office. The IG ordinance had been on the books for a dozen years, but past administrations never gave the office any money.

Ms. STACY HEAD (Council Member, New Orleans): We have assured that it's going to be funded. Now, is it going to be funded to the same extent that Mr. Cerasoli wants it funded? I don't know.

KAHN: As both sides wrangle over the money, Robert Cerasoli says he'll do his best to combat waste and corruption in New Orleans. But adds, it takes money to find money.

Mr. CERASOLI: People have said to me, including people in the national IG community, that if there's anybody that can do this, I can do it. And I'm probably one of the few people who might be able to do it. And, you know, we're going to see if I can do it.

KAHN: But first, he needs a paycheck, which doesn't come until the end of the month.

Carrie Kahn, NPR News.

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