TO EDDIE JORDAN-GOOD RIDDANCE

mbattled Orleans Parish D.A. Resigns

Former D.A. Connick says he has “strong reservations” about Jordan’s possible interim replacement

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

AUDIO ON DEMAND
• Click here to listen to the Eddie Jordan Resignation Announcement, with comments from interim DA Keva Landrum-Johnson and Mayor Ray Nagin

MORE AUDIO ON DEMAND: REACTION TO JORDAN’S RESIGNATION
• Baty Landis with Silence is Violence
• Former New Orleans DA Harry Connick

Almost 5 years to the day he was first elected, Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan has resigned. His resignation is effective tomorrow.

Jordan, a political ally of Congressman Bill Jefferson and the city’s first African-American D.A., made the announcement at an afternoon staff meeting.

Later at a news conference at City Hall, Jordan said he decided to resign, “not because I am a quitter,” but because he hoped his decision to step down “would remove the threat of immediate seizure of the assets of the district attorney’s office.

Mayor Ray Nagin says he is working with the business community on a method to satisfy a $3.7 million judgment against Jordan’s office.

The office owes the money to dozens of former workers Jordan fired after taking office in 2003.

The Mayor said “nothing has changed” in regard to the city’s ability to satisfy the judgment on its own. “We still have some work to do,” the Mayor said, adding that he hoped to develop what he termed a “win-win” for the city, the plaintiffs and the state.

Jordan says he intends to return to the private sector.

Keva Landrum-Johnson will succeed Jordan on an interim basis as district attorney. Landrum is a 14 year veteran of the office who presently serves as First Assistant D.A. She will not seek election to the office when a special election to replace Jordan is called by Governor Kathleen Blanco.

Jordan, was widely celebrated when he presided as U.S. Attorney over the trial of former Governor Edwin Edwards, but he was widely criticized in recent years for his poor conviction rate at a trimer of increasing violent crime.

On July 12th, City Council member Shelley Midura called for Jordan’s resignation. Last week, two state lawmakers announced their intentions to draft legislation to impeach Jordan for malfeasance.

Former D.A. Harry Connick says he thinks it was a “wise” decision by Jordan. “The D.A.’s office is in a terrible situation and been that way for awhile and doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better, so I think it was a wise decision on his part,” Connick says.

As for the ascension of Landrum to the D.A.’s post, Connick says “she’s a lovely lady and she was a good assistant, a good, hardworking, conscientious prosecutor.”

But Connick says he has “strong reservations” about whether she could perform effectively as the district attorney. “That’s a heavy burden to put on a young woman’s shoulders. It takes some maturity. I think it takes a lawful experience beyond what Keva has,” Connick said, adding, “I think it’s unfair to put her in this position, quite frankly.”

The co-founder of the organization Silence is Violence, Baty Landis says that based on her conversations with employees of the D.A.’s office, there is “excitement” about the change in leadership. She described Jordan as “ineffective” and expressed relief that he resigned.