Long simmering animosity between Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Steven Perry, Director of New Orleans and Company appeared to boil over Friday.
Perry released a profanity-laced rebuke of Mayor Cantrell’s coronavirus economic restart efforts.
In the twitter post, Perry called Cantrell’s efforts restrictive and accused the mayor of refusing to consult with business and tourism experts.
This isn’t the first time business leaders have taken issue with Cantrell’s safety-at-all-costs approach to dealing with COVID-19.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate those business leaders took out a full page ad in the paper to demand the mayor move faster to lift restrictions on businesses.
Cantrell responded to the ad by saying she would not be bullied into reopening the city.
On Thursday, Perry reportedly accused the Mayor of taking a demagogue approach to making decisions affecting the city.
The city released a profanity-laced text by Perry sent to John Pourciau, the mayor’s chief of staff from March when the Mayor abruptly cancelled St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Cantrell responded: “When I made the tough call early on to cancel St. Patrick’s Day events, Mr. Perry took it upon himself to personally attack my staff in a demeaning, unhinged rant,”
For as much as Perry is critical of Cantrell, he praises the way Governor John Bel Edwards is handing the crisis and working with business and tourism to get the state’s economy reopened.
Much of the animosity stems from the cancellation of March events. During the back and forth with Pourciau, Perry texted: “We spent all morning in a prudent table top with the Governor planning so much out. I would count on massive budget cuts, failure of hundreds of small businesses,” Perry’s text continued. “There was a way to do this that involved customer conversations. You just told us and our 90,000 employees to drop dead.”
Perry has since issued an apology for his behavior in the texts and stated he owes a personal apology to John Pourciau, who he called: “the finest person in the Mayor’s office.”