The New Orleans mayor’s race is just over one week away. And as things stand, polls show Councilwoman-at-Large Helena Moreno with a commanding lead
Friday, Oliver Thomas, who polls place in a distant second to Moreno, sat down with Newell Normand and Dave Cohen. They discuss his desire to lead New Orleans on its return to delivering basic charter services. Thomas also offers up his views on how race is shaping the election cycle and why he thinks his history of underpolling means the margin between him and Moreno might be narrower than on paper.
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New Orleans is failing to deliver basic city services: Police, fire, collection, and garbage.
A recent UNO poll shows that a mere 22% of New Orleanians feel like their city is headed in the right direction.
Oliver Thomas, Councilman for District E (more commonly known as New Orleans East), presides over a district where only 14% of its population is optimistic about their city's future.
Recently, Mayor LaToya Cantrell introduced a sales tax increase to alleviate the city's massive budget deficit. However, Thomas believes that such a solution is indicative of why the population has come to garner such a low opinion of city leadership. He believes the city ought not hike taxes until it proves its worth to the people of New Orleans.
“I've been consistent in saying that until we establish trust, I don't see the constituency giving us one percent of a penny,” Thomas says. “The first thing that is going to have to happen is people are going to see a level of effort and collaboration in establishing trust, delivering basic charter-related services on budget and on time, and a level of efficiency where they believe we give a damn.”
“You don't ask the citizens to give me more when they believe you've given them less,” Thomas elaborates.
At the root of the city's problems, Thomas cites a failure to deliver on basic services outlined in the Home Rule Charter. Thomas claims that the city has lacked transparency regarding budget tracking and spending on charter-related services, the main services being police, fire, and sanitation.
Thomas refuses to proclaim that the issue is poor funding. Rather, he believes the answer lies in gaining a deeper understanding of how the city is spending its tax dollars.
Councilman Thomas explains how the New Orleans city budget changed before and after Hurricane Katrina.
“The city did more with less. Now the city has more and does less," Thomas says. "Is it just about money or performance? You think with Nagan, the city had a half-a-billion-dollar budget with 503,000 people. You went into Landrieu, and it eventually increased by 200-300 million dollars with 150,000 fewer people.”
“I am not convinced that we don't have what we need to operate," Thomas continues. "I just think that there haven't been performance plans. There haven't been benchmarks. And we've grown our budget, versus making the budget work.”
Part of the solution, according to Thomas, is bringing in experts who have successfully established effective city planning/budgeting in cities like Nashville, San Diego, or Richmond.
Thomas explains how the disorganization affects the expense of city contracts, claiming that they’ve ballooned 2-3 times in recent years.
The reason behind this, says Thomas, is that New Orleans has "Created an atmosphere where contractors and service providers know that they can do it. I worked for an engineering and design firm for nine years. So whatever the municipality lets you get away with, that's what you're going to get away with.”
“I’ve said this since I’ve been on the council,” Thomas proclaims. “Somebody's going to have to make me believe we can't perform with seven or eight times the money with 150,000 fewer people… When you understand how the contract works, if the government is inefficient, if permitting, occupational license, performance, and payment aren't efficient, businessmen and women are going to put that into their bids. If I have to supplement my people getting paid and my subs while I'm waiting on you, you're going to pay for that.”
“The only race I’m concerned with…is the race to the top,”
The New Orleans Tribune published a recent editorial focusing on the fact that a significant number of prominent African American leaders and preachers have chosen to support the mayoral white candidate over two fully capable, fully qualified black candidates. The article states, “We cannot think of one instance when we have seen such wholesale abandonment of our community and its interests.”
WWL’s Dave Cohen asks Thomas if he shares a similar frustration with how black leaders have chosen to back New Orleans mayoral candidates.
“The only race I’m concerned about is a race to see when and where we can be the best city, and the best version of ourselves," Thomas responds. "The race for me is how we develop trust? How will we be more efficient? How will we have an org chart and a budget that deliver vital and charter-mandated services? I’m goign ot let everyone talk about those other things, but I want a race to the top."
Thomas on poll standings, Moreno’s commanding lead
Polls indicate Thomas remains in a distant second place, with around 16% voter support, far behind Moreno, who is netting around 51% and could eek out a primary victory without a runoff.
However, Thomas says that the lead, though significant, isn't something he fears, and that he is familiar with come-from-behind victories.
“We’ve been on fire since the debate. We feel good," says Thomas. "The first election I won, I was two percent in the polls... They predicted I wouldn't win. The Entegy poll— Entergy has consistently been against me every time I've run. The Entergy poll says that I couldn't win the District E race. We won ninety percent of the precincts.”
Newell mentions that in a conversation with political commentator Clancy Dubo, they spoke on Thomas’ tendency to underpoll, and their shared belief that numbers may not accurately reflect Thomas’ standing.
“Folk have tried to make this a crowning,” Thomas says to close out the interview. “And I understand people have their political favorites, but I’ve never seen you guys do that here on this station. But I know for a fact they’ve tried to create an atmosphere that the election was over, and I think they’ve made a big mistake trying to do that.”