DEMOCRAT
Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who led the city during its darkest days after Hurricane Katrina, will be thrust back into the spotlight this week when he goes on trial in a corruption case that mushroomed at the end of his eight-year tenure.
Even before the allegations, Nagin's popularity steadily eroded as the city struggled to recover from Katrina's devastation, and he has kept a low profile since leaving office in 2010.
Nagin was living in a Dallas suburb when a grand jury indicted him a year ago on charges he accepted free trips and more than $200,000 in bribes from contractors in exchange for helping them secure lucrative city contracts.
The investigation has already produced convictions or guilty pleas by former Nagin associates who could be key prosecution witnesses at the trial, which is scheduled to start Monday with jury selection.
Nagin's 21-count indictment includes bribery and wire fraud charges, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years and 20 years in prison, respectively.
More than a year before he left office, the Democrat vowed that he would retire from politics at the end of his second term.
In 2006, Nagin famously declared that the slowly repopulating city would be "chocolate" again, playing to black residents' fears that they would get short shrift during the recovery process. After receiving 38 percent of the black vote in 2002, he got 90 percent in 2006, helping him defeat then-Lt. Gov. Landrieu in a runoff.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mayor-nagin-trial-bribery-charges-22015505
