LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Twenty years ago, Las Vegas felt the direct impact of Hurricane Katrina, with a rush of evacuees coming to our city.
During the Katrina crisis, then-Mayor Oscar Goodman told me he got a call from the New Orleans mayor asking for help.
In an exclusive interview, Goodman reveals more about his dealings with the former New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, whose actions in the aftermath of the hurricane would later lead to his imprisonment for fraud.
Goodman says he was in a unique position when Katrina hit New Orleans, having led Las Vegas through the "100-year flood" of July 8, 1999.
"Within eight days of being elected the mayor, Las Vegas suffered a 100-year flood," he said. "So I went through FEMA training and had a little bit of an idea what had to happen when there's an emergency."
FROM THE ARCHIVES | Severe flooding damages Las Vegas on July 8, 1999
Shortly after New Orleans was hit, on Aug. 29, 2005, Goodman says he got a call from Ray Nagin.
"I got a call from him shortly thereafter, and he said, 'Oscar, I'd like to ask you a favor,'" Goodman recalled.
"I said, 'What can I help you with, Ray?'" he continued. "And he said, 'My first responders are exhausted' — This is about four or five days after the hurricane — 'They've been up four or five nights. They've been working so hard and I would like to reward them with a trip to Las Vegas — staying at your beautiful hotels, eating your great food...Could you help me?'"
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Goodman tells me he felt like it was the least he could do, "because I've been through it, to some extent, when we had our 100-year flood."
"And I said, 'I'm sure that our town will come forward and they'll extend a welcome hand, because we are the hospitality capital of the world," Goodman said.
"And he sends out these men and women, and they had a ball," he continued. "And I said, 'Boy, I feel so good. Here are people who are first responding to a horrible tragedy, and we're bringing them a little joy in their lives.'"
But, Goodman says, he soon found out that wasn't entirely true. Listen to part of my conversation with him here:
OSCAR GOODMAN: Well, it turns out that none of them were first responders. They were all members of the [mayor's] staff, and they were having a party in Vegas. And I was hot.
TRICIA KEAN: I didn't realize that happened.
GOODMAN: Nobody does, because I don't talk about it. ...Only you have the scoop.
KEAN: So, what did you say to [Nagin] after that?
GOODMAN: I was so angry, because then the trouble started for him — real trouble. Then, the investigation started. ...There's a lot of fraud as a result of Katrina, and that was part of the fraud, where he was representing that I was helping the first responders, but in fact, I wasn't.
Goodman is right about the fraud surrounding Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin would end up serving time in prison for multiple counts of corruption related to his time in office.
The Department of Justice said at the time:
"Ray Nagin's sentencing brings to a close a sordid chapter in New Orleans' history in which the man charged with leading a city out of crisis instead chose to enrich himself, his family, and friends."
GOODMAN: He probably sent out 20 people who were not first responders who worked in a staff. And I think he was trying to do the right thing. He may have used the wrong words with me because when he said first responders, I associated them with our firefighters and EMT folks and police officers, you know, the front line. But, in fact, they were probably back in City Hall in New Orleans, and, in my mind, that wasn't a first responder."
KEAN: And you never talked to him after that?
GOODMAN: I didn't have much of a chance. They put him in prison.
DOJ investigators said citizens' information to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General's Office helped bring the former mayor to justice.
