New Orleans Mayor Landrieu Jabs Back On City's Crime To Sen. Kennedy

NEW ORLEANS, LA — During the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing for Christopher Wray, President Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, U.S. Senator John Kennedy asked if help could be sent to address crime in New Orleans. Mayor Mitch Landrieu wrote the senator a letter stating that Kennedy has the power and resources to help already.

For the sake of New Orleans and its people, maybe the verbal sparring between Landrieu and Kennedy, a Louisiana senator, could lead to real action. But until then, the two politicians continue to quibble over the problem.

In a Times-Picayune column, Kennedy wrote that the crime rate is stealing the city's soul. Landrieu wrote a direct letter to the senator saying that although crime is an issue, Kennedy shouldn't use the dilemma to win political points.

"While it is campaign season, murder and violence should never become just another political football. As a resident of Madisonville, you know that New Orleans has long grappled with violence," Landrieu wrote in the letter. "Over the last 20 years New Orleans has lost over 4,000 people to murder and for decades our murder rate has been six to eight times the national average."

Wherever Landrieu said crime will be his focus moving forward, Kennedy said a good start would be to lift the hiring freeze on the police department. That's when Landrieu said the city could use more help from Washington.

Photo: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu gestures as he leaves after speaking on: "Race in America," and his decision to take down the confederate monuments, Friday, June 16, 2017, at the Center for American Progress in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)