Affirmative Action In Government
A recurring theme we've covered here is the consequences of placing unqualified individuals in fields such as medicine or aviation, where mistakes can cost lives (see, for example, The Next Affirmative Action Disaster).
We’ve had six aviation near misses so far this year. @St1Station on what comes next. https://t.co/fH1G0W4eYN
— Portfolio Armor (@PortfolioArmor) March 25, 2023
Last weekend, we shared a thread by Richard Hanania highlighting an affirmative action disaster in medicine, the former Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, a hospital so bad locals called it "Killer King".
In a new thread below, Hanania has now documented another affirmative action disaster, this time in government/law enforcement: the former New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who presided over the city with one of the highest homicide rates in the country.
Jordan was at first a federal prosecutor. He oversaw the prosecution of Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards for corruption.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 21, 2023
At the same time, he refused to prosecute politician Cleo Fields, even though the FBI had him on video stuffing $25K from Edwards into his pocket pic.twitter.com/yj7aJtg9XT
In 2002, Jordan was elected District Attorney of Orleans Parish.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 21, 2023
Two weeks after taking office, his first priority was to fire 43 employees, of which 42 were white and 1 was Hispanic.
He went on to hire 68 people in their place, 92% of them black. https://t.co/skiBFt8nNK pic.twitter.com/4WdHMH8HB7
Jordan was sued, and the fired employees were awarded $3.7 million.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 21, 2023
Jordan couldn't pay the verdict, and the city wouldn't bail him out. It got to the point where the fired white employees were going to be able to start seizing the furniture of the DA office to get their money. pic.twitter.com/r3ZWs2l0MQ
Under Jordan, in 2003 and 2004, the conviction rate for murder and attempted murder in New Orleans was 12%, compared to 80% nationwide. Again, this was in a city that was leading the country in murder. https://t.co/NduAw3EMAb pic.twitter.com/GDk3ac82g7
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 21, 2023
After resigning in disgrace, Eddie Jordan returned to private practice.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 21, 2023
Last time he was in the news, it was for allegedly slipping an envelope with drugs in it to his client while in court. https://t.co/rdHzoinZIj pic.twitter.com/gCHFgvj4BU
In July 2007, the community came out in support of Jordan, even after the civil rights lawsuit and years of neglecting to prosecute violent crime. What the NYT described as a "vociferous" black crowd denounced other politicians who tried to hold him accountable. pic.twitter.com/frgg5UyLm3
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 21, 2023
It's particularly tragic because the constituents are of course worse off. Eddie Jordan didn't hire that many people! There aren't enough city jobs to uplift black communities. And the whole city suffers from a high crime rate and government incompetence.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 21, 2023
In Case You Missed It
In our Exits post on Friday, we highlighted the best-performing hedged portfolio from our January 19th cohort on the Portfolio Armor website. This was another one that more than doubled the performance of SPY over the next six months, with the biggest gains coming from a position in Super Micro Computer (SMCI).
You can find an interactive version of that chart here.
This is another example of the benefit of concentration. If SMCI had been one of dozens of stocks in a portfolio, it wouldn't have had as big an impact. You can find an interactive version of that chart here.
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