Name Veronica White | ||
Veronica Toussaint White (born 1963 in Louisiana) former Director of Sanitation for the City of New Orleans from 2003 to 2010. White held that position under appointment by mayor Ray Nagin. White was replaced by mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu on April 22, 2010.
Contents
Author
White is author of a book, published in March 2009 and titled How to Maximize FEMA Funding after a Natural Disaster. A few days after publication of the 80-page book, the Times-Picayune's Michelle Krupa, noting the book's $35 list price, described the book as bearing supportive statements by certain state and city officials; the publisher, DEW Enterprises, was established in 2008 by White's husband. On 2009 April 10 the Times-Picayune accorded Krupa the unusual step of reviewing the book in a front-page article; the review, generally positive with respect to the book's utility, conveys that the book,
Academic record
White, who holds the degree of MPH (master of public health) from Tulane University School of Medicine, also serves as adjunct instructor of public health at her undergraduate alma mater Dillard University.
Controversy
In 2008, White became newsworthy in the New Orleans area because of a feud between her and New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacy Head, most directly over garbage-collection fees and services. The feud morphed into a controversy over confidentiality of e-mail messages when White sought, via attorney Tracie Washington, to divulge the contents of e-mails in the internet accounts of four members of the City Council—an effort which resulted in seizure of White's computers by the FBI. Nagin criticized "deviation from procedure" on White's part but otherwise defended her. When Washington's brief (prior to a court injunction) internet display of e-mails from councilwomen Stacy Head and Shelley Stephenson Midura indicated that Head and Midura might have personal reasons for wanting to shield their City Council e-mail accounts from disclosure, the Times-Picayune editorialized in support of Washington. Nagin supported the efforts of City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields, siding with White, to get the Council's e-mails revealed, which move was denied by Civil District Judge Lloyd Medley, whose decision was overturned on appeal. In a separate suit District Judge Madeleine Landrieu instructed Nagin to deliver to City Council attorneys the e-mail traffic sought by WWL-TV, WDSU-TV, the Times-Picayune and other news organizations so that the City Council attorneys could remove sensitive information which is not definable as a public record. As the courts considered the appeals, WDSU reported it had obtained "tens of thousands" of the emails in question and published many of them on air and online. Another station—WGNO—announced it had received a handful of those files. Finally, Fox affiliate WVUE said it, too, had obtained some of the documents. The various e-mail controversies and the related lawsuits became quite convoluted, even within the political context of Louisiana.
After being notified of intent to release her from city employment by incoming mayor Mitch Landrieu, with 4 days left in her tenure with Nagin's administration, White resurfaced in the news by way of allegations from the city's inspector general Ed Quatrevaux regarding thousands of dollars of travel expenses claimed by White.