The Home Rule Charter of the City of New Orleans reads: “We, the people of the City of New Orleans and Parish of Orleans, trusting in God and grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, do ordain, establish, approve, and adopt this Home Rule Charter through which the City of New Orleans intends to possess and exercise the broadest rights, powers, privileges and authority of self-government permitted under the Constitution and laws of the State.” The Charter is the citizens constitution, our statement of governance by which we give authority to the executive and legislative branches of our government.

As Chair and on behalf of the membership of the Black Economic Development Council, I am here to express our strong opposition to the stated plans of the new Inspector General to make it the business of the office to review bids and qualifications and to in any way engage in the contractor selection process which by law, is the purview of the Executive. I am here to remind you that reform is not enacted in spite of the citizens. It is enacted by the citizens. It will never be acceptable for a single, unelected, unaccountable public servant to change, limit or even extend the power of the executive office as that power is conferred by the citizens.

As active, involved and responsible citizens of this city, the members of the BEDC recognize the need for transparency and accountability in public contracting to preserve the public trust and protect the public interest. We also know that the issue at stake here is our right as citizens to confer or retract the power of our elected officials through our vote.

We ask you to remember that you are not elected by the citizens, you cannot be removed at our bidding as expressed through our vote, you are not the voice of the citizens, you are the servant of the citizens and our trust in you is only through the expression of the Charter which created your office – the same Charter which both extends and limits the powers of the Executive Office. How then do we trust you to uphold your covenant with our Charter if your first actions are to violate the Charter through engagement in a process which the Charter confers upon the Office of the Executive.

Reform is not intended to be enacted in a vacuum. It is intended to reflect the will of the people to speak to our expectations of our government and the officials elected to serve. It is unconscionable that three years after the greatest natural disaster in American history, that three years later when many of our neighborhoods continue to languish, our economy continues to flounder and our citizens continue to wait for the rebuilding boom that we are here today to oppose a reform which has nothing to do with our expectations of governance.

Reform should come from the citizens; it should include the citizens; it should involve the debate and reflection of the citizens. It should not be the product of a recessed meeting and a futile attempt to lessen the debate.

This statement was delivered by BEDC President Romona Baudy at a recent public meeting.