This week on the Ringside Politics radio show (M-F, 7-11 am, WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com) we conducted our annual listener poll, asking the audience who should be our “Turkey of the Year.”

The competition was very spirited for there were so many potential turkeys to consider in 2017. Some of our worthy nominees included Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), ungrateful UCLA father LaVar Ball among many others.

Previous winners have included former President Barack Obama, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, former House Speakers Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Florida Governor Jeb! Bush, Ohio Governor John Kasich, U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former New Orleans Mayor and current federal inmate Ray Nagin and former U.S. Congressman and recently released federal inmate William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson.

This year, despite numerous worthy nominations, the Ringside Politics listeners selected, by an overwhelming margin, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Ironically, Landrieu is currently being celebrated by national Democrats for “courageously” removing four of the city’s Confederate monuments; however, in reality, he created racial divisions and reopened old wounds that had long ago been healed.

Mayor Landrieu started the unfortunate national trend to remove monuments dedicated to Confederate heroes, Founding Fathers, Christopher Columbus or anyone that the country’s self-appointed social justice police believe is not sufficiently politically correct. If a monument honors a white male, chances are that it has been deemed “racist” and needs to be removed.

While he was crusading against the Confederate monuments in New Orleans, the Mayor vowed to find appropriate places of honor to relocate them. Of course, all of those promises were lies for, today, the priceless Confederate monuments are being stored in a dingy city warehouse. He also vowed to repurpose the former monument locations; however, the old sites remain eyesores today. Landrieu literally destroyed beautiful city attractions in his quest for national glory and praise from the liberal media and Democratic Party leaders.

It is no surprise to learn that the Mayor may run for President in 2020 and will be releasing a book in March to describe how he dealt with the monument issue. The book, “In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History,” will be released in March and will be a shameless attempt to garner national headlines while he prepares for a presidential campaign.

If he was honest, he would admit that the controversy was a two-year distraction from more pressing issues, such as the violent crime rate. New Orleans is a top destination for murderers, ranking as one of the most violent cities, per capita, in the nation. Landrieu decimated the police force when he became Mayor and the New Orleans Police Department never recovered.

His management of the Sewerage and Water Board was abysmal and his pick for Executive Director was exposed as a political hack who had no business running such an important agency. Incredibly, experienced engineers, hydrologists and water system experts were overlooked so Cedric Grant, a Landrieu crony, could be selected for the Sewerage and Water Board position.

When a minor rainstorm flooded New Orleans on August 5, 2017, the Mayor stayed in Aspen, Colorado to attend parties and seminars and refused to immediately return to his rain soaked city. For two days, while his citizens were dealing with a myriad of problems created by his incompetent mismanagement, Landrieu partied with colleagues at the Aspen Institute. While he was away hobnobbing with the political elite, Landrieu allowed his staff to lie to the local media and residents about what really happened. They lied about the cause of the disaster and even tried blaming global warming.

Eventually, Landrieu returned to New Orleans and did what most politicians do, reprimanded his underlings, fired subordinates and denied personal responsibility. He tried to convey the image of a leader in charge, but that fantasy had long ago been exposed as total fiction.

It was discovered that major funds were either lost or stolen, drainage pumps did not work, equipment was inoperable or antiquated and catch basins were not cleaned on a regular basis.

Landrieu did not come close to fulfilling the most basic requirements of a Mayor. He did not provide a safe environment for citizens and tourists alike.

Over the next six months, it will be difficult for the residents of New Orleans to tolerate Mitch Landrieu presiding over tricentennial festivities in the city. A historic celebration will be led by a Mayor who declared war on history to advance his selfish political aspirations.

New Orleans has survived plenty of disasters in its 300-year history and it will survive Mitch Landrieu. Unfortunately, he has done tremendous damage to one of the most unique and colorful cities in the world. Hopefully, he will not win the Democratic nomination, much less the presidency, for the consequences for our nation would be catastrophic. If he does for the nation, what he did for New Orleans, God help us all.

In the last legislative session, Governor John Bel Edwards was successful in passing a package of laws that completely overhauled the state’s criminal justice system. The main reason for the legislative package was to reduce the state’s incarceration rate, which is the highest in the world.

As a result, starting on November 1, 1,900 “non-violent offenders,” became eligible for release from prison after serving at least 35% of their sentence. Before the release, Sheriffs and District Attorneys across the state expressed concern that violent criminals would be unleashed upon the innocent citizens of Louisiana. Not surprisingly, days after the state started releasing these “non-violent offenders,” an armed robbery was committed in Kenner by Tyrone “Smokey” White, one of the criminals set free.

White used a BB gun to rob a roofer working at a home in the 600 block of 27^th Street. After another roofer claimed he had no money, White scampered away from the scene of the crime.  Before the armed robbery, White had been trying to steal cars in the neighborhood by pulling on door handles to see which ones were unlocked.

Fortunately, White was soon apprehended by the Kenner Police and booked with attempted armed robbery and armed robbery. Unfortunately, his case is indicative of what could be in store for the people of Louisiana in the days and weeks ahead. According to Kenner Police Chief Michael Glaser, “You can’t imagine the amount the amount of frustration we have here in law enforcement. We knew it was coming.”

White has an amazingly lengthy criminal record. Even though he is only 24 years old, he has been arrested over 50 times for burglary. He has also been charged with a variety of crimes ranging from illegal possession of a stolen handgun to resisting a police officer.

At the age of 18, White pleaded guilty to multiple counts of simple burglary and was placed on probation; however, he was soon thereafter arrested on more burglary charges. In October of 2012, White was sentenced to six years in prison for four counts of simple burglary.

Incredibly, White was soon out of prison committing more burglary. He was eventually arrested and sentenced again. In 2014, he was convicted on four counts of simple burglary and was sentenced to 12 years in prison; however, a mere three years later he was released. As noted by Chief Glaser, “He’s got a 40 page criminal history.”

White is the type of criminal who should have never been released. To maintain basic public safety, prisoners with a “40-page criminal history” need to remain behind bars. How many other “non-violent offenders” sprung from prison on November 1 will be committing crimes in the days ahead?

Supposedly, Louisiana Department of Corrections officials were reviewing each case to make sure that dangerous criminals would not be released. Obviously, in the case of White, a huge mistake was made. Thankfully, no one was killed this time, but an innocent citizen might not be so fortunate the next time.