Democratic New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is under fire after residents found out where their taxes were going, according to reports.
The extravagant lifestyle Cantrell has built for herself on taxpayer money has come to light thanks to a petition started by Eileen Carter and Belden Batiste, a former Democrat mayoral candidate.
In January, it was reported that the Democratic mayor flew first class to Washington, D.C., for $2,300; in March, she flew first class to Miami for $2,800; in June, she traveled to Switzerland first class for $9,800; and in July, she took a first-class trip to France for $17,000.
Cantrell defended her costly, sky-high flights in a statement, saying that her “travel accommodations are a matter of safety, not luxury.”
“As all women know, our health and safety are often disregarded, and we are left to navigate alone,” the statement read. “Anyone who wants to question how I protect myself just doesn’t understand the world Black women walk in.”
On top of her first-class plane tickets to Europe, Cantrell also spent taxpayer money on security services and a personal stylist.
WWL-TV reported last month that at least two stores in the New Orleans area have received subpoenas from a federal grand jury and have been questioned by FBI agents about purchases made by Cantrell’s image consultant, Tanya Blunt-Haynes.
Laura Rodrigue, a lawyer who represents Ballin’s boutique, where Haynes often shopped for outfits for the mayor, said the owners are cooperating with the federal investigation.
Meanwhile, the subpoena for BC Kitchen & Bath asked the company to send “any accounts associated with” Haynes or her husband, Vernon Haynes, to FBI Special Agent Todd Goodson by Sept. 30.
This comes as New Orleans has been hit particularly hard by a violent crime surge, with experts pinning the blame for the rise on pandemic-related restrictions and protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020 that fueled the defund the police movement.
New Orleans also overtook St. Louis, Missouri, as the murder capital of the country last month, hitting 52 murders per 100,000 population this year. Homicides began surging in the city in 2020, jumping to 201 from 119 in 2019. That number rose again in 2021 to 218, an 83 percent increase over 2019’s number.
