James Gill (born c. 1942) is a writer and a columnist from the United Kingdom.
Born in Hertfordshire and growing up in Essex, Gill emigrated to the United States in 1977. [1] He met his first wife while residing in Kentucky, researching for his second book. They then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana inspired by Gill’s passion for jazz. [1]
Gill worked for the Times-Picayune , in New Orleans, [2] before joining the staff of The Advocate . [3] He has written books about the Mardi Gras celebration.
Like John Maginnis and Jeff Crouere, Gill has made a career of lampooning Louisiana political figures. [4] When he does go after public officials in other states or nations, he often compares them to public figures in Louisiana. [5] Gill has a loyal readership in the circulation area of the Times-Picayune. [6]
One of Gill's major topics in late 2008 and early 2009 was U.S. Representative Joseph Cao, who ousted indicted incumbent William J. Jefferson in Louisiana's 2nd congressional district [7] —and related issues such as the New Orleans e-mail controversies and repercussions related to City Councilwoman Stacy Head. [8] In April 2009, Gill championed of the use of unstaffed cameras to photograph and ticket motorists who ignore red lights. [9]
Gill is the author of several books. His first book, published in 1975, is titled Racecourses of Great Britain, and contains insight into many of the horse racing grounds in the country. His second focused on the topic of breeding horses and is called Bloodstock: Breeding Winners in Europe and America, published in 1977. Published in 1997, his Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans [10] was the first book to examine the role of Mardi Gras in New Orleans' political and social development as well as the first to analyze racial segregation in the krewes, which produce the annual parades. [11]
Robert Linlithgow Livingston Jr. is an American lobbyist and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1977 to 1999. A Republican, he was chosen as Newt Gingrich's successor as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a position he declined following revelations of an extramarital affair. He served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1977 to 1999 and as the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee from 1995 to 1999. During his final years in Congress, Livingston was a strong supporter of Bill Clinton's impeachment. He is currently a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist. Livingston's memoir, The Windmill Chaser: Triumphs and Less in American Politics, was published in September 2018.
William Jennings Jefferson is an American former politician from Louisiana whose career ended after his corruption scandal and conviction. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which includes much of the greater New Orleans area. He was elected as the state's first black congressman since the end of Reconstruction.
Ivor van Heerden is a South African-born American scientist, recognized for his work in the marine sciences and his significant contributions in the field of hurricane research. He was the deputy director of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Hurricane Center; however his tenure at LSU ended in 2010, when he was dismissed by the university under controversial circumstances following his criticism of the handling of Hurricane Katrina.
Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson is an American politician who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002, and multiple tenures on the New Orleans City Council. She has been Honorary consul of Lithuania in New Orleans since December 2014. She is the mother of actress Patricia Clarkson.
Renée Gill Pratt is an American politician from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans. On July 25, 2011, she was found guilty of racketeering. For this crime, she served a 4-year sentence.
Chris Rose is a New York Times Best-Selling New Orleans, Louisiana, writer and journalist. For years best known for light-hearted writing in the Times-Picayune, he gained greater attention for his chronicles of the effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans since 2005.
Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao is a Vietnamese–American politician who was the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is the first Vietnamese American and first native of Vietnam to serve in Congress.
John James Maginnis was a writer of columns and commentaries on current political events in his native Louisiana Maginnis' column appeared in newspapers and other sources statewide. His website is read by political analysts nationwide as a barometer of governmental trends and events in Louisiana.
Stacy Aline Singleton Head is an American lawyer and former president of the New Orleans City Council.
Edward James Blakely, for most his career, was a professor of Urban Planning at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1994, he retired as a leading scholar in the field with award-winning books. He is known primarily for having been executive director of Recovery Management for the City of New Orleans.
Rosalind Magee Peychaud is a Democratic former state representative for Louisiana House of Representatives District 91. In 2009 Peychaud became deputy chief of staff for U.S. Representative Joseph Cao, a Republican who represented Louisiana's 2nd congressional district. She served in his New Orleans district office.
Mose Oliver Jefferson was a member of the New Orleans family that includes his younger brother, former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson. On 21 August 2009, Mose Jefferson was convicted on four felony counts of bribery.
Betty Jefferson(born 1938) is the elected assessor of New Orleans' Fourth Municipal District; she was first elected on 1998 February 7 and was reelected in 2002 and 2006. Before her political career in New Orleans she lived for a number of years in Chicago. She is an older sister of convicted felon former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson.
Angela Coleman, daughter of New Orleans Fourth Municipal District Assessor Betty Jefferson, was one of four individuals indicted in 2009 by federal grand jury for the U.S. Justice Department's Eastern District of Louisiana. The charges on violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act were also directed against Betty Jefferson, Mose Jefferson, and Mose Jefferson's companion Renée Gill Pratt.
Brenda Jefferson Foster was a witness for the prosecution in the 2008-2009 trials of her older siblings Betty Jefferson and Mose Jefferson, Betty Jefferson's daughter Angela Coleman, and Mose Jefferson's companion former City Councilwoman Renée Gill Pratt.
Michael Kirk Talbot is an American politician from Louisiana. A Republican, Talbot has represented the 10th district in the Louisiana State Senate since 2020, and previously represented the 78th district in the Louisiana House of Representatives between 2008 and 2020.
Edward Joseph Price III, is an American former politician in Louisiana who served as the mayor of Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish. After first being elected in April 1996, he resigned from office in October 2009 while under indictment for perjury. He later served 40 months in prison on charges of income tax evasion and corruption.
The corruption case against then Louisiana Representative William J. Jefferson in the United States started on a suspicion of bribery. The FBI raided his Congressional offices in May 2006. He was re-elected to his seat in the fall. On June 4, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Jefferson on sixteen charges related to corruption. Jefferson was defeated by Republican Joseph Cao on December 6, 2008, and was the most senior Democratic incumbent to lose re-election that year. In 2009 he was tried in the US District Court in Virginia on corruption charges. On August 5, 2009, he was found guilty of 11 of the 16 corruption counts. Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years on November 13, 2009 - the longest sentence ever given to a representative for bribery or any charge.
The Knights of Momus (KoM) was founded in 1872 and was the second-oldest parading Old Line Krewe in New Orleans Carnival after the Mistick Krewe of Comus and is the third oldest krewe to continuously present a tableau ball, after the Twelfth Night Revelers in 1870.