Mayor Nagin gets caught up in vacation controversy

By BECKY BOHRER

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — They've already begun the countdown to Mayor Ray Nagin's last day in office a year from now. He is mocked on bumper stickers, even booed at the opera.

Now Nagin, whose career was nearly wrecked by Hurricane Katrina 3 1/2 years ago, has seen his approval ratings sink to their lowest level ever, amid anger over the city's slow recovery and recent ethics questions about his vacations to Jamaica and Hawaii.

Allegations that Nagin didn't pay for at least part of the trips were raised in a lawsuit over his once highly touted city crime camera system, now known more for cost overruns than catching criminals.

"It's been cleverly portrayed as, 'There's something wrong here,' and nobody's been able to prove that yet," Nagin recently told reporters. "And it further creates doubt about government and government officials, and ... I don't know how to deal with it other than to try and get through it."

Mayor Nagin gets caught up in vacation controversy....