Criticism
As sheriff, Foti came under criticism for various questionable activities, including the use of inmates as a state labor force and operating a sailboat marina from which his office derives rental income. Foti also used his influence to promote Tulane University and its football program. In this instance, the issue for Orleans Parish residents to consider is whether it is proper for the criminal sheriff to use public funds to promote a private institution that pays no taxes.
Foti was also criticized for inmate abuse, such as denying routine medical care to inmates. In some cases, inmates died as a result—such as a diabetic who was denied insulin and an inmate who was refused medical care even though he was vomiting blood. http://www.lagop.com/documents/Foti.pdf
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, his office's main priority was prosecuting private citizens on behalf of the elderly that died in the storm. In one case involving Dr Anna Pou, who worked at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans during the storm, Foti publicly stated that Dr. Pou had murdered several patients. In July 2007, Dr. Pou sued Foti, accusing him of playing politics with her life and the dead from Katrina. After a lengthy investigation, a grand jury declined to indict Pou. The charges have since been expunged, and the state of Louisiana will pay Dr. Pou's legal fees. Several lawmakers have apologized for the accusations against Pou. The failed prosecution of Dr Pou was an issue during Foti's unsuccessful reelection campaign in 2007.
In a related story, the owners of a nursing home near Poydras filed a civil suit against Foti and other state officials for failing to evacuate nursing home residents during the storm.
Read more about this topic: Charles Foti
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“A bad short story or novel or poem leaves one comparatively calm because it does not exist, unless it gets a fake prestige through being mistaken for good work. It is essentially negative, it is something that has not come through. But over bad criticism one has a sense of real calamity.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“It is ... pathetic to observe the complete lack of imagination on the part of certain employers and men and women of the upper-income levels, equally devoid of experience, equally glib with their criticism ... directed against workers, labor leaders, and other villains and personal devils who are the objects of their dart-throwing. Who doesn’t know the wealthy woman who fulminates against the “idle” workers who just won’t get out and hunt jobs?”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“... criticism ... makes very little dent upon me, unless I think there is some real justification and something should be done.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)