It’s a great travesty to true equal opportunity concerns that Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell is using AmericaSpeaks to cover for her divisive failure to show decisive leadership on a matter of vital importance to the public and the reputation of New Orleans: good government.

Her dialog on race fixes a non-issue — a strawman race card drawn to protect entrenched interests in City Hall. The true issue is that Ray Nagin and his contractor cronies oppose transparency and accountability not because they want greater inclusion. Instead, they want to protect their privileged access to contracts and taxpayer money. They want to protect their preferred placement on the list of “disadvantaged” business enterprises.

To those who dare to consider the real issue, it might seem that the goal of the DBE policy is to help ex-offender rip-off artists … er, “pastors” … and convicted contractors, who have been vocal opponents of contract reform.

American Traffic Solutions of Scottsdale, Ariz., won the contract to administer the safety camera program by submitting the lowest bid. It receives between $10 and $29 for each paid citation.

ATS contracted with ETI Inc., a local minority-owned firm, to handle construction and maintenance services.

State records show ETI is run by Randall Moore, one of a dozen people who pleaded guilty in a City Hall corruption case involving a massive energy-savings contract with Johnson Controls. Moore, then the owner of National Contractor Services of New Orleans, admitted his involvement in a scheme to skim more than $1 million from the deal. He was sentenced in federal court to three years of probation and a $3,000 fine.