The letter says, "These contracts were entered into contrary to the city's home rule charter." The city attorney adds that contracts will be audited, and "Any contract that is found to have been entered into contrary to the home rule charter will be deemed voidable."

One of those letters went to the New Orleans Building Corporation, headed by Kristina Ford. She works under a personal services contract, a contract that was extended, Ford says changed, to protect her from the political whims of the new mayor.

Her new contract, signed by Marc Morial, took effect just four months before Morial left office. In that agreement, the rate of pay for Kristina Ford is changed from $66 an hour, to a flat $10,000 a month. That totals $120,000 a year.

In Ford’s two previous contracts, it states that "Either party may terminate the contract at any time." But, the new contract only gives Ford that option, stating, "The contractor may terminate the contract at any time."

And instead of the standard one-year agreement that Ford had in her previous two contracts, the new one lasts for three years, beginning January 1, 2002, and ending December 31, 2004.

But a 1999 city policy of professional services contracts, issued by then Chief Administrative Officer Marlin Gusman, says contracts shall have "a duration clause that ends the contract no later than one year after the beginning date must be included."

Eyewitness News spoke with Kristina Ford by phone. She said, "This isn't about me, it's about the continuity of the projects that we have been working on since May of 2000." She adds that her contract was changed "to protect the executive director from political pressure, just like the regional planning commission, so that someone just couldn't come in irrespective of the quality of work I was doing, decide they didn't like me. They couldn't fire me except for cause."

Nagin was out of town and unavailable for comment. So is the city attorney.

Eyewitness News spoke with Janet Howard of the Bureau of Governmental research who says, "There doesn't appear to be any justification for an outgoing mayor to guarantee one of his contractors employment for a fixed term during the tenure of a new mayor." Howard adds, "It basically extends the mayor's patronage into the next administration."

Wednesday afternoon, former mayor Morial faxed a statement where he calls Kristina Ford an "excellent professional." In it he says that her multi-year contract is no different from those given to director of other agencies, like the aviation board, Regional Transit Authority and Downtown Development District. The mayor adds, "The board of the New Orleans Building Corporation can terminate Ms. Ford for cause, but not as a political retaliation or for some frivolous reason. She deserves to be judged on her merit."

In his letter to all city departments and boards, the city attorney says his office will be auditing all contracts to see if they are legal. And he says that outside council is not authorized to approve any contracts for any city commission or board. Those deals have to be approved by the city attorney. This apparently is a change from the way some boards have been doing business in the past.