Taking graft for granite?

You can call this little story from the New Orleans Times-Picayune proof that even a stone-cold kook can swing a sweetheart deal in exchange for a little sumpin' sumpin'.

You know what I'm sayin', dog?

Mayor Ray Nagin told reporters Tuesday that he and his family have done nothing wrong in landing a deal to install granite countertops for four local Home Depot stores as the giant retailer was negotiating a tax break and other concessions from the city for a planned new store in Central City.

In a radio interview, Nagin said a Sunday Times-Picayune article describing the arrangement was "deceptively written to suggest that there was something unethical being done."

Before the article appeared, the mayor declined on multiple occasions to comment on his role in Stone Age LLC, a company he and his sons Jeremy, 23, and Jarin, 21, formed in 2005. On Tuesday, he described himself as the company's "financier" but otherwise shed little light on his involvement in the firm or its dealings with Home Depot.

Dane Ciolino, a Loyola Law School professor who specializes in ethics questions, said Nagin might have violated state ethics laws that bar city officials from being paid by entities that have or seek "business or financial relationships" with the city. Home Depot's efforts to purchase a group of streets from the city would meet that definition, Ciolino said.

Ciolino said the prohibition would be triggered only if Nagin owns a share of Stone Age totaling 25 percent or more.

Nagin on Tuesday declined to specify his stake in the firm.

"My sons own the majority of the company, I basically -- you know, it's my sons' -- so I'm pretty much the financier for the company," Nagin said.

In response to another question, he replied: "I own less than a majority of the company. My wife and I own a percentage of the company."

Asked the size of the percentage, Nagin said, "I'm not getting into that."

State records list Nagin and his two sons as the company's three members. The law does not require ownership shares to be divulged.

Nagin also was asked Tuesday about his appearance, listed on his 2007 planner, at a meeting with Home Depot officials at Stone Age's offices in February 2007. Stone Age landed the Home Depot installation deal two months later.