New Orleans native Donna Brazile has created quite a stir over her new book Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House. But her description of the infighting in the national Democratic Party is mirrored at least in part on a local scale by what has been transpiring in the Louisiana Democratic Party since State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson ousted Buddy Leach as State Chairman in 2012.
Brazile, in her book, described how candidate Hillary Clinton took over the Democratic National Committee’s funding during the primary season while still competing with Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination for President. By gaining control of the party’s finances, Brazile said, Clinton effectively rigged the process to kill whatever chance Sanders may have had to win the nomination.
But paralleling the infighting that developed between followers of Hillary and Sanders, the Louisiana Democratic Party appears to have fallen into its own state of considerable disarray on Peterson’s watch. And its problems, like that of the DNC, can be traced back to money and power.
Back room deals, endorsements, and questionable expenditures in the recent campaign for state treasurer have raised a number of questions. For example:
- Is State Sen. Neil Riser truly a Republican?
- If so, why did he lavish money on traditionally Democratic organizations like the Black Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD), THE New Orleans East Leadership PAC, New Orleans East Leadership PAC, Louisiana Independent Federation of Electors, Algiers PAC, Jefferson United, and Treme Improvement Political Society in his campaign for state treasurer?
- Are the aforementioned actually Democratic organizations or are they simply a means to raising money in exchange for the endorsement of the highest bidder?
- If they are Democratic organizations, why didn’t they endorse Democrat Derrick Edwards in the first primary instead of waiting until Riser lost—he finished dead last among the four major candidates—to direct their support to Edwards?
BOLD’s open bidding policy pre-dates Peterson. In 2003, the organization endorsed Bobby Jindal over Kathleen Blanco for governor. Of course, that was after Jindal paid BOLD $10,000 for “consulting and printing.”
During his campaign, Riser’s expenditures included $15,000 to BOLD for printing (BOLD, which Peterson’s dad, Ken Carter, co-founded, subsequently listed Riser at the top of its sample ballots), $14.500 in two contributions to New Orleans East Leadership PAC, a $10,000 contribution to the Louisiana Independent Federation of Electors, $6,000 to Algiers PAC for printing, $5,000 to Jefferson United for undetermined expenses, $5,000 to Treme Improvement Political Society.
But the treasurer’s race is merely symptomatic of a far greater problem within the State Democratic Party.
One of Peterson’s first acts as the new State Chairperson in 2012 was to nullify all parish executive committee appointments made during Leach’s tenure. And it’s been downhill ever since.
In an organization that is perpetually financially strapped, the Executive Committee, once stacked with her appointees, awarded her an annual stipend of $36,000 plus expenses. This was done without the approval of the Democratic State Central Committee, most of whom were unaware of the stipend. She has continued taking the money in her second term, again without approval.
Stephen Handwerk, Executive Director of the State Democratic Party, pulls down nearly $100,000 in salary but he has been reluctant to make use of an available database to identify and engage Democratic voters, claiming he has insufficient staff to do so. Yet, he found the time to take a second salaried job with the Democratic National Committee, according to DNC expense reports.
Peterson also has made it a point to take care of family in her role as chairperson. Her sister, Eileen Carter, of Houma, was paid $13,000 during October and November 2015 for “organizational/grassroots consultation,” according to figures provided by the Louisiana Ethics Commission.
Other payments made by the Louisiana Democratic Party under Peterson include:
- Twelve payments of $600 each to the Chicken Shack of Baton Rouge for party card distribution and catering. Chicken Shack is a business owned by former State Sen. Joe Delpit of Baton Rouge.
- Four separate payments of $900 each to J&M Transportation of Slidell for state party card distribution. J&M is a limousine service.
Peterson denies being among the three prominent Democrats (including then-Sen. Mary Landrieu) who met with then-State. Rep. John Bel Edwards at New Orleans International Airport in 2015 and tried to convince him to withdraw from the governor’s race so that a moderate Republican might be elected. Landrieu has since apologized for her part in that effort but Peterson has not.
Peterson also threw up roadblocks to the State Democratic Party’s official endorsement of Derrick Edwards (no relation to Gov. John Bel Edwards) for treasurer until after the first primary, in which Edwards led all candidates as the only Democrat in the race.
According to the State Democratic Party’s by-laws, “The Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) shall conduct such activities, as it deems appropriate to elect Democratic candidates in national, state and local elections.”
Yet, there was Republican Riser’s name at the top of BOLD’s sample ballots which most likely accounts for Peterson’s reluctance to endorse Edwards at the outset.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, despite Peterson’s attempt to get him to drop out of the gubernatorial race, has been loath to support a replacement for her for fear of alienating the Legislative Black Caucus.
But the biggest concern to several Democratic Parish Executive Committee (DPEC) members is the lack of membership on no fewer than 29 parish executive committees, a condition critics attribute to Peterson’s lack of timely appointments.
“There are 29 parishes which have five or fewer members on their committee,” one DPEC member said. “There should be at least 15 members of each parish executive committee. That’s nearly half the state that has non-existent or non-functioning DPECs. Livingston Parish has only seven of 15 seats filled. One member of the Livingston DPEC has been working since February to get the seats filled but that still hasn’t been done even though names have been submitted.”
And nearly two years into Peterson’s second term as state chairperson, there are 33 DSCC vacancies. “If she fills positions at all, it’s usually with her minions,” one DSCC member said.
Parishes with one or more vacancies in DSCC representation include Caddo, Bossier, DeSoto, Sabine, Lincoln, Union, Ouachita, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, Caldwell, Catahoula, Franklin, LaSalle, Tensas, Concordia, East Carroll, Madison, Tensas, Rapides, Lafayette, Vermilion, Calcasieu, Acadia, Iberia, St. Martin, East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington, St. Tammany, and Jefferson.
Meanwhile, Peterson in March of this year managed to get herself elected to the DNC as Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation. “How ironic is that?” the DSCC member asked.
“Karen Carter Peterson is an ambitious politician of questionable loyalties who has used her chairmanship of DSCC to build a fiefdom and to launch a national career, all at the expense of the organization she was elected to build and serve,” the DSCC member said.
This is truly a shame.
Well, this certainly explains a lot. From past experience, the Louisiana Democratic Party is basically useless. I have made numerous calls asking who my Parish Democratic leaders are. I am referred to an elected State Representative and his office staff have no idea what I am talking about. We have no guidance or resources to register new voters, hold voter education workshops, make sure they know why it is important to vote for Democrats. Many Democratic minority voters simply see no point in going through the hassle to vote – when they feel their votes never count. But, when I got on the State Democratic Party email list, I am bombarded with requests to make donations. When I called and asked why they were not endorsing Edwards, I was put on hold and finally an office staff person told me they would have to get back with me on that. Seriously, we could not experience defeat any better if we planned on it. Out with the old and in with some new people that really want to see Democrats at least have a voice. Thank you for this insightful post.
Great comment, Edith, but I’ll add that minority disenfranchisement are only intensified by situations such as the one depicted here:
http://www.soundoffla.com/?p=1132
The thing about videos (and thank God we now have the ability to use social media to get them spread) is they are what they are, and the video at the preceding link, in my humble opinion, go a long way to account for the minority disenfranchisement you correctly reference.
Tom,
I’m glad you followed up and expanded on this. The major political parties are despicable operations.
Nice work.
I’ve never been comfortable having a currently-serving politician as the head of the state party. That can lead to too many conflicts as Tom as shown here. But the icing was the lack of an endorsement for Derrick Edwards. It was utterly embarrassing. I mean, geez folks, we had a Democrat who won at the primary stage and y’all can’t endorse him or provide any other assistance to the man.
Great post, Tom, and it’s obvious you got some disgruntled folk to confide in you that confirmed one segment of my recent post about three delegates from Ascension Parish, prior to the primary vote, reportedly circulating a petition to have Karen Carter-Peterson and two other prominent Democrats censored for endorsing Riser over Edwards. The near total collapse of the Democratic Party is of concern to the Republican Party as well due to the unique way in which Louisiana conducts its elections (i.e. the “jungle primary”). That dynamic made that Sound Off Louisiana post all the more compelling, particularly given K C-P’s other recent incident which I note you chose not to reference but which I felt was deserving of being in the headline:
http://www.soundoffla.com/?p=1117.
Considering how boring a Treasurer’s race is, I’d say this one had some spice!! Again, great post!!
For Edith:As a member of state and local Dem. groups working to build our party my greatest frustration is the lack of effort and follow up by our leaders and office staff. Please contact me at (awbreaux@bellsouth.net) and I’ll be glad to help connect you. There is much work to do and we need committed people like you. You will likely be surprised at how many of us long to network in this backward red state. Look forward to hearing from you.
great job Tom, agree with Alicia, and really love it when Republicans whine if Democrats do what they do, I am a proud Democrat and understand politics makes strange bedfellows, but we must put the “United” back in our thoughts or else Trump and alt right will destroy us as inferior. I can still learn. love always ron thompson
In light of yesterday’s nationwide elections results it is obvious the time has come to clean house of the current leadership at the state level of the Democratic Party. They seem to exist solely for enriching themselves and family and do nothing to further the Democratic cause in Louisiana. Just ask Derrick Edwards.
I too am a recovering Republican having left them after many decades as I felt they no longer reflected the things I have always believed in. I haven’t changed, they did. I am now a registered Independent which is why I feel we need strong, HONEST leadership in all established parties. I realize that Independents rarely, if ever, win in this state so honest effective leaders in other parties are important to me as I’ll likely end up voting for one of the other parties in elections.
The current Democratic leadership is disgusting and I had to resort to Google to find enough information about Derrick Edwards to determine my position which is to vote for him as he has the education necessary. No help from his party though. Shame on you Karen Carter Peterson and all your involved family and friends. Limousines for card delivery. Really???
Please get out and vote.
I too am disappointed about the path that the current party leadership is leading the Louisiana democrats. There was a petition to censure the democrats who came out and openly supported Reiser with a democrat in the race, however at the meeting the members from New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas wanted to forgive them for a mistake. I don’t agree that it was a mistake, but they effectively stopped the censure. We needed at least 43 names and only 15 signed, while other members had decided not sign or were mislead into what the petitions were for (some were told That’s a sheet for the union, while others were told that they didn’t know why those papers were there). Anywhoot, we need to get with change. If not through the Party then through true democratic organizations.
Good information, thanks.
Agree totally, Stephen. It is indeed great information! Also, lest I be humiliated on my grammar skills, I’ll just note I thought about sending Tom an email to correct my improper word usage on “censored” above (vs. Mozella’s correct “censure” and the glaring subject-verb disagreements I have on the shorter comment above (disenfranchisement “are” that should be disenfranchisement “is” and video “go” that should be video “goes”), but I called it a night in basically taking the “close enough for government work” attitude! Nevertheless, I promise to stop myself the next time I go to compose comments right as my mom saying, “Dinner’s ready.”
Anyway, I appreciate Mozella confirming what I readily said between the 9:37 – 10:14 mark of the video. If I would have been able to get a copy of the petition, I would have gladly facilitated those who pushed for me to make the whole incident more public, but the sources who were pushing for me to give it more exposure because they were so upset with what transpired also weren’t willing to risk the copy landing in my hands and it being tied to them as the source. I can understand that, so I did the best I could to appease those who asked that the whole incident be made as public as I could given those limitations.
I think the comments on this article are great, and I think exposure of the types of manupilation of Louisiana’s election system for their perceived “power hungry, power brokers” within EITHER party is a good thing! I will say this: After what Riser experienced, I don’t look for major Republican candidates to be very receptive to any future overtures from Democratic “power brokers” to finance their ballot distributions.
Thanks for all the hard work that you do, Tom, and thanks also to Louisiana Voice readership for being unwilling to just say, “This is the way it is, and we just have to live with it.” What the Democratic Party did with Derrick Edwards was flat-out WRONG, and there is no other word to use to describe it! I for one am GLAD Neil Riser finished dead last among the four major candidates. Hopefully, it sends a loud and clear message that exploitation of members of EITHER party is NOT an acceptable path to pursue!
Political parties need to die. The founding fathers had it right, no parties should ever have been allowed!