Karma. That bitch.
What Gov. John Bel Edwards could not – would not – do, her gambling addiction did.
Oh, Karen Carter-Peterson leaves a legacy, all right, even as she is charged in a bill of information on a single count of WIRE FRAUD, stealing from the Louisiana Democratic Party that she ostensibly led, to feed the hungry beast at the gaming tables.
The state senator who blocked the appointment of Louisiana’s top gaming regulator – not over a political matter or a philosophical difference, but for reasons rooted in her own weakness and her insatiable attraction to the casinos.
She resigned from her state senate seat earlier this year, in the middle of the legislative session, in fact, in the apparent hope that that would enough to keep prosecutors from her door.
It wasn’t.
While she was siphoning off money from the party and from her campaign funds, she was systematically DESTROYING the Democratic Party which she was elected to lead back in 2012. LouisianaVoice published a story about her FAILURES as a party leader back in November 2017.
In her nine-plus years at the helm, she stacked the State Democratic Executive Committee with her own appointees and then, once she had the votes to do so, had her board approve her an annual stipend of $36,000, plus expenses. She paid her sister $13,000 for two months’ “organizational/grassroots consulting work” in 2015 and placed Stephen Handwerk in a $100,000-a-year position even as parish executive committee membership positions went unfilled and state party membership declined.
Gov. Edwards wanted desperately to replace her at the head of the party, but he didn’t dare do so for fear of alienating his solid black base of support. Because of his impotency in placing strong leadership, the party has limped along, badly crippled in an already crimson red state.
She made a run for Congress to replace US Rep. Cedric Richmond in April 2021, but lost to State Sen. Troy Carter.
In resigning in April this year, she said she had received treatment for depression and addiction and that she had managed to refrain from gambling, which she described at the time as an “insidious” disease which she said was the single biggest cause of suicide.
On Wednesday, her attorney, Brian Capitelli, issued a statement in which he said, “She is sincerely remorseful for her compulsive behavior resulting from this addiction and has made full repayment of funds used as a result of her addiction. She has been forthright, honest, and cooperative with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in their investigation.”
It seems like we’ve heard that song and dance before. And aren’t they all remorseful – after they’re caught? The next step in the two-step process is usually to find religion.
She paid $50,000 in restitution to the state Democratic Party on Wednesday. It remains to be seen whether or not that was “full repayment,” as her attorney claims.
Why she found it necessary to dip into party and campaign funds is something of a mystery, given that she is quite wealthy in her own right. Of course a gambing addiction has a way of eroding wealth.
Last year, Carter-Peterson put the kibosh on the reappointment by Edwards of Ronnie Jones as chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.
A quirk in the law allows a single lawmaker to veto an appointment if the appointee lives in the legislator’s district and Jones had the misfortune to have been residing in Carter-Peterson’s district at the time. Because she had been caught sneaking into a casino after she had voluntarily placed her name on the list of people prohibited from entering a Louisiana casino.
Jones is convinced that Carter-Peterson blamed him for the news leak of the incident, but she would never admit that was the reason. Instead, she said the board needed new blood and that Jones was “too close” to the industry he regulated.
Jones, who has since moved to Virginia, didn’t buy her explanation.
“I believe the consensus sentiment is that I spent 45 years in public service and served with honor, dignity, and integrity,” he said.
“The jury is still out on Sen. Peterson.”
Prophetic words, indeed.
Some might even call it karma.
Louisiana Voice 
You probably know this, but it’s not actually a quirk in the law (per se) that allows a senator to blackball an appointee from his or her own district. It’s only a traditional practice.
There’s very little in state law (codified at R.S. 24:14) on confirmations. There are some procedural requirements spelled out, and restrictions on nominees being confirmed if they’ve failed to file tax returns, but all that’s actually required under the law is that the official be confirmed by a record vote (all appointees are confirmed “en masse” by a single vote) in an open session of the Senate.
In reality (which, again, you probably know, but some of your readers may not), the Senate meets behind closed doors with only a handful of key staff, and they put forward the names of people they don’t want confirmed from the list of nominees. The custom, as you note, is that if any senator objects to a nominee who resides in the senator’s district, he or she is simply stricken from the list.
Then the edited list is what’s presented for the public up-or-down vote. Cowardly way to handle things.
“…and they put forward the names of people they don’t want confirmed from the list of nominees.” Kevin M, I am assuming that by use of the word “they” in two places above, you are referring to the senators, not the key staff.
Essentially. Senators do very little for themselves – so I’m sure that the staff actually prepare the list of the nominees who make the cut (which is most of them – only a handful out of dozens/hundreds are rejected each year) and that list is then voted on. But the decision on whom to submit for a vote is made by the senators; the staff just carry out those decisions by amending the list, etc.
Thank you, Kevin M. Boy, do I know how little legislators do for themselves. I worked for the House for 28 years as a law clerk, committee attorney, and division director.
It’s just maddening what has become of the Louisiana Democratic Party. I don’t think that it is any better now than it was under her “leadership.” It is totally ineffectual now.
whoa! Yes, we Democrats have problems with leadership. It is called LIFE. I cannot think of any Democrat, Republican, Independent, friend, enemy, or human who has lived without some trauma/addiction/illness/bad luck, etc. Ronnie Jones does not caste any stones. He is truly a good man. I cherish his friendship. I wish Ms. Carter success in fighting her demons. I do not feel any real compassion for the judgmental cowards. I am a proud Democrat. ron thompson
Amen, Ron.