Louisiana Voice

A lot of people missed the significance attached to State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson’s reelection campaign of 2019 when she attempted to disqualify her opponent. The courtroom battle between her and challenger Allen H. Borne, Jr., a New Orleans attorney, should have produced a flood of questions from the media, the state ethics board and the LOUISIANA JUDICIARY COMMISSION.

But it didn’t because a lot of people dropped the ball.

Here’s what happened.

Borne did not sign the qualifying papers for the election, sending instead his agent to do so and Carter Peterson seized on that technicality to challenge his candidacy. She sued and won at the district court level.

He appealed to the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeal and one of the members of the three-judge panel which heard the appeal was Judge Regina Bartholomew Woods. Guess who served as a co-chair of her election campaign? Why, none other than Karen Carter Peterson.

And, surprise – the appellate court upheld the civil district court in denying Borne a place on the 2019 ballot. It took a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling to overturn the two lower courts but by then, Borne was late getting to the starting gate and he never really had a chance, losing by an overwhelming percentage point margin of 79-21.

It gets better.

Dryades YMCA, thanks to the efforts of Carter Peterson, was approved for $2.8 million in PRIORITY 1 FUNDING (See page 80) last year with another $5.1 million slated for Priority 5 funding for an ambitious expansion program.

In its Non-Government Organization (NGO) REQUEST FOR FUNDING, Dryades answered “None” to the question “[Is] any elected or appointed state official or an immediate family member of such an official is an officer, director, trustee, or employee of the recipient entity who receives compensation or holds any ownership interest therein[?].

While the Dryades response was technically accurate, Kenneth Carter, who died last year, and Sidney Cates IV each served on the board of the organization in the past and current board member Darren Mire is President of BOLD, the organization which Sidney Cates V serves as Political Director.

There’s more.

Sidney Cates IV and Carter Peterson’s father, Kenneth Carter, were once partners in a firm hired by the New Orleans City Council to regulate energy companies in the city.

Moreover, Kenneth Carter was a co-founder of the Black Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD), a political organization based in Central City. Sidney Cates V is the political director of BOLD which endorsed Cates IV in past elections.

Sidney Cates IV is a former member of the Dryades YMCA board and when Nu-Lite Electrical Wholesalers FILED SUIT against Dryades YMCA and others for breach of contract in 2013, the case was assigned to – you guessed it – Sidney Cates IV.

There is no question that Judge Woods should have recused herself from hearing Borne’s appeal and Cates IV certainly should have bowed out on the Nu-Lite litigation.

She didn’t and he didn’t and that in turn illustrates in glaring terms the shortcomings of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission and the Louisiana Board of Ethics.

The purpose of all this is not to lament Borne’s loss or to consider the merits of a contract dispute but to point out the underlying political power structure in New Orleans and the Louisiana Legislature and how it may well determine who the next U.S. Representative from Louisiana’s 2^nd Congressional District will be.

The obvious influence of Sen. Peterson in obtaining an appropriation of $7.9 million for a non-governmental entity like the Dryades YMCA on which Judge Cates’s father once sat as a board member and in which capacity BOLD President Darren Mire still serves underscores the incestuous political status quo in the Crescent City.

And that’s the atmosphere heading into Saturday’s congressional election between Carter Peterson and State Sen. Troy Carter.

It’s not something the state should be proud of.

State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson should certainly know better, so the only reasonable assumption is that she just doesn’t care.

The 5^th District state senator and former head of the Louisiana Democratic Party – and a lawyer, at that – has not only placed Tulane University’s tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in jeopardy, in the process, she has exposed herself to legal liability from a possible lawsuit from the university.

Carter Peterson is pitted against fellow State Sen. Troy Carter of the state’s 7^th District in next Saturday’s runoff election to decide who will succeed former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond who resigned to become a senior advisor to President Joe Biden.

Besides collecting per diem and mileage payments for 20 of last year’s 24 days of the Louisiana legislative session which she did not attend, she now has plastered a post of the green Tulane University logo on a promotional ad for a two-hour phone bank to benefit her campaign. Beneath the Tulane shield were the words in white typeface on a blue background, “Tulane for KCP” with the words below that line in smaller print: “Phonebank like our city depends on it.” In the bottom right corner of the illustration is a photo of Carter Peterson.

The use of the Tulane colors and logo are an infringement on the school’s copyright of the image and also puts Tulane in a delicate position because 501(c)(3) non-profits are supposed to be non-political. The endorsement of any candidate in any political race could theoretically endanger its non-profit status, though that is not likely to happen since Tulane did not give Carter Peterson permission to use its logo.

Michael Strecker, executive director of Public Relations for Tulane, responding to an inquiry, sent the following email to LouisianaVoice:

“As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Tulane University is prohibited by federal law from endorsing any candidate for elected office. It has not offered an endorsement to either candidate in Louisiana’s 2^nd congressional district race; nor has it given permission to either candidate to use its name, “TU” shield, wordmark or any other graphic representation of Tulane University in their campaign communications. Tulane has sent Sen. Peterson a letter underscoring this.”

Asked to make a copy of the letter available, Strecker wrote back that he was unable to do so, explaining, “This letter was addressed to Sen. Peterson and her campaign. It was not sent as an open letter.”

It’s not the first time Carter Peterson has played a little dirty in this campaign. In a recent MAILER sent to voters in the 2^nd Congressional District, she attempted to tie her opponent, Sen. Troy Carter, chairman of the Legislative Democratic Caucus, to Donald Trump – something of a reach, at best.

In that mailer, she pasted a photo of Trump next to one of Troy Carter, prompting him to angrily sputter, “There’s nothing you will find in anything I’ve ever done to support any of the foolishness that my opponent is desperately trying to spread.”

The operative word in Carter Peterson’s latest tactics would indeed appear to be “desperate.”

LouisianaVoice is right at the halfway point of its April fundraiser but we’re still a good ways from the halfway point in meeting our financial needs.

I know times are tough right now and if you can’t afford to help, I understand. But if you are able to do so, anything you can contribute to the continuation of solid investigative journalism would be appreciated more than you could ever know.

If you can, please help us. You can contribute by credit card by clicking on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post. If you prefer, you can pay by check. The address is LouisianaVoice, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727.

Remember, we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit so anything you contribute is fully tax-deductible. Also, anyone contributing $125 or more will receive a signed copy of either Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption, or Bordello on the Bayou, a novel based loosely on the story of the Baton Rouge Madam of a few years ago. Please state your preference and provide your mailing address.

As always, thank you for supporting LouisianaVoice these 10 years.

Mitch McConnell wants corporate CEOs “out of politics,” the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) notwithstanding. But he wants to keep accepting campaign contributions from those same CEOs.

At LouisianaVoice, we’re not hypocritical: We actively solicit contributions from those who can afford it and we just as actively solicit their participation in the democratic process we call government in this country.

Unlike politicians, however, we don’t come around with our hands out on a constant basis. We hold our fundraisers twice a year – April and September.

It’s April.

Please help us pursue journalistic investigative reporting by contributing what you can – and no more. We’re striving to shine a bright light on the way in which your tax dollars are being spent. We’ve got a couple of pretty good stories we’re working on even as this is being written that will likely make the subjects a tad angry. But then our job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It takes time and it takes money, however, to do this.

I’m retired, so I have the time.

I’m retired, so the financial funds are another matter.

To give by credit card, click on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post. It’ll take you to my PayPal account (and you need not have a PayPal account of your own to do this). Or, if you prefer, you may send a check to: LouisianaVoice, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727.

Remember, LouisianaVoice is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so all contributions are tax-deductible. Also, those giving $125 or more will received a signed copy of one of two of my books: Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption, or Bordello on the Bayou, a fictionalized account of the Baton Rouge Madam of a few years back. Be sure to state your preference and to provide your mailing address.

As always, thanks and let’s keep ’em honest.