Ken Carter, political strategist and BOLD founder, dies

13th August 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer

Over the course of Ken Carter’s career, and his life, those close to him — as well as those he stared down in his roles as an attorney, community activist, assessor and mayoral candidate — used a myriad of adjectives to describe him.

Carter, who passed away Aug. 3 at the age of 74, was called tenacious. He was dubbed audacious. He was labeled as dedicated, caring, passionate and ubiquitous in the community, someone who saw the potential for greatness in the local community as well as the challenges that were holding the city’s people back. A combination of clear-eyed realist and starry-eyed optimist.

But above all, Carter — who, among other accomplishments in New Orleans, became the first elected Black city assessor in 1985, served as a lead attorney for the plaintiffs in a landmark tobacco lawsuit, and helped found the Black Organization of Leadership Development (BOLD) – was absolutely, perpetually fearless.

He stared down the seemingly invincible legal and financial power of Big Tobacco and helped win a landmark, $206-billion settlement with tobacco interests, including $4.4 million for Louisiana’s anti-smoking programs and Medicaid treatment reimbursements.

He worked as a consultant for municipal governments battling to reduce gun violence and contemplating lawsuits and other legal actions against gun manufacturers and the previously impenetrable NRA juggernaut.

And in 1993, while serving as the First District city assessor, Carter poked one of New Orleans’ biggest economic bears, the casino lobby. He targeted casino magnate Christopher Hemmeter, whose development plans Carter viewed as slippery and duplicitous.

“It is totally insensitive and requires more government and citizen input,” Carter said at a press conference at the time. “The casino developers so far have failed to deliver . . . on grandiose plans. They’ve cut back and switched their grand plans to what are now ‘evolving plans.’”

Such endeavors were both audacious and calculated, courageous and strategic; Carter, for example, told the media immediately following his casino press conference that he’d run for mayor the following year. The announcement spurred Hemmeter’s camp to accuse Carter with using the proposed casino development to enrich his own public profile.

Like any public advocate, ambitious attorney and committed activists, Carter earned his fair share of enemies. But it was fearlessness that garnered him just as much, and quite possibly more, respect and admiration of others.

Appropriately, after Carter’s death two weeks ago, acolytes testified to the inspiration Carter provided them.

“Ken Carter was a man of many firsts and deep conviction,” said U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA). “He blazed trails as the first African-American elected assessor in the city and the first African-American President of the Louisi-ana Trial Lawyers Association.

“He believed in the power of civic engagement and worked hard to ensure government reflected the diversity of the citizenry. Additionally, he took the time to mentor young men and women who sought to make their mark in politics and business. While he is no longer with us, his legacy lives on. New Orleans is a better place because of his many contributions, unselfish spirit and his sacrifice.”

Carter’s death reverberated through the city’s current leadership, prompting Mayor LaToya Cantrell — whose election last as New Orleans’ first woman chief executive exemplified the type of progressive change for which Carter fought — to laud the late attorney’s lifetime achievements.

Cantrell described Carter as “one of those larger-than-life New Orleanians whose impact on the City transcends his history-making tenure as one of our first African-American tax assessors. He was a father, a husband, a servant leader, an attorney, a mentor and so much more.”

“We mourn his loss, but we have faith in his spirit living on through his family, who are in our prayers,” Cantrell added.

Carter’s influence rippled through the state capitol as well, where Gov. John Bel Edwards called Carter “one of the kindest and most decent people I’ve met.”
Edwards added that Carter “led by example and served the people of New Orleans in many ways, including becoming the city’s first African-American tax assessor, a staunch advocate for his community and a prominent businessman.”

One doesn’t need to look too far in Baton Rouge to see Carter’s impact. In fact, there’s proof in the state legislature of the most intimate and personal influence—his daughter, Karen Carter Peterson, serves as a state senator who became the first woman to lead the state Democratic Party.

Louisiana’s Legislative Black Caucus issued a statement offering condolences to Carter Peterson and the rest of Ken Carter’s loved ones.

“Ken Carter was a statesman, a committed public servant and a highly respected attorney who made tremendous contributions to the City of New Orleans and the legal profession,” the LLBC stated. “He will be deeply missed by all who had the fortunate privilege of his counsel, association and friendship.”

Carter’s familial impact extended beyond Karen—his daughter, Tara Hernandez, is a prominent developer in New Orleans, and another daughter, Eileen Carter, is currently the city’s social media manager in the Office of Communications.

In addition, Ken’s son-in-law, Dana Peterson, has served as deputy superintendent for the Recovery School District, Cantrell noted.

Edwards asserted that “[it]’s clear the impact [Ken Carter] has had as a loving and committed father and grandfather. Sen. Peterson’s tenacity and passion for public service are a direct reflection of his influence.”

Born in July 22, 1944, Carter spent his childhood in the Calliope Housing Project, one of eight children. His father toiled as a car mechanic to support the family, and Carter’s parents emphasized academic success and charity to the suffering members of the community.

As a youth, Carter starred in basketball, won a state physics competition and became a delegate to Bayor Boys State, a seminar for aspiring government officials. He attended on scholarship and graduated from Xavier Preparatory High School.

His collegiate experience became a representation of his tenacity and resilience—although he earned a basketball scholarship to Loyola University, he left the school when told he’d never play because other college’s refused to suit up against a Black player. The first-hand experience with the lingering, stubborn effects on Jim Crowism in Louisiana greatly shaped his future.

He toiled in a series of blue-collar jobs, and, he worked as a basketball referee and as a draftsman with Texaco oil company. The ambitious young man joined a real-estate firm, where he learned many of his entrepreneurial skills from real-estate agent M.R. Venable.

Carter simultaneously enrolled at the University of New Orleans — he was 29 at the time —where he finished his bachelor’s in 1976. He then triumphantly returned to Loyola to earn his law degree in 1978 and was promptly snapped up by the law firm of Herman & Herman, where he burnished his reputation a skilled mediator with supreme communication abilities.

“Ken much prefers sitting around a table, trying to work a problem out,” firm partner Maury Herman told a reporter in late 1993. “He’s a healer.”

Carter eventually formed his own law firm before launching his successful campaign for assessor. In that position, Carter developed a reputation for fairness, even-handedness and a dedication to upholding and implementing the state’s property-assessment standards.

His commitment to fiscal clarity and discipline carried through the rest of his life, including during his mayoral campaign, when one of his platform planks was balancing the city budget.

“We must live within a $360 million budget,” Carter said during an August 1993 rally. “It means we must adhere to a strict budget. No more excuses.”

In addition to his other roles, Carter at various times served as president of the Freret Street Development Corporation, chair of the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, and an officer at the Dryades YMCA. He also had multiple prominent business ventures, and he became a prominent member of the Excellence in Education movement, which backed a slate of reform candidates for the Orleans Parish School Board.

But perhaps Carter’s boldest move came in 1993 – after working for several years as a fundraiser and operative for the local Democratic Party, he announced his New Orleans mayoral candidacy as a Democrat.

While he faced an uphill battle to become the city’s chief executive — a push that ultimately came up short — Carter nonetheless worked to build a diverse base of support, including a vital bi-racial coalition of backers. (He had earlier co-created the Business Round Table, a venture between black and white entrepreneurs to tackle racially charged issues, such as the integration of Carnival krewes that formerly had notorious histories of racism.)

The multicultural mayoral campaign effort exemplified the talents on which Carter built his entire career—reconciliation, mediation, and a connection and deep dedication to the poor and less fortunate that was rooted in his own youth experiences in a public housing project.

His Horatio Alger story and bootstrapping nature, Carter said at the time, embodied what always made him talented, compassionate and confident.

“If anyone looks at it objectively, there’s not one other person who has it all,” Carter said at the time.

Carter’s survivors include his wife, Gwendolyn “Gigi” Carter; three daughters; two brothers, Noel and Nathan Carter Sr., both of New Orleans; a sister, Sharon Carter Sheridan of New Orleans; and three grandchildren.

A Mass for Carter was held Aug. 9 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in St. Francisville, where Ken and his wife retired. A Mass in New Orleans was also slated at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church. Burial was at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 4000 Norman Mayer Ave.

This article originally published in the August 13, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.