Dud Lastrapes
Encyclopedia
William Dudley "Dud" Lastrapes, Jr. (born November 30, 1929), is a Lafayette
, businessman, who was the first Republican
since Reconstruction to have been elected mayor
of his city, the fourth largest in Louisiana
, according to the 2000 census
. Lastrapes was mayor for three terms, having served from 1980-1992. Previously, he was a member of the Lafayette Parish School Board from 1972-1980. After his mayoral service, Lastrapes served a two-year term as chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party from 1992-1994. In 1997, Lastrapes was appointed to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board by then Republican Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr.
He served until 2008 and was ineligible to have been reappointed.
Lastrapes was originally a Democrat
, but he switched his registration to Republican in 1959, when he was not quite thirty years of age. At the time, the state Republican Party had fewer than nine thousand registered members. Hence very few living Louisiana Republicans have been members of the party longer than Lastrapes.
, the seat of St. Landry Parish. The senior Lastrapes owned the Opelousas Credit Bureau and published the local Legal Times. Lastrapes graduated from Opelousas High School
in 1946. He then attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
(previously known as Southwestern Louisiana Institute). He obtained a bachelor of arts
degree in English
and communication
s in 1950.
Thereafter, in January 1951, he entered the U.S. Air Force for a full four-year stint. He was stationed in South Korea
throughout 1953. He left the military with the rank of staff sergeant. In recent years, he has been active in the Lafayette American Legion
.
). After two years, he left to go into radio. Then in 1957, he returned to KLFY as news director, where he remained until 1970.
He married the former Rhonda Rougelot in 1957; she was also born in New Orleans but grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee
, and thereafter Lafayette, where she finished high school. The Lastrapeses, who divorced in 1989, have two sons. William Dean Lastrapes (born 1958) is the head of the Department of Economics at the University of Georgia
at Athens
, where he lives with his wife and two children. Bryan James Lastrapes (born 1959) is an engineer and project manager with Shell Oil; he lives with his wife and three children in Denver, Colorado
; as of 2006, he has worked in oil exploration about Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
In 1970, Lastrapes became a public relations officer of the former Guaranty Bank and Trust Company in Lafayette—Chase Bank in 2006. In 1973, he went into the health and life insurance
business. He worked in that capacity until he became mayor. He returned to his insurance business in 1992, after his mayoral service ended.
. Though he polled more than 10,000 votes, he finished third, and the seat was won in the general election
by the pro-life Allen R. Bares
, who defeated fellow Democrat Pat Juneau, 54-46 percent.
Lastrapes then filed, "while the iron was hot," to run for mayor. He defeated the incumbent
Kenneth F. "Kenny" Bowen
(1926–2002) in the jungle primary held in April 1980. Lastrapes polled 10,609 votes (50.3 percent) to take the mayoralty outright without the need for a general election
under the unique Louisiana primary system that began operating in 1975. Bowen trailed with 5,649 votes (26.8 percent), while another Democrat, George Landry, finished with 4,839 votes (22.9 percent).
Ironically, Bowen had been the unsuccessful Republican mayoral nominee in 1968. Bowen was defeated that year by 1,322 votes by the popular Democratic Mayor J. Rayburn Bertrand
. Bowen was then elected in 1972, with 62 percent of the vote over three opponents in the then still closed Democratic primary. He was reelected in 1976. He won a third term in 1992 and succeeded Lastrapes, who did not seek reelection.
industry. Lafayette rebounded in the late 1980s and attracted some new industries and expansion of existing ones.
On March 18, 1983, Lastrapes recommended to the Lafayette City Council the construction of a four-lane river crossing at the Camellia Boulevard on the city's south side. After years of studies, protests, and delays, construction was completed in 2003.
Lastrapes was reelected in 1984, when he defeated a city councilman. And he was reelected on March 8, 1988, when he narrowly derailed a strong a comeback attempt by Bowen. Lastrapes polled 13,424 votes (52 percent) to Bowen's 12,512 (48 percent). The mayoral election corresponded with the presidential primaries in Louisiana.
In 1985, Lastrapes recommended a 2 percent sales tax
increase; voters approved it, along with a bond referendum that included the Camellia bridge. There has not been a municipal sales tax hike since that time in Lafayette. The sales tax revenue was used to hire city employees and to start capital improvement projects at a time when few others in Lafayette were building or hiring, said Dee Stanley, chief administrative officer of the Lafayette Consolidated Government. (Lafayette, like Baton Rouge, now has a combined city-parish government.) "Mayor Lastrapes understood the necessity of hiring good, qualified people to work in government," Stanley said.
Lastrapes was also mayor when the $64 million Cajundome
opened in 1985.
Lastrapes is also known as the mayor who hired many women in city government. Lewana Shearer, the head of Lafayette's city-parish risk management and insurance division, was hired in the Bowen municipal administration in 1979. She started as a claims investigator and worked her way through the ranks to risk manager. She considers the Lastrapes administration to have been "the best years of my career because he gave women the opportunity to shine."
Lastrapes was not, however, the first Republican mayor in Louisiana. Smaller towns like Zachary
in East Baton Rouge Parish (Jack Breaux
1926-1980), Minden
in Webster Parish (Tom Colten
1922-2004), and Haughton
in Bossier Parish (Elizabeth O. Sherwin, born 1918) elected Republican mayors earlier. Alexandria had a Republican mayor by defection from 1972–1973, when Charles Edward "Ed" Karst
switched parties in the last years of his single term. Karst did not remain Republican, however, as he later returned to the Democrats to seek a judicial position in Rapides Parish
in 1978.
Republicans have since served as mayor of Shreveport (Hazel Beard
) and Baton Rouge (Bobby R. Simpson
), but no Republican has won in New Orleans, Lake Charles
, or Monroe
or has been directly elected in Alexandria.
A Republican, Lester Joseph "Joey" Durel, Jr.
, reclaimed for his party the combined mayor/presidency of the City of Lafayette and Lafayette Parish in the 2003 jungle primary.
had held the post from 1968–1972, during a difficult period for the Louisiana GOP.
As chairman, Lastrapes was also at the helm when Louisiana Republicans were in a downcast mood after the return of Governor Edwin Washington Edwards to a fourth and final term as well as the first election of Bill Clinton
as president. The Louisiana party held a convention in New Orleans in 1993, which was keynoted by former New York
Congressman and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack French Kemp
. (The 1988 national convention had also met in New Orleans.) Lastrapes had supported Kemp for the 1988 nomination. Kemp's failure to become a serious contender was perhaps Lastrapes' greatest personal political disappointment.
Thereafter, Lastrapes worked to elect Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush as president, and he became a personal friend of the president. Bush carried Louisiana in the 1988 race, but not in 1992. In 1994, the GOP won control of both houses of Congress, and the mechanism was set in place to win the 1995 gubernatorial race to succeed Edwards. Then came a bitter GOP disappointment in the U.S. Senate race in 1996. The Lafayette Parish GOP rebounded to win the mayor-presidency race in 2003.
Lastrapes attended three Republican national conventions as a delegate pledged to Reagan: 1976 in Kansas City
, 1980 in Detroit, and 1984 in Dallas
. He also attended the 1992 conclave in Houston
briefly as an observer.
intended to be a balance to the Council on Foreign Relations
. Another Louisiana Republican who joined the group was state Representative Arthur W. Sour, Jr.
, (1924–2000) of Shreveport, who legislative service parallels the mayoral years of Mayor Lastrapes. Still another was state Representative and later state Senator Dan Richey
of Ferriday
in Concordia Parish.
Lastrapes, a Roman Catholic, is a member of Lafayette Right-to-Life. He was formerly active in Little League
baseball,when his sons were players. He has been a member of Rotary International
for thirty years. He is active in blood donor drives. He is also a cancer
survivor.
. Here is his verbatim reply:
"Well, the oil industry brought in a lot of people. You know, this was not as homogenized, if you can say it that way, a group of people, or citizens, where it once was maybe 90 percent Cajun
, 90 percent Catholic. A lot of that changed when the oil industry developed so strongly beginning in the fifties and people from Texas
, Mississippi
, Oklahoma
, California
, whatever, came into the state, many of them still here, and they became a pretty nice blend of oil industry and local Cajuns. And many married locally and so on. So you've had that blend over the years, and I think some influence came into play too, not that we don't have some conservative Cajuns; we do, a fair number, but the influence of a lot of the oil people coming from these states. It was mostly a conservative influence that had a little play on the flavor of politics locally, and still does to this day. I would say most, somebody would maybe challenge me, but I would say most of the people in the oil industry tend to be on the conservative side of politics and today mostly on the Republican side of politics."
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
, businessman, who was the first Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
since Reconstruction to have been elected mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of his city, the fourth largest in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, according to the 2000 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
. Lastrapes was mayor for three terms, having served from 1980-1992. Previously, he was a member of the Lafayette Parish School Board from 1972-1980. After his mayoral service, Lastrapes served a two-year term as chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party from 1992-1994. In 1997, Lastrapes was appointed to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board by then Republican Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr.
Murphy J. Foster, Jr.
Murphy James "Mike" Foster, Jr. served as 53rd Governor of Louisiana from January 1996 until January 2004. Foster's father was Murphy J. Foster, Jr., but Mike Foster uses "Jr." even though he is technically Murphy J. Foster, III. Foster is a businessman, landowner, and sportsman in St...
He served until 2008 and was ineligible to have been reappointed.
Lastrapes was originally a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, but he switched his registration to Republican in 1959, when he was not quite thirty years of age. At the time, the state Republican Party had fewer than nine thousand registered members. Hence very few living Louisiana Republicans have been members of the party longer than Lastrapes.
Early years, education, military
Lastrapes was born in New Orleans to William Dudley Lastrapes, Sr. (1897–1973), and the former Gertrude Schminke (1895–1985), but grew up in OpelousasOpelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
, the seat of St. Landry Parish. The senior Lastrapes owned the Opelousas Credit Bureau and published the local Legal Times. Lastrapes graduated from Opelousas High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in 1946. He then attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana...
(previously known as Southwestern Louisiana Institute). He obtained a bachelor of arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
s in 1950.
Thereafter, in January 1951, he entered the U.S. Air Force for a full four-year stint. He was stationed in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
throughout 1953. He left the military with the rank of staff sergeant. In recent years, he has been active in the Lafayette American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
.
Occupation and family
In 1955, Lastrapes went to work as a reporter and newscaster for the newly-opened Lafayette television station KLFY, Channel 10 (CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
). After two years, he left to go into radio. Then in 1957, he returned to KLFY as news director, where he remained until 1970.
He married the former Rhonda Rougelot in 1957; she was also born in New Orleans but grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
, and thereafter Lafayette, where she finished high school. The Lastrapeses, who divorced in 1989, have two sons. William Dean Lastrapes (born 1958) is the head of the Department of Economics at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
at Athens
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
, where he lives with his wife and two children. Bryan James Lastrapes (born 1959) is an engineer and project manager with Shell Oil; he lives with his wife and three children in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
; as of 2006, he has worked in oil exploration about Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
In 1970, Lastrapes became a public relations officer of the former Guaranty Bank and Trust Company in Lafayette—Chase Bank in 2006. In 1973, he went into the health and life insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
business. He worked in that capacity until he became mayor. He returned to his insurance business in 1992, after his mayoral service ended.
Lastrapes and Bowen
Lastrapes was reelected to a second six-year term on the school board in 1978, but he left after two years to become mayor. In 1979, he ran for a state Senate seat in the jungle primaryJungle primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party. Under this system, the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the next round, as in a runoff election...
. Though he polled more than 10,000 votes, he finished third, and the seat was won in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
by the pro-life Allen R. Bares
Allen Bares
Allen Ray Bares, Sr. was a Lafayette lawyer who served as a conservative Democrat in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature between 1972 and 1992. He is particularly remembered for his strong support of the pro-life cause and the Boy Scouts of America...
, who defeated fellow Democrat Pat Juneau, 54-46 percent.
Lastrapes then filed, "while the iron was hot," to run for mayor. He defeated the incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Kenneth F. "Kenny" Bowen
Kenny Bowen
Kenneth Francis "Kenny" Bowen, Sr. was a three-term Democratic mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana, the fourth largest city in the state, according to the 2000 census...
(1926–2002) in the jungle primary held in April 1980. Lastrapes polled 10,609 votes (50.3 percent) to take the mayoralty outright without the need for a general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
under the unique Louisiana primary system that began operating in 1975. Bowen trailed with 5,649 votes (26.8 percent), while another Democrat, George Landry, finished with 4,839 votes (22.9 percent).
Ironically, Bowen had been the unsuccessful Republican mayoral nominee in 1968. Bowen was defeated that year by 1,322 votes by the popular Democratic Mayor J. Rayburn Bertrand
J. Rayburn Bertrand
J. Rayburn "Ray" Bertrand was a businessman, civic leader, and decorated World War II veteran who served as the Democratic mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana, from 1960 to 1972. During Bertrand's three terms, the city nearly doubled in population, having grown from 40,000 to 75,000, and the corporate...
. Bowen was then elected in 1972, with 62 percent of the vote over three opponents in the then still closed Democratic primary. He was reelected in 1976. He won a third term in 1992 and succeeded Lastrapes, who did not seek reelection.
Mr. Republican Mayor
Under the Lastrapes administration, Lafayette annexed some thirteen square miles of area. The city grew rapidly from 1980–1984, and then there was a slowdown in the important oilOil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
industry. Lafayette rebounded in the late 1980s and attracted some new industries and expansion of existing ones.
On March 18, 1983, Lastrapes recommended to the Lafayette City Council the construction of a four-lane river crossing at the Camellia Boulevard on the city's south side. After years of studies, protests, and delays, construction was completed in 2003.
Lastrapes was reelected in 1984, when he defeated a city councilman. And he was reelected on March 8, 1988, when he narrowly derailed a strong a comeback attempt by Bowen. Lastrapes polled 13,424 votes (52 percent) to Bowen's 12,512 (48 percent). The mayoral election corresponded with the presidential primaries in Louisiana.
In 1985, Lastrapes recommended a 2 percent sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
increase; voters approved it, along with a bond referendum that included the Camellia bridge. There has not been a municipal sales tax hike since that time in Lafayette. The sales tax revenue was used to hire city employees and to start capital improvement projects at a time when few others in Lafayette were building or hiring, said Dee Stanley, chief administrative officer of the Lafayette Consolidated Government. (Lafayette, like Baton Rouge, now has a combined city-parish government.) "Mayor Lastrapes understood the necessity of hiring good, qualified people to work in government," Stanley said.
Lastrapes was also mayor when the $64 million Cajundome
Cajundome
The Cajundome is a 13,500 seat multi-purpose arena in Lafayette, Louisiana. It is home to the Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns basketball teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette Wildcatters of the Southern Indoor Football League and the Louisiana high school basketball state...
opened in 1985.
Lastrapes is also known as the mayor who hired many women in city government. Lewana Shearer, the head of Lafayette's city-parish risk management and insurance division, was hired in the Bowen municipal administration in 1979. She started as a claims investigator and worked her way through the ranks to risk manager. She considers the Lastrapes administration to have been "the best years of my career because he gave women the opportunity to shine."
Lastrapes was not, however, the first Republican mayor in Louisiana. Smaller towns like Zachary
Zachary, Louisiana
Zachary is a city in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States, in the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,275 at the 2000 census.-History:...
in East Baton Rouge Parish (Jack Breaux
Jack Breaux
Jack Louis Breaux, Sr. was the Republican mayor of Zachary, Louisiana, in East Baton Rouge Parish for nearly fourteen years — from his first election in 1966 until his death of a brain tumor. He was also the first member of his party since Reconstruction to head the municipal government of a...
1926-1980), Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
in Webster Parish (Tom Colten
Tom Colten
Arthur Thomas Colten, known as Tom Colten , was a Louisiana politician from the 1960s to the 1990s who rose from a small-town mayoralty position to head his state's Department of Transportation and Development under three governors from both parties...
1922-2004), and Haughton
Haughton, Louisiana
Haughton is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Haughton is located at ....
in Bossier Parish (Elizabeth O. Sherwin, born 1918) elected Republican mayors earlier. Alexandria had a Republican mayor by defection from 1972–1973, when Charles Edward "Ed" Karst
Ed Karst
Charles Edward "Ed" Karst was an attorney and politician remembered for his controversial tenure as the mayor of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana...
switched parties in the last years of his single term. Karst did not remain Republican, however, as he later returned to the Democrats to seek a judicial position in Rapides Parish
Rapides Parish, Louisiana
-Military Installations:*Camp Beauregard *Esler Airfield *England Air Force Base *Camp Claiborne *Camp Livingston -Demographics:...
in 1978.
Republicans have since served as mayor of Shreveport (Hazel Beard
Hazel Beard
Hazel Fain Beard is the first woman and the first Republican to have served as mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, since the era of Reconstruction. A fiscal conservative, Mrs...
) and Baton Rouge (Bobby R. Simpson
Bobby Simpson (Louisiana politician)
Bobby Ray Simpson is an educator who served as the Republican Mayor-President, a combined municipal-parish office of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, from 2001-2004...
), but no Republican has won in New Orleans, Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
, or Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
or has been directly elected in Alexandria.
A Republican, Lester Joseph "Joey" Durel, Jr.
Joey Durel
Lester Joseph "Joey" Durel, Jr. is the mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana. Elected in 2003, he became only the second Republican mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana, and the second person elected as "City-Parish president" of the combined City of Lafayette and Lafayette Parish government...
, reclaimed for his party the combined mayor/presidency of the City of Lafayette and Lafayette Parish in the 2003 jungle primary.
Lastrapes as party chairman
Lastrapes was the second Lafayette Republican to serve as state party chairman in twenty years. Charles deGravellesCharles deGravelles
Charles Camille deGravelles, Jr., known as Charlie deGravelles , was a Lafayette oil and gas landman who was a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party in the formerly historically Democratic state of Louisiana. Known as the “Mr...
had held the post from 1968–1972, during a difficult period for the Louisiana GOP.
As chairman, Lastrapes was also at the helm when Louisiana Republicans were in a downcast mood after the return of Governor Edwin Washington Edwards to a fourth and final term as well as the first election of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
as president. The Louisiana party held a convention in New Orleans in 1993, which was keynoted by former New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Congressman and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack French Kemp
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
. (The 1988 national convention had also met in New Orleans.) Lastrapes had supported Kemp for the 1988 nomination. Kemp's failure to become a serious contender was perhaps Lastrapes' greatest personal political disappointment.
Thereafter, Lastrapes worked to elect Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush as president, and he became a personal friend of the president. Bush carried Louisiana in the 1988 race, but not in 1992. In 1994, the GOP won control of both houses of Congress, and the mechanism was set in place to win the 1995 gubernatorial race to succeed Edwards. Then came a bitter GOP disappointment in the U.S. Senate race in 1996. The Lafayette Parish GOP rebounded to win the mayor-presidency race in 2003.
Lastrapes attended three Republican national conventions as a delegate pledged to Reagan: 1976 in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, 1980 in Detroit, and 1984 in Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. He also attended the 1992 conclave in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
briefly as an observer.
Lastrapes' affiliations
Lastrapes was listed in 1984 as a member of the Council for National Policy, a conservative think-tank begun by the Louisiana Republican (then a Democrat) Louis E. "Woody" JenkinsWoody Jenkins
Louis Elwood "Woody" Jenkins is a newspaper editor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972–2000 and waged three unsuccessful races for the United States Senate....
intended to be a balance to the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
. Another Louisiana Republican who joined the group was state Representative Arthur W. Sour, Jr.
Art Sour
Arthur William Sour, Jr., known as Art Sour , was a Shreveport businessman and a pioneer in developing a competitive Republican Party in Louisiana. A conservative, Sour served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972-1992. He was born in Shreveport to Arthur W. Sour and Adele Sour . He...
, (1924–2000) of Shreveport, who legislative service parallels the mayoral years of Mayor Lastrapes. Still another was state Representative and later state Senator Dan Richey
Dan Richey
Daniel Wesley "Dan" Richey is a Baton Rouge-based political consultant for "pro-family" candidates and organizations, including Louisiana Family Forum. From 1997 to 2004, Richey served under appointment of Republican Governor Murphy J...
of Ferriday
Ferriday, Louisiana
Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census....
in Concordia Parish.
Lastrapes, a Roman Catholic, is a member of Lafayette Right-to-Life. He was formerly active in Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...
baseball,when his sons were players. He has been a member of Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
for thirty years. He is active in blood donor drives. He is also a cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
survivor.
Lastrapes analyzes GOP growth in Acadiana
Years after leaving the mayor's position, Lastrapes was asked to give his take on why Republicanism took root in AcadianaAcadiana
Acadiana, or The Heart of Acadiana, is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large Francophone population. Of the 64 parishes that make up Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment, make up the intrastate...
. Here is his verbatim reply:
"Well, the oil industry brought in a lot of people. You know, this was not as homogenized, if you can say it that way, a group of people, or citizens, where it once was maybe 90 percent Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
, 90 percent Catholic. A lot of that changed when the oil industry developed so strongly beginning in the fifties and people from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, whatever, came into the state, many of them still here, and they became a pretty nice blend of oil industry and local Cajuns. And many married locally and so on. So you've had that blend over the years, and I think some influence came into play too, not that we don't have some conservative Cajuns; we do, a fair number, but the influence of a lot of the oil people coming from these states. It was mostly a conservative influence that had a little play on the flavor of politics locally, and still does to this day. I would say most, somebody would maybe challenge me, but I would say most of the people in the oil industry tend to be on the conservative side of politics and today mostly on the Republican side of politics."