John K. Snyder
Encyclopedia
John Kenneth Snyder, Sr., sometimes known as Tillie Snyder (August 29, 1922- January 11, 1993), was a colorful, outspoken Democratic
mayor
of Alexandria, Louisiana
, from 1973–1977 and again from 1982-1986.
Snyder was an admirer of the late Governor Earl Kemp Long, after whom he claimed to model his quixotic
political practice. A tall, physically large man, "the good" Snyder smoked cigars, was soft-spoken and usually relaxed and accommodating. However, "the bad" Snyder had a temper that could snap quickly, at which point he might say or do practically anything. Even popular Louisiana Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, who was in office in Baton Rouge for seven of the eight years that Snyder was mayor in Alexandria, was said to have feared Snyder's unpredictability.
, across the Red River from Alexandria, to Joseph Z. "Joe" Snyder (1886–1971), originally from La Salle Parish, and the former Eva Spotten (1891–1980), a Pineville native. He grew up on Lakeview Street about a block from Fred Baden
, who served as mayor of Pineville during the time that Snyder headed the Alexandria municipal government. As a child, Snyder was given the nickname "Tilly" because he liked to play the game "Tiddly-Winks
". He graduated in 1940 from Bolton High School
, prior to the establishment of Pineville High School in 1952. He was a naval aviation cadet during World War II
. He attended Georgia Tech
in Atlanta
but did not graduate. He was a speech writer for political candidates in Louisiana and neighboring states. He also had certain farming operations.
, Charles Edward "Ed" Karst
, did not seek reelection.
Snyder and Karst had been bitter rivals in the April 5, 1969, Democratic primary. In that campaign, Karst led with 4,093 votes (36 percent) to Snyder's 3,128 (27.5 percent). The third place candidate, John B. Honeycutt (1911–1998), who like Snyder had run unsuccessfully for Rapides Parish sheriff
, received 2,021 votes (17.8 percent). The 16-year incumbent, W. George Bowdon, Jr.
, trailed in fourth place with 1,784 votes (15.7 percent). Three other candidates polled a total of 359 votes (3.2 percent).
In the mayoral runoff held on May 17, 1969, Karst prevailed, 6,016 (53.7 percent) to Snyder's 5,188 (46.3 percent). After Karst defeated Snyder, Governor John McKeithen
cancelled the general election
because only Democrats had filed for any of the Alexandria municipal offices.
After his mayoral defeat, Snyder unsuccessfully challenged the reelection of U.S. Representative Speedy O. Long
(1928–2006) in the 1970 Democratic primary. Then, in 1971, he failed in a bid to oust Sheriff Marshall T. Cappel in the party primary.
In 1972, Karst switched affiliation to the Republican Party
and retained the former head of the Louisiana States' Rights Party, Kent Howard Courtney
(1918–1997), as his administrative assistant. Karst's mayoral tenure, however, was not particularly known for conservative
initiatives. Karst, an attorney who was born in New Orleans, later left the GOP, returned to the Democrats, and thereafter was "No Party" under Louisiana's registration procedure.
, the favorite of the downtown business establishment and one of the legislative "Young Turks" led by future Louisiana House Speaker E. L. "Bubba" Henry
. Snyder's victory was obtained largely through his solid support among blue collar
voters and in the large African American
community, which by the year 2000 became the demographic majority in Alexandria. After Snyder's nomination, the general election was again cancelled because of the lack of opposition to the Democratic nominees.
During his first term, Mayor Snyder often quarreled with the media, particularly the Alexandria Daily Town Talk
newspaper
, published then by a childhood friend and rival, Joe D. Smith, Jr.
He attempted to manipulate individual reporters to present the "news" as he viewed it. The reporters in turn would find that their editors did not see the "news" in the same light as the mayor. Snyder, who had experience in the field of public relations prior to his mayoral tenure, would offer interviews to favored reporters and shun those who he thought were opposed to his administration. He would avoid specific questions and try to get reporters to cover what he wanted to stress. In the tradition of many incumbents, Snyder attempted to take credit for improvements that happened on his watch and to blame others when things went awry.
One of his pet projects was a simple structure near the Red River, completed in 1975, called the "Alexandria Farmer's Market," by which farmers could take their produce directly to the people and avoid middlemen. Interest in the market was strongest in the spring and early summer, but many in time found the hours of operation inconvenient for their own work schedules. Super-markets were just more accessible than were the farmers waiting patiently for customers to arrive.
Snyder also struggled with traffic and drainage, problems common to many municipalities. He secured Governor Edwards' pledge of state assistance to four-lane heavily traveled Bolton Avenue. He also pushed for construction of a new bridge atop the Red River into Pineville. The bridge was delayed for eight years because the cities of Alexandria and Pineville and Rapides Parish could not agree on its height. He helped to engineer the annexation to the city of the heavily African American
and impoverished "Samtown" subdivision in south Alexandria. The neighborhood was named for its white developer, Sam Jacobs. Presumably, he expected to receive the support of many blacks in his future campaigns. In annexing Samtown, Snyder was borrowing a page from Earl Long, who attempted to register black voters in the 1950s in anticipation of most supporting him politically in the future.
Snyder also did eccentric things: he tried to raise fish in the city swimming pool, when the pool was not open to the public. The fish died. He drove around town in a police car in ways reminiscent of the fictitious "Barney Fife
" of The Andy Griffith Show.
He installed eavesdropping devices in City Hall, all of which were removed by his successor as mayor.
Snyder chose Morris Shapiro (1910–2008) of Alexandria as city attorney in his first term, but he sometimes retained the enterprising Lafayette
lawyer J. Minos Simon
to represent him either personally or as mayor in controversial legal matters. Snyder would sometimes coerce his opponents by merely the threat of retaining J. Minos "The Minotaur" Simon.
(1923–2010), an attorney and businessman, who was the "executive" over finance and utilities. At the time, a large part of Alexandria's municipal operational funds came from profit in the sale of water and electric utilities. Snyder, along with Hebert and Rosenthal, then acted as a "legislative" council to govern the city as a whole. Under this system, two of the three commissioners could outvote the third and interfere with the other member's administration of his department.
, on the pivotal 2-1 vote. They accused Rosenthal of having virtually turned over the operation of his office to Smith, a native of Winn Parish and also a political fighter in the Long tradition. In one of his more unusual antics, Snyder compelled city custodians in March 1975 to remove a door to a private restroom used by Commissioner Rosenthal.
The bickering in Alexandria City Hall provided momentum for a new charter—of the mayor-council format—rather than the commission system. Shreveport and Monroe
similarly at the time changed charters. The cities were practically forced to make such changes by federal courts, which interpreted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to negate the commission system. With the at-large membership on the city commissions, blacks complained that they could rarely win elections because there were no single-member districts incorporating predominantly minority neighborhoods. The Alexandria charter was written by a citizens' panel chaired by a judge and sent to the voters. In a 1974 plebiscite, voters approved the charter by a 2-1 margin, 5,032 to 2,393.
(born 1926), who could at that junction in his political career point fingers to City Hall as an outsider. Rosenthal had unseated Lanier in a bitter 1973 primary runoff. Malcolm Hebert, meanwhile, covertly supported Lanier for mayor and became head of the new Department of Public Works established by the charter in the Lanier administration. Hebert served until a debilitating stroke forced him into early retirement.
The 1977 primary returns, in which all the candidates ran as Democrats, were as follows: Snyder, 3,658; Lanier, 3,085; Champ Leroy Baker (1919–1985), 2,802; businessman Charlie Hickman, 2,128; Judith "Judy" Ward-Steinman Karst, Ph.D.
, and former wife of Ed Karst, 883; Arnold Jack Rosenthal, 429; and former state Representative Larry Parker, 288.
Lanier prevailed in the June 10 general election, popularly called the "runoff" in Louisiana, by a convincing margin: 8,420 (68 percent) to 3,934 (32 percent). Snyder increased his vote from the primary to the general election by only 276 ballots, whereas Lanier more than doubled his final tally. Baker, who was particularly popular among veterans groups and was the president of the Kisatchie-Delta Regional Planning Commission based in Alexandria, narrowly missed the second balloting by just under 300 votes. Presumably, he too would have won in a showdown with Snyder.
Before he left office, Snyder fired veteran secretary-treasurer Ray R. Allen
, but Lanier reinstated him in the summer of 1977 as the first finance director under the new form of city government.
in Rapides Parish.
Back in office, effective December 6, 1982, Snyder again struck fear in the established order of the city. He seemed to antagonize the business community which opposed his populist philosophy and his disdain for elites. He also grew frustrated with the limits and delays that any mayor faces in trying to implement his programs, particularly with too many spending proposals chasing too few dollars.
The Wall Street Journal, in a feature article on Alexandria dealing with the closing of England Air Force Base, said somewhat charitably that the "sleepy city criscrossed by muddy bayou
s and surrounded by miles of cotton
and crawfish farms was hardly a model of civic efficiency in the 1980s."
native and later a rare Republican member of the city council, alleging that the defendants failed to implement an energy cost adjustment formula. Thereafter, the Alexandria City Council adopted a resolution which directed Snyder and the city attorneys to dismiss any suits previously filed by the mayor, which had not first received the approval of the council. The court ruled in favor of Lanier and Lawrence.
Later in 1983, Snyder, in another of his political surprises, ran for the Louisiana state Senate though he had been in his second term as mayor for less than a year. He was badly defeated. In the jungle primary
, incumbent Edward G. "Ned" Randolph, Jr., led with 13,501 votes (38.4 percent) to challenger William Joseph "Joe" McPherson, Jr., who received 11,032 ballots. (31.4 percent). Former state Senator Cecil R. Blair
, whom Randolph had unseated in 1975, polled 6,096 votes (17.4 percent), and Mayor Snyder, in fourth place, received only 4,496 votes (12.8 percent). In the runoff—officially the Louisiana general election—McPherson won, 16,360 votes (53.9 percent) to Randolph's 13,973 (46.1 percent). At that point in time, Randolph was a two-time loser, for he had failed in a bid for the U.S. House against the late Gillis William Long
in 1982, lost his Senate seat the next year, and indeed his future political prospects seemed marginal.
Calm and deliberate in demeanor, Randolph would hold the mayoral office for five terms. He worked well with most groups within the city and never had serious opposition in Louisiana's unique jungle primary system. In the spring of 2006, Randolph announced that he would not seek a sixth term as mayor. He vacated the position in December 2006. His successor was fellow Democrat, attorney Jacques M. Roy
(born 1970), who defeated Randolph's former administrative assistant, Delores Brewer, a Republican, in the November 7 general election. Roy was born the year that Snyder made his first unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Congress.
Meanwhile, Snyder's erratic behavior reinforced concern among many when he checked himself into a mental institution.
In 1988, former Mayor Snyder ran as a Democrat for the now defunct Eighth Congressional District seat then held by freshman Republican Clyde C. Holloway
of Forest Hill
in south Rapides Parish. He polled only 1,205 votes (1 percent), and Holloway was reelected to the second of his three terms.
Snyder, in his later years, supported the unendorsed "anti-establishment" Republican gubernatorial candidate David Duke
, who lost by a wide margin to Edwin Edwards in the hot-contested 1991 general election. In 1989, Snyder switched his registration to Republican, but, according to the Rapides Parish Voter Registrar's office, he returned to the Democrats in 1990.
Snyder was first married to the former Marcella Kinder (born December 30, 1921), originally from Smackover, Arkansas
, and then Pauline Edwards Snyder (1926–1978). Snyder was reared on Lakeview Street in Pineville and spent much of his time at his mother's house there even while he was mayor of Alexandria, where he kept an apartment. He had a son, John K. Snyder, Jr. (born March 29, 1944) of New Roads
, and a daughter, Shirley Ann Snyder (born February 23, 1951) of Many
.
Snyder was interred on the front row of the left side of Alexandria National Cemetery, which is located in Pineville.
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...
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 Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
, from 1973–1977 and again from 1982-1986.
Snyder was an admirer of the late Governor Earl Kemp Long, after whom he claimed to model his quixotic
Quixotism
Quixotism is impracticality in pursuit of ideals, especially those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action. It also serves to describe an idealism without regard to practicality...
political practice. A tall, physically large man, "the good" Snyder smoked cigars, was soft-spoken and usually relaxed and accommodating. However, "the bad" Snyder had a temper that could snap quickly, at which point he might say or do practically anything. Even popular Louisiana Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, who was in office in Baton Rouge for seven of the eight years that Snyder was mayor in Alexandria, was said to have feared Snyder's unpredictability.
Early life and education
Snyder was born in PinevillePineville, Louisiana
Pineville is a city in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is adjacent to the city of Alexandria, and is part of that city's Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,829 at the 2000 census....
, across the Red River from Alexandria, to Joseph Z. "Joe" Snyder (1886–1971), originally from La Salle Parish, and the former Eva Spotten (1891–1980), a Pineville native. He grew up on Lakeview Street about a block from Fred Baden
Fred Baden
Frederick Herman Baden, Sr., known as Fred Baden , was a Democratic mayor of Pineville, a small city across the Red River from Alexandria in Rapides Parish, Louisiana...
, who served as mayor of Pineville during the time that Snyder headed the Alexandria municipal government. As a child, Snyder was given the nickname "Tilly" because he liked to play the game "Tiddly-Winks
Tiddlywinks
Tiddlywinks is an indoor game played on a flat mat with sets of small discs called "winks", a pot and a collection of squidgers. Players use a "squidger", a disk usually made from plastic to move a wink into flight by pressing down on one side of the wink...
". He graduated in 1940 from Bolton High School
Bolton High School (Louisiana)
Bolton High School is a secondary educational institution located in the Garden District of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana. The school is named for its benefactor, James W...
, prior to the establishment of Pineville High School in 1952. He was a naval aviation cadet during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He attended Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
but did not graduate. He was a speech writer for political candidates in Louisiana and neighboring states. He also had certain farming operations.
Snyder and Karst
Snyder first won the mayoral election in the spring of 1973, when the incumbentIncumbent
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...
, 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...
, did not seek reelection.
Snyder and Karst had been bitter rivals in the April 5, 1969, Democratic primary. In that campaign, Karst led with 4,093 votes (36 percent) to Snyder's 3,128 (27.5 percent). The third place candidate, John B. Honeycutt (1911–1998), who like Snyder had run unsuccessfully for Rapides Parish sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, received 2,021 votes (17.8 percent). The 16-year incumbent, W. George Bowdon, Jr.
W. George Bowdon, Jr.
William George Bowdon, Jr., was the Democratic mayor of Alexandria, the largest city in central Louisiana, from 1953–1969. At thirty-one, he was the youngest mayor in his city's history and the first to serve a four-year, instead of a two-year, term...
, trailed in fourth place with 1,784 votes (15.7 percent). Three other candidates polled a total of 359 votes (3.2 percent).
In the mayoral runoff held on May 17, 1969, Karst prevailed, 6,016 (53.7 percent) to Snyder's 5,188 (46.3 percent). After Karst defeated Snyder, Governor John McKeithen
John McKeithen
John Julian McKeithen was the 49th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1964 to 1972. A Democrat from the town of Columbia, he was the first governor of his state in the twentieth century to serve two consecutive terms...
cancelled 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...
because only Democrats had filed for any of the Alexandria municipal offices.
After his mayoral defeat, Snyder unsuccessfully challenged the reelection of U.S. Representative Speedy O. Long
Speedy O. Long
Speedy Oteria Long was a Jena lawyer who was a Democratic U.S. Representative from central Louisiana between 1965 and 1973. Prior to his tenure in the since disbanded Eighth Congressional District, Speedy Long had been a member of the Louisiana state Senate...
(1928–2006) in the 1970 Democratic primary. Then, in 1971, he failed in a bid to oust Sheriff Marshall T. Cappel in the party primary.
In 1972, Karst switched affiliation to the Republican Party
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...
and retained the former head of the Louisiana States' Rights Party, Kent Howard Courtney
Kent Courtney
Kent Harbinson Courtney was a leading figure in the "Radical Right" of American politics from the 1950s to the 1970s. Courtney was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, but his family moved to New Orleans, when he was a young child...
(1918–1997), as his administrative assistant. Karst's mayoral tenure, however, was not particularly known for conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
initiatives. Karst, an attorney who was born in New Orleans, later left the GOP, returned to the Democrats, and thereafter was "No Party" under Louisiana's registration procedure.
Snyder's first term as mayor
In the pivotal 1973 Democratic primary runoff, Snyder faced former state Representative R. W. "Buzzy" GrahamR. W. "Buzzy" Graham
Ralph Warren Graham, known as R. W. "Buzzy" Graham , is an insurance agent in Woodworth in south Rapides Parish, Louisiana, who served as a Democrat in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1968 to 1972. He served alongside T. C. Brister, W. K. Brown, and Robert J. Munson from Rapides and...
, the favorite of the downtown business establishment and one of the legislative "Young Turks" led by future Louisiana House Speaker E. L. "Bubba" Henry
E. L. Henry
Edgerton L. "Bubba" Henry is a Baton Rouge attorney, lobbyist, and partner of the high-powered firm Adams and Reese who served as a Democrat in the House of Representatives from 1968-1980. He was Speaker from 1972–1980. Henry was Governor Edwin Washington Edwards's choice for Speaker...
. Snyder's victory was obtained largely through his solid support among blue collar
Blue collar
Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...
voters and in the large African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community, which by the year 2000 became the demographic majority in Alexandria. After Snyder's nomination, the general election was again cancelled because of the lack of opposition to the Democratic nominees.
During his first term, Mayor Snyder often quarreled with the media, particularly the Alexandria Daily Town Talk
The Town Talk (Alexandria)
The Town Talk, started as The Daily Town Talk in 1883 and later named the Alexandria Daily Town Talk, is the major newspaper of Central Louisiana. It is published by Gannett in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the economic center of Central Louisiana.The daily newspaper has a circulation...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, published then by a childhood friend and rival, Joe D. Smith, Jr.
Joe D. Smith, Jr.
Joe Dorsey Smith, Jr. , was the former general manager, president, publisher, and chairman of the board of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk in Alexandria, the largest newspaper in central Louisiana. Smith became publisher in 1962...
He attempted to manipulate individual reporters to present the "news" as he viewed it. The reporters in turn would find that their editors did not see the "news" in the same light as the mayor. Snyder, who had experience in the field of public relations prior to his mayoral tenure, would offer interviews to favored reporters and shun those who he thought were opposed to his administration. He would avoid specific questions and try to get reporters to cover what he wanted to stress. In the tradition of many incumbents, Snyder attempted to take credit for improvements that happened on his watch and to blame others when things went awry.
One of his pet projects was a simple structure near the Red River, completed in 1975, called the "Alexandria Farmer's Market," by which farmers could take their produce directly to the people and avoid middlemen. Interest in the market was strongest in the spring and early summer, but many in time found the hours of operation inconvenient for their own work schedules. Super-markets were just more accessible than were the farmers waiting patiently for customers to arrive.
Snyder also struggled with traffic and drainage, problems common to many municipalities. He secured Governor Edwards' pledge of state assistance to four-lane heavily traveled Bolton Avenue. He also pushed for construction of a new bridge atop the Red River into Pineville. The bridge was delayed for eight years because the cities of Alexandria and Pineville and Rapides Parish could not agree on its height. He helped to engineer the annexation to the city of the heavily African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and impoverished "Samtown" subdivision in south Alexandria. The neighborhood was named for its white developer, Sam Jacobs. Presumably, he expected to receive the support of many blacks in his future campaigns. In annexing Samtown, Snyder was borrowing a page from Earl Long, who attempted to register black voters in the 1950s in anticipation of most supporting him politically in the future.
Snyder also did eccentric things: he tried to raise fish in the city swimming pool, when the pool was not open to the public. The fish died. He drove around town in a police car in ways reminiscent of the fictitious "Barney Fife
Barney Fife
Bernard "Barney" Fife is a fictional character in the American television program The Andy Griffith Show, portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
" of The Andy Griffith Show.
He installed eavesdropping devices in City Hall, all of which were removed by his successor as mayor.
Snyder chose Morris Shapiro (1910–2008) of Alexandria as city attorney in his first term, but he sometimes retained the enterprising Lafayette
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...
lawyer J. Minos Simon
J. Minos Simon
Joseph Minos Simon was an author, a lecturer, an aviator, a sportsman, and particularly a Louisiana attorney known for his courtroom theatrics and demeanor.-Early years and education:...
to represent him either personally or as mayor in controversial legal matters. Snyder would sometimes coerce his opponents by merely the threat of retaining J. Minos "The Minotaur" Simon.
A change in Alexandria city charters
Snyder served as mayor during his first term under the commission form of government in which he was the "executive" over the fire, police, and sanitation departments. His city commission colleagues were Malcolm P. Hebert (1926–2006), a mechanical engineer, who was the "executive" over streets and parks, including the Alexandria municipal zoo, established in 1926, and Arnold Jack RosenthalArnold Jack Rosenthal
Arnold Jack Rosenthal was an attorney and businessman from Alexandria, Louisiana, who from 1973 to 1977 was his city's last elected municipal commissioner of finance and utilities.-Family and educational background:...
(1923–2010), an attorney and businessman, who was the "executive" over finance and utilities. At the time, a large part of Alexandria's municipal operational funds came from profit in the sale of water and electric utilities. Snyder, along with Hebert and Rosenthal, then acted as a "legislative" council to govern the city as a whole. Under this system, two of the three commissioners could outvote the third and interfere with the other member's administration of his department.
Bickering at City Hall
Frequently hence, Snyder and Hebert joined to block initiatives of Rosenthal. At one point, the two fired Rosenthal's executive assistant, former Pineville Mayor Floyd W. Smith, Jr.Floyd Smith (Louisiana politician)
Floyd William Smith, Jr. , was a businessman from Winnfield, Louisiana, who served as the Democratic mayor of Pineville in Rapides Parish from 1966-1970. He was a maternal second cousin of former U.S. Representative Speedy O...
, on the pivotal 2-1 vote. They accused Rosenthal of having virtually turned over the operation of his office to Smith, a native of Winn Parish and also a political fighter in the Long tradition. In one of his more unusual antics, Snyder compelled city custodians in March 1975 to remove a door to a private restroom used by Commissioner Rosenthal.
The bickering in Alexandria City Hall provided momentum for a new charter—of the mayor-council format—rather than the commission system. Shreveport and 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...
similarly at the time changed charters. The cities were practically forced to make such changes by federal courts, which interpreted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to negate the commission system. With the at-large membership on the city commissions, blacks complained that they could rarely win elections because there were no single-member districts incorporating predominantly minority neighborhoods. The Alexandria charter was written by a citizens' panel chaired by a judge and sent to the voters. In a 1974 plebiscite, voters approved the charter by a 2-1 margin, 5,032 to 2,393.
Defeat in 1977
Therefore, Snyder would seek reelection in 1977 for a one-time-only 5.5-year term under the new form of government, but he had alienated too many voters to be reelected. Rosenthal also ran for mayor but proved to be a minor candidate, hurt by his perceived indecisiveness and the bickering at City Hall. Instead, the new mayor would be Rosenthal's predecessor as the finance and utilities commissioner, an ambitious electrician named Carroll Edwin LanierCarroll E. Lanier
Carroll Edwin Lanier is a former Democratic mayor of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana. Lanier served a special 5.5-year term from June 1977 to December 1982. He was the first mayor under the current mayor-council form of municipal government, which...
(born 1926), who could at that junction in his political career point fingers to City Hall as an outsider. Rosenthal had unseated Lanier in a bitter 1973 primary runoff. Malcolm Hebert, meanwhile, covertly supported Lanier for mayor and became head of the new Department of Public Works established by the charter in the Lanier administration. Hebert served until a debilitating stroke forced him into early retirement.
The 1977 primary returns, in which all the candidates ran as Democrats, were as follows: Snyder, 3,658; Lanier, 3,085; Champ Leroy Baker (1919–1985), 2,802; businessman Charlie Hickman, 2,128; Judith "Judy" Ward-Steinman Karst, Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, and former wife of Ed Karst, 883; Arnold Jack Rosenthal, 429; and former state Representative Larry Parker, 288.
Lanier prevailed in the June 10 general election, popularly called the "runoff" in Louisiana, by a convincing margin: 8,420 (68 percent) to 3,934 (32 percent). Snyder increased his vote from the primary to the general election by only 276 ballots, whereas Lanier more than doubled his final tally. Baker, who was particularly popular among veterans groups and was the president of the Kisatchie-Delta Regional Planning Commission based in Alexandria, narrowly missed the second balloting by just under 300 votes. Presumably, he too would have won in a showdown with Snyder.
Before he left office, Snyder fired veteran secretary-treasurer Ray R. Allen
Ray R. Allen
Ray Robert Allen was a municipal public official and banker in Alexandria, Louisiana, who served in 1977 as secretary-treasurer and then finance director when his city converted from the commissioner to the mayor-council form of government.-Background:Allen was born in Yell County near Danville in...
, but Lanier reinstated him in the summer of 1977 as the first finance director under the new form of city government.
Returning Snyder to office, 1982
In 1982, voters had grown weary of the reformer Lanier and, surprisingly to many, called Snyder back to office. The scenario was often like what had happened with Snyder's role model, Earl Long. Long would make enemies in the business community and then step down for four years because he was term-limited. His "reformer" successor, often unable to deliver on his promises, would then turn off many voters, who would instead call Long back to office four years later. Snyder indeed seemed to be vintage Earl Long on the local level. Snyder also spent much time with a man of diminutive height, who had been Earl Long's bodyguard, Ellis "Easy Money" Littleton (1930–2005) of DevilleDeville, Louisiana
Deville is a census-designated place in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area...
in Rapides Parish.
Back in office, effective December 6, 1982, Snyder again struck fear in the established order of the city. He seemed to antagonize the business community which opposed his populist philosophy and his disdain for elites. He also grew frustrated with the limits and delays that any mayor faces in trying to implement his programs, particularly with too many spending proposals chasing too few dollars.
The Wall Street Journal, in a feature article on Alexandria dealing with the closing of England Air Force Base, said somewhat charitably that the "sleepy city criscrossed by muddy bayou
Bayou
A bayou is an American term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river , or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to creeks that see level changes due to tides and hold brackish water which...
s and surrounded by miles of cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
and crawfish farms was hardly a model of civic efficiency in the 1980s."
Snyder's political surprises
Early in 1983, Snyder filed suit against the man that he unseated, former Democratic Mayor Lanier, and then Utilities Director Robert L. "Bob" Lawrence (1922–1997), an IowaIowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
native and later a rare Republican member of the city council, alleging that the defendants failed to implement an energy cost adjustment formula. Thereafter, the Alexandria City Council adopted a resolution which directed Snyder and the city attorneys to dismiss any suits previously filed by the mayor, which had not first received the approval of the council. The court ruled in favor of Lanier and Lawrence.
Later in 1983, Snyder, in another of his political surprises, ran for the Louisiana state Senate though he had been in his second term as mayor for less than a year. He was badly defeated. In the jungle primary
Jungle 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...
, incumbent Edward G. "Ned" Randolph, Jr., led with 13,501 votes (38.4 percent) to challenger William Joseph "Joe" McPherson, Jr., who received 11,032 ballots. (31.4 percent). Former state Senator Cecil R. Blair
Cecil R. Blair
Cecil Ray Blair was a Rapides Parish farmer and businessman who was a Democratic member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1952 to 1956...
, whom Randolph had unseated in 1975, polled 6,096 votes (17.4 percent), and Mayor Snyder, in fourth place, received only 4,496 votes (12.8 percent). In the runoff—officially the Louisiana general election—McPherson won, 16,360 votes (53.9 percent) to Randolph's 13,973 (46.1 percent). At that point in time, Randolph was a two-time loser, for he had failed in a bid for the U.S. House against the late Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana and member of the Long family. Long served seven non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives but placed third in two campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nominations in 1963 and 1971...
in 1982, lost his Senate seat the next year, and indeed his future political prospects seemed marginal.
Randolph succeeds Snyder
Snyder surprised observers again by deciding not to seek a third term in 1986. Former state Senator Randolph, an attorney, who was strongly supported by "Main Street" business interests, was the convincing winner for mayor. Randolph defeated a field of seven opponents in a high turnout of 16,787 Alexandria voters. Randolph polled 8,934 (53.2 percent) votes to 2,717 (16.2 percent) for A.S. "Tony" D'Angelo, and 2,623 (15.6 percent) for the third-place candidate, black activist Charles Frederick Smith, Jr. In fifth place was former Mayor Carroll Lanier, with a meager 912 votes (5.4 percent), who made a vain comeback attempt. Lanier was as repudiated in the 1986 balloting as his old rival Rosenthal had been in 1977.Calm and deliberate in demeanor, Randolph would hold the mayoral office for five terms. He worked well with most groups within the city and never had serious opposition in Louisiana's unique jungle primary system. In the spring of 2006, Randolph announced that he would not seek a sixth term as mayor. He vacated the position in December 2006. His successor was fellow Democrat, attorney Jacques M. Roy
Jacques Roy
Jacques Maurice Roy is the twenty-third mayor of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish, in central Louisiana.Roy, a Democrat, is the son of Christopher Roy, Sr., an ad hoc judge of the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal...
(born 1970), who defeated Randolph's former administrative assistant, Delores Brewer, a Republican, in the November 7 general election. Roy was born the year that Snyder made his first unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Congress.
Snyder's final years
In 1988, former Mayor Snyder ran as a Democrat for the now defunct Eighth Congressional District seat then held by freshman Republican Clyde C. Holloway
Clyde C. Holloway
Clyde Cecil Holloway is an American small business owner from Forest Hill in the southern part of Rapides Parish who is one of five members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. He also served as a conservative Republican member of the U.S...
of Forest Hill
Forest Hill, Louisiana
Forest Hill is a village in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 456 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Forest Hill is located at ....
in south Rapides Parish. He polled only 1,205 votes (1 percent), and Holloway was reelected to the second of his three terms.
Snyder, in his later years, supported the unendorsed "anti-establishment" Republican gubernatorial candidate David Duke
David Duke
David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
, who lost by a wide margin to Edwin Edwards in the hot-contested 1991 general election. In 1989, Snyder switched his registration to Republican, but, according to the Rapides Parish Voter Registrar's office, he returned to the Democrats in 1990.
Snyder was first married to the former Marcella Kinder (born December 30, 1921), originally from Smackover, Arkansas
Smackover, Arkansas
Smackover is a city in Union County, Arkansas. According to the 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city stands at 1,929.The name Smackover comes from an anglicization of the French "Sumac Couvert" which translates to "covered in sumac"...
, and then Pauline Edwards Snyder (1926–1978). Snyder was reared on Lakeview Street in Pineville and spent much of his time at his mother's house there even while he was mayor of Alexandria, where he kept an apartment. He had a son, John K. Snyder, Jr. (born March 29, 1944) of New Roads
New Roads, Louisiana
New Roads is a city in and the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, United States. The center of population of Louisiana is located in New Roads . The population was 4,996 at the 2000 census. The city's ZIP code is 70760...
, and a daughter, Shirley Ann Snyder (born February 23, 1951) of Many
Many, Louisiana
Many is a town in and the parish seat of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,889 at the 2000 census. The town was named for John B. Many, the commander of nearby Fort Jesup.-History:...
.
Snyder was interred on the front row of the left side of Alexandria National Cemetery, which is located in Pineville.