Tom Colten
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Arthur Thomas "Tom" Colten (October 21, 1922 – December 6, 2004) 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. A former newspaperman, Colten was also active in the slow process of establishing a viable Republican Party in Louisiana.
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[edit] Early years and newspaper career
Colten was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, with service from 1942 to 1946. After the war, Colten received his bachelor's degree from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
In 1948, he moved to Bogalusa and became the business manager of the Bogalusa Daily News.
He left that position in 1955 and relocated to Minden to become publisher of the Minden Press-Herald. As the publisher, Colten was active in civic affairs and became well-known in the community. Colten sold the paper in 1965 and became the executive director of the Minden Chamber of Commerce from 1965 to 1966 and then again from 1975 to 1976.
The Press-Herald was published twice weekly, but it became a daily in 1966, with an accent still on local news. "He [Colten] set an example for all who follow in his footsteps at the Press-Herald," said the current Press-Herald editor and publisher Josh Beavers. "He published a fine product every press run and we strive to emulate his success daily."
[edit] Small-town politics
Unlike many northern Republican transplants to Louisiana who became Democrats so that they could participate in the state's then pivotal closed primary elections, Colten maintained Republican affiliation and could hence vote only in general elections or in special elections. In June 1966, Colten announced his candidacy for mayor of Minden, a position once held by former Democratic Governor Robert F. Kennon. Minden has also produced a congressman, Democrat Jerry Huckaby, who graduated from Minden High School in 1959. But Huckaby's Fifth Congressional District, which he represented from 1977 to 1993, never included Webster Parish until Huckaby's defeat and then only temporarily.
Until Colten, no Republican had ever before even run for mayor of Minden. The city had few registered Republicans, and Colten did not mention party affiliation. While Minden was overwhelmingly Democratic in registration, Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona had easily won the city and Webster Parish in the previous presidential election. And the Republican senatorial candidate Taylor W. O'Hearn had won there in 1962 as well.
The 1964 election was the last before passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which empowered far more black voters, who had not previously been a deciding force in Minden politics. Colten was also unique among Minden politicians of his era in that he was not a segregationist. With the passage of civil rights laws and court rulings breaking up segregation, blacks grew in influence in the community. Minden was 52 percent black, according to the 2000 census.
Colten ran a "reform" campaign, claiming that he wanted to get Minden "moving," implying that the two-term incumbent, Frank T. Norman, who served from 1958 to 1966, was a "standpatter." Colten never used the "R" label. In fact, the Press-Herald on the day after the general election referred to Colten merely as "the challenger," with no mention of party. Colten received 2,044 votes (55.8 percent) to Norman's 1,622 (44.2 percent). Norman had been handicapped in the race in part because a black candidate for mayor named J.D. Hampton — the first in city history — had opposed him in the Democratic primary.
[edit] Mayor Tom Colten of Minden (1966-1974)
Once in office, Colten proposed a one-cent city sales tax to finance a plethora of improvement projects, including a new city hall/civic center complex, street paving, fire stations, and parks. He got the tax passed in 1967. Though there was some expansion from the capital improvements, Minden's population never increased much after the 1960 census, usually in the 12,000 to 14,000 range.
A "details" man before the term "micromanagement" became fashionable, Colten took his job seriously. He seemed to think that the votes of 2,044 people gave him a "mandate" to keep expanding his ideas and programs. Despite his Republican registration, he was strictly nonpartisan in the administration of the city. The five-man city council was all Democratic. He also understood how to use the media to his advantage and understood the value of continued public relations. He knew that the "earned media," as it is now called, was "free," whereas advertising cost the candidate. He wrote a paid column for the Press-Herald while he was mayor. This gave him additional "free advertising" to highlight his administration. Colten would "drop names" in the column, knowing that people he cited would almost surely vote to reelect him if he mentioned them.
Once again, former Mayor Frank Norman was his opponent in 1970, but Colten had the advantage because the "movers and shakers" in the community lined up solidly behind him. A Minden contractor was overheard telling Colten that he could not imagine anyone even running against him, considering how well he had performed as mayor. Yet, Colten seemed unsure as to whether he could win again and took nothing for granted. He had first considered running as an independent in the general election but chose in the end to remain a Republican. Perhaps he had doubts that any Republican could win in Minden that year. In their 1970 rematch, Colten defeated Norman 2,381 votes (58.9 percent) to 1,661 ballots (41.1 percent).
His second term did not proceed as smoothly as his first. Colten wanted to convert the full-time mayoral position to part-time so that he could accept a paid position with the city's private hospital. The council refused to approve such a change to benefit one individual. He said that he would therefore not seek a third term in 1974. Then he changed his mind and ran again. This time there was a full Republican slate for all municipal positions.
With one exception, the Republican ticket went down to defeat. Colten was unseated by the Democrat J.E. "Pat" Patterson, 3,186 (62.5 percent) to 1,914 (37.5 percent), and his mayoral career hence ended. Republican Felix Garrett (1922–1987) won election as city utilities commissioner in 1974 and thereafter took an open seat on the city council, when it went to single-member districts, in 1978.
In 1989, another Republican, Paul Aaron Brown (1932–1996), formerly of Alabama, was elected mayor but served only a year. He was seriously injured in an accident on the Minden High School football field, was unable to serve as mayor, and died six years later. Brown was succeeded in 1990 by current Mayor Billy Henry "Bill" Robertson, an Arkansas native who won a fifth consecutive term in the November 7, 2006, general election. (Robertson, a Democrat, defeated Republican candidate Alton Hortman.) Colten and Brown had three things in common: they were Republicans, neither was a Minden native, and each had been executive director of the chamber of commerce before he ran for mayor.
"He made so many things possible," said Robertson of Colten. "He is responsible for our civic center and so many other positive things that have happened in Minden. He will truly be missed."
[edit] Building a Republican Party in Louisiana
Colten was NOT the first Republican mayor in Louisiana. That designation went to Jack Louis Breaux, Sr., (1926–1980), who was elected mayor of Zachary in the spring of 1966. (See related story.)
Tom Colten's nonpartisan approach to government did not encourage those Republicans who wanted to expand their party into a viable political force in city and state. He did little to encourage other Republicans to run for office. He once opposed a Republican candidate for sheriff by convincing the Webster Parish Republican Executive Committee to set the filing fee so high that it would discourage the candidate from running — it did not, however, in that case. Colten hence favored offering only serious candidates, not obscure place names to fill a ballot. Colten favored the election of the Democratic nominee for mayor of Shreveport, Littleberry Calhoun Allen, Jr., in 1970, rather than the Republican challenger E.L. "Ed" McGuire. Colten based his preference on Allen's greater experience in municipal government, whereas McGuire's background was on the Caddo Parish School Board.
Colten also sometimes got involved in Democratic primary fights — particularly the "battle of the Montgomerys" for one of the 39 seats in the Louisiana State Senate in 1967 and 1971. He favored (though he could not vote in the primary at the time) John W. "Jack" Montgomery, a Springhill native and Minden lawyer who was challenging two-term State Senator Harold Montgomery (1911–1995) of Doyline, also in Webster Parish. Jack Montgomery won in 1967, but Harold Montgomery returned to victory in 1971. The Montgomerys were not related.
Harold Montgomery told a reporter in 1975 that he could not understand why Colten, a Republican, had undercut him, when Harold Montgomery, unlike Jack Montgomery, had frequently supported Republican candidates, including Charlton Lyons, who opposed John McKeithen in the 1964 gubernatorial election and then Senator Goldwater for the presidency that same year. Harold Montgomery, a former segregationist, was one of the state senators who had sometimes quarreled with McKeithen. The governor supported Jack Montgomery, who still practices law in Minden.
In 1976 the Coltens left Minden and moved to Baton Rouge, where he held the positions of vice president of the trade association known as the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. He was also appointed by the Republican State Central Committee, of which he had been a member, to the paid executive director position for the Republican Party, a difficult position but one that would yield long-term benefits.
[edit] Department of Transportation and Development
In 1980, Governor David C. Treen appointed Colten as the assistant secretary to Paul J. Hardy, who had been newly named as the secretary for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Hardy was a former Louisiana secretary of state who had been an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in 1979. (Hardy, a Democrat-turned-Republican, was later elected lieutenant governor in 1987 — the first Republican and thus far the only Republican elected to that position in Louisiana history.) When Hardy left the top transportation post, Treen elevated Colten to secretary of the department. His services were then retained by Governors Edwin Washington Edwards and Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III, another Democrat-turned-Republican, in 1984 and 1988, respectively. He became the point man on state highways, and elected officials depended on his expertise.
Colten earned numerous career honors. He was once the president of the Louisiana Press Association, the president of the Louisiana Municipal Association, a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973, the chairman of the Northwest Louisiana Clearinghouse Review Board, and the chairman of the board of directors of the Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
Further, he was a member of the Governor’s Property Tax Study Committee, the Joint House-Senate Study Committee on Industrial Inducement, the East Baton Rouge Industrial Development Board, the State Deferred Compensation Commission, the Louisiana Tourism Commission, and the Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission.
[edit] Retirement in Kentucky
Upon retirement from the transportation secretary's position in 1993, Tom Colten and his wife, the former Jane Kimmel (born 1923), moved to Frankfort, Kentucky, to be near their younger son, Lee Colten (born 1958), a conservationist for the State of Kentucky. In retirement, Colten was a member of the Frankfort Rotary Club, the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors Committee, the Louisville Railroad Task Force, the Blue Grass Area Development District, and the Kentucky State Chamber of Commerce.
Colten was an elder in the Minden Presbyterian Church, Broadmoor Presbyterian in Baton Rouge, and the South Frankfort Presbyterian Church.
In addition to his wife and son Lee, Colten was survived by a daughter, Connie Colten (born 1951) of Austin, Texas; another son, Craig Edward Colten (born 1952), a geography professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge; a sister, Mary Colten Glodt of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and a brother, Richard Colten of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. He is buried in Frankfort.
[edit] References
- Billy Hathorn, "The Republican Party in Louisiana, 1920–1980," Master's thesis (1980), Northwestern State University at Natchitoches
- Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate, January 27, 1980
- Minden Press-Herald, November 9, 1966, November 4, 1970, November 8, 1978
| Preceded by Frank T. Norman |
Mayor of Minden, Louisiana 1966–1974 |
Succeeded by J.E. "Pat" Patterson |
Categories: 1922 births | 2004 deaths | American journalists | American newspaper editors | American Presbyterians | Louisiana politicians | Louisiana Republicans | Mayors of places in Louisiana | People from Detroit | People from Kentucky | People from Minden, Louisiana | People from Louisiana | Webster Parish, Louisiana
