Lane Carson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lane Anderson Carson (born August 21, 1947) is the head of the Louisiana Department of Veterans' Affairs, the appointee of Governor Bobby Jindal. Carson said that his principal goal in office is to work to secure the homes and cemeteries of Louisiana's 366,000 veterans. A resident of Covington, the seat of St. Tammany Parish, Carson had been chief of the Civil Division of the 22nd Judicial District in St. Tammany Parish for more than two decades.

He also served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976-1983. He represented House District 99 in Orleans Parish, first as a Democrat (1976-1977) and thereafter as a member of the Republican Party. Carson was the first Vietnam War veteran to have served in his state's legislature.

During his legislative tenure, Carson served on the Civil Law, House & Governmental, and Health and Welfare Committees and Veterans and Elderly Sub-committees. Carson enacted legislation to help consumers by allowing eyeglass and prescription drug advertising; to restore discipline to the classroom by allowing teachers to search for drugs and weapons; and to combat crime by speeding up the capital punishment process; providing restitution to victims of crime, giving police access to hard-core juvenile records, and passing a strong anti-child pornography law.

After more than six years of service, Carson resigned his House seat to become Asst. Secretary, Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources during Governor David Treen's administration. Carson thereafter became an assistant district attorney in St. Tammany Parish, where as chief of the Civil Division for more than twenty years, he has been a legal advisor to St. Tammany Parish government and numerous boards and commissions. Carson is also an attorney in private practice.

In 1985, President Ronald W. Reagan nominated Carson, who is also a licensed building contractor and real estate broker, to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board for a term which expired on December 3, 1988. In 2003, President George W. Bush named Carson to the board of directors of the National Institute of Building Sciences.

The New Orleans-born Carson was a platoon leader in South Vietnam while serving in the United States Army. He was wounded and discharged. Thereafter, he graduated in 1971 with a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1974, he received his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School in New Orleans. Carson belongs to many veterans organizations and was appointed by Governor Mike Foster to the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs to represent the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Carson was recently appointed to the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame Museum Board.

Carson and his wife, Laura, have two children. A son, Christopher Carson, is a 2004 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is currently serving as a surface warfare officer in the United States Navy. A daughter, Rebecca, an architect intern, is married to Nat Parks. Mrs. Carson is a retired assistant principal from the St. Tammany Parish public schools. Carson is Baptist.

[edit] References