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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Gaston Gerald | office=Louisiana State Senator for<br> District 13 (East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, and Livingston parishes) | party=Demo..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Gaston Gerald
| office=[[Louisiana]] State Senator for<br> District 13 (East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, and Livingston parishes)
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| term_start=1972
| term_end=1981
| preceded=
| succeeded=[[Mike Cross (Louisiana politician)|Mike Cross]]
|office2=[[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] City-Parish Council member
|term_start2=1965
|term_end2=1972
|preceded2=[[Woodrow Wilson Dumas]]
|succeeded2=
| birth_date={{birth date and age|1931|10|20}}
| birth_place=
| residence=Greenwell Springs, East Baton Rouge Parish
| occupation=[[Farmer]]; Rancher]
| spouse=Lorraine C. Gerald
| children= James Darrell Gerald<br />
Kendall Paul Gerald<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
James Edward and Cynthia Martin Gerald}}
'''Gaston Gerald''' (born October 20, 1931) is an [[United States|American]] former [[politician]] from Greenwell Springs in East Baton Rouge Parish, [[Louisiana]], who was imprisoned in the early 1980s for [[extortion]] of a [[bribe]] from a [[Baton Rouge]] contractor.
==Political career==
A [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Gerald represented Ward II on the Baton Rouge City-Parish Council from 1965 to 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://brgov.com/dept/COUNCIL/agendas/Whos-Who.pdf|title=Elected and Appointed Officials in City-Parish Government|publisher=brgov.com|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref> He succeeded council member [[Woodrow Wilson Dumas]], who was elected as the parish [[mayor]]-president. Gerald then entered the state Senate for the first of three terms. He was elected to the Senate for a second term in his state's first ever nonpartisan blanket primary held on November 1, 1975.<ref name=senate>{{cite web|url=http://www.senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/EAHSenatorList1880ForwardJan2012.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana Senate, 1880- Present|publisher=Louisiana State Senate|accessdate=November 12, 2019}}</ref>
In 1976, as a freshman state senator, Gerald was named chairman of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, in which capacity he tried to defeat the [[right-to-work]] legislation which passed that summer. With [[Victor Bussie]], president of the Louisiana [[AFL-CIO]], Gerald proposed a state constitutional amendment on the issue, which would have raised the bar for passage.<ref>"Bussie maneuvering work bill's death," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' June 14, 1976, p. 1.</ref>
In 1979, Gerald was convicted of having attempted to extort $25,000 from a contractor who faced forthcoming late charges for his failure to complete construction of the Baton Rouge Civic Center before the contract deadline. Gerald offered to distribute money among members of the Baton Rouge city-parish council, on which he had previously served, to get additional time for the contractor. Despite legal conviction, Gerald won a third Senate term in 1979. He was soon remanded to the Federal Correctional Institution in [[Fort Worth]], [[Texas]].<ref name=time>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922546,00.html|title=Pol in the Pen|publisher=''[[Time Magazine|Time]]''|date=June 8, 1981|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref>
While imprisoned, Gerald befriended Everett Bleichner, an [[insurance]] adjuster convicted of extortion. Upon Bleichner release on February 9, 1981, Gerald put him on the Senate payroll as an aide with undisclosed duties at a salary of more than $900 per month.<ref name=time/> Though Gerald's sentence was for five years,<ref name=beckner>{{cite web|url=http://www.donaldbeckner.com/CM/NewspaperArticles/NewspaperArticles10.asp|title=Beckner's record|publisher=donaldbeckner.com|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref> he served only half that time, having been released on July 30, 1982.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=Gaston&Middle=&LastName=Gerald&Race=W&Sex=M&Age=78&x=13&y=15|title=Inmate Locator|publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons|accessdate=November 12, 2019}}</ref>
Gerald did not resign from the Senate when he entered prison but continued to draw his salary and expenses. In 1981, the Senate in a rare moment voted 33-3 to expel Gerald as a member, with Anthony Guarisco, Jr., of Morgan City in St. Mary Parish leading the majority forces.<ref name=time/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tony-guarisco/21/738/925|title=Tony Guarisco|publisher=linkedin.com|accessdate=June 24, 2013}}</ref>
Meanwhile, Henry Holden, business manager for the Pipefitters Local 198 [[organized labor|union]], was convicted of [[obstruction of justice]] in attempting to influence the federal [[grand jury]] during the investigation of the Gerald case. Holden was sentenced to two years imprisonment.<ref name=beckner/>
In a series of press articles beginning in 1993 it was revealed that politicians in both parties in Louisiana had been tapping either their own family members or relatives of political allies for coveted legislative scholarships to [[Tulane University]] in [[New Orleans]], enabled by an 1881 state law. In 1995, it was disclosed that while in the Senate, Gaston Gerald had sponsored a scholarship for Pascal Calogero, III, of New Orleans, one of three sons of Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero, Jr.]<ref>{{cite web|publisher=''The New Orleans Times-Picayune''|title=Legislative Scholarship Recipients|page=A-13 | date=October 23, 1995}}</ref>
After expulsion from the Senate, a [[special election]] was held to name a successor for the unexpired part of Gerald's third term. Fellow Democrat [[Mike Cross (Louisiana politician)|Mike Cross]], then the mayor of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish, was elected. to Gerald. Cross held the seat from 1981 to 1996, when he was unseated by the young [[Republican Party|Republican]] Mike Branch, who served only one term.<ref name=senate/>
==Family background==
Gerald was one of eight children born to James Edward Gerald and the former Cynthia Martin. Only two of his siblings survive, a brother, Kelly P. Gerald of [[rural]] Pine n Washington Parish and a sister, Martha G. Watts of French Settlement in Livingston Parish.
.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/washington/obits/era/el112002.txt|title=Obituary of James Russell Gerald (a younger brother of Gaston Gerald)|publisher=usgwarchives.net/la|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref>
Since his release from prison, Gerald has been engaged in [[cattle]] ranching and [[farming]] in East Baton Rouge and Washington parishes. Former State Senator [[B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn]] of Washington Parish similarly farmed and ranched after his defeat in the 1995 [[general election]] by the Republican Phil Short.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/portal/Portals/0/News/MarketBulletins/mb2007-09-27.pdf|title=Sixty at 91|publisher=ldaf.state.la.us|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref> From 1995 to 2006, Gerald received $30,357 in federal farm subsidies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://farm.ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=005064565|title=Farm Subsidy Database|publisher=farm.ewg.org|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref>
Gerald and his wife, Lorraine C. Gerald (born c. 1935), have two sons, James Darrell Gerald (born c. 1955) and Kendall Paul Gerald (born c. 1958).
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerald, Gaston}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Farmers]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Criminals]]
| name=Gaston Gerald
| office=[[Louisiana]] State Senator for<br> District 13 (East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, and Livingston parishes)
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| term_start=1972
| term_end=1981
| preceded=
| succeeded=[[Mike Cross (Louisiana politician)|Mike Cross]]
|office2=[[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] City-Parish Council member
|term_start2=1965
|term_end2=1972
|preceded2=[[Woodrow Wilson Dumas]]
|succeeded2=
| birth_date={{birth date and age|1931|10|20}}
| birth_place=
| residence=Greenwell Springs, East Baton Rouge Parish
| occupation=[[Farmer]]; Rancher]
| spouse=Lorraine C. Gerald
| children= James Darrell Gerald<br />
Kendall Paul Gerald<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
James Edward and Cynthia Martin Gerald}}
'''Gaston Gerald''' (born October 20, 1931) is an [[United States|American]] former [[politician]] from Greenwell Springs in East Baton Rouge Parish, [[Louisiana]], who was imprisoned in the early 1980s for [[extortion]] of a [[bribe]] from a [[Baton Rouge]] contractor.
==Political career==
A [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Gerald represented Ward II on the Baton Rouge City-Parish Council from 1965 to 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://brgov.com/dept/COUNCIL/agendas/Whos-Who.pdf|title=Elected and Appointed Officials in City-Parish Government|publisher=brgov.com|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref> He succeeded council member [[Woodrow Wilson Dumas]], who was elected as the parish [[mayor]]-president. Gerald then entered the state Senate for the first of three terms. He was elected to the Senate for a second term in his state's first ever nonpartisan blanket primary held on November 1, 1975.<ref name=senate>{{cite web|url=http://www.senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/EAHSenatorList1880ForwardJan2012.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana Senate, 1880- Present|publisher=Louisiana State Senate|accessdate=November 12, 2019}}</ref>
In 1976, as a freshman state senator, Gerald was named chairman of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, in which capacity he tried to defeat the [[right-to-work]] legislation which passed that summer. With [[Victor Bussie]], president of the Louisiana [[AFL-CIO]], Gerald proposed a state constitutional amendment on the issue, which would have raised the bar for passage.<ref>"Bussie maneuvering work bill's death," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' June 14, 1976, p. 1.</ref>
In 1979, Gerald was convicted of having attempted to extort $25,000 from a contractor who faced forthcoming late charges for his failure to complete construction of the Baton Rouge Civic Center before the contract deadline. Gerald offered to distribute money among members of the Baton Rouge city-parish council, on which he had previously served, to get additional time for the contractor. Despite legal conviction, Gerald won a third Senate term in 1979. He was soon remanded to the Federal Correctional Institution in [[Fort Worth]], [[Texas]].<ref name=time>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922546,00.html|title=Pol in the Pen|publisher=''[[Time Magazine|Time]]''|date=June 8, 1981|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref>
While imprisoned, Gerald befriended Everett Bleichner, an [[insurance]] adjuster convicted of extortion. Upon Bleichner release on February 9, 1981, Gerald put him on the Senate payroll as an aide with undisclosed duties at a salary of more than $900 per month.<ref name=time/> Though Gerald's sentence was for five years,<ref name=beckner>{{cite web|url=http://www.donaldbeckner.com/CM/NewspaperArticles/NewspaperArticles10.asp|title=Beckner's record|publisher=donaldbeckner.com|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref> he served only half that time, having been released on July 30, 1982.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=Gaston&Middle=&LastName=Gerald&Race=W&Sex=M&Age=78&x=13&y=15|title=Inmate Locator|publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons|accessdate=November 12, 2019}}</ref>
Gerald did not resign from the Senate when he entered prison but continued to draw his salary and expenses. In 1981, the Senate in a rare moment voted 33-3 to expel Gerald as a member, with Anthony Guarisco, Jr., of Morgan City in St. Mary Parish leading the majority forces.<ref name=time/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tony-guarisco/21/738/925|title=Tony Guarisco|publisher=linkedin.com|accessdate=June 24, 2013}}</ref>
Meanwhile, Henry Holden, business manager for the Pipefitters Local 198 [[organized labor|union]], was convicted of [[obstruction of justice]] in attempting to influence the federal [[grand jury]] during the investigation of the Gerald case. Holden was sentenced to two years imprisonment.<ref name=beckner/>
In a series of press articles beginning in 1993 it was revealed that politicians in both parties in Louisiana had been tapping either their own family members or relatives of political allies for coveted legislative scholarships to [[Tulane University]] in [[New Orleans]], enabled by an 1881 state law. In 1995, it was disclosed that while in the Senate, Gaston Gerald had sponsored a scholarship for Pascal Calogero, III, of New Orleans, one of three sons of Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero, Jr.]<ref>{{cite web|publisher=''The New Orleans Times-Picayune''|title=Legislative Scholarship Recipients|page=A-13 | date=October 23, 1995}}</ref>
After expulsion from the Senate, a [[special election]] was held to name a successor for the unexpired part of Gerald's third term. Fellow Democrat [[Mike Cross (Louisiana politician)|Mike Cross]], then the mayor of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish, was elected. to Gerald. Cross held the seat from 1981 to 1996, when he was unseated by the young [[Republican Party|Republican]] Mike Branch, who served only one term.<ref name=senate/>
==Family background==
Gerald was one of eight children born to James Edward Gerald and the former Cynthia Martin. Only two of his siblings survive, a brother, Kelly P. Gerald of [[rural]] Pine n Washington Parish and a sister, Martha G. Watts of French Settlement in Livingston Parish.
.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/washington/obits/era/el112002.txt|title=Obituary of James Russell Gerald (a younger brother of Gaston Gerald)|publisher=usgwarchives.net/la|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref>
Since his release from prison, Gerald has been engaged in [[cattle]] ranching and [[farming]] in East Baton Rouge and Washington parishes. Former State Senator [[B. B. "Sixty" Rayburn]] of Washington Parish similarly farmed and ranched after his defeat in the 1995 [[general election]] by the Republican Phil Short.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/portal/Portals/0/News/MarketBulletins/mb2007-09-27.pdf|title=Sixty at 91|publisher=ldaf.state.la.us|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref> From 1995 to 2006, Gerald received $30,357 in federal farm subsidies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://farm.ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=005064565|title=Farm Subsidy Database|publisher=farm.ewg.org|accessdate=November 18, 2009}}</ref>
Gerald and his wife, Lorraine C. Gerald (born c. 1935), have two sons, James Darrell Gerald (born c. 1955) and Kendall Paul Gerald (born c. 1958).
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerald, Gaston}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Farmers]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Criminals]]