Pete Heine

Norman E. Heine, known as Pete Heine (born December 4, 1928), is an American Democratic politician. He was the mayor of the East Baton Rouge Parish city of Baker, located east of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1964 to 1976 and again from 1981 to 1992. Heine (pronounced Hiney) was the president of the Louisiana Municipal Association from 1967 to 1968.

Background

Heine is the son of the Reverend A. Charles Heine (1900-1976) and the former Edna Cook (1902-1974), who are interred at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum in Baker. Charles Heine was a Baptist minister who helped to organize two churches in the Baton Rouge area and was the pastor of several others. An active layman in his denomination, Pete Heine was named in 2008 as the "Peoples Health Champion" in recognition of those over sixty-five who perform exceptional community service. In Heine’s case, he was honored for having coordinated the construction of a church in the Leland community.

Heine was born in Baton Rouge and attended public schools there before enrolling at the defunct Jefferson Military College in Washington, Mississippi. He served in the United States Air Force from 1948-1952 as a staff sergeant, having participated in the Berlin Airlift and later served as crew chief on an F-86 Sabre jet.

Heine is the widower of the former Georgia Lea Pilcher (September 2, 1926–December 12, 2006), a pianist at the First Baptist Church of Baker. He was the father of Steven Kerry Heine (1956-2002) and wife Mary Strahan Heine and four surviving children: Kathryn Earn Heine Overfield, herself a piano teacher in Zachary in East Baton Rouge Parish; Charles Norman "Chuck" Heine, George Lee Heine, and James Donald "Scooter" Heine. A Heine grandson, Steven Heine, II, died in 2016 at the age of thirty-four.

Political life

Heine was an alderman and Mayor Pro Tem when he was elected mayor in 1964 to succeed the retiring Henry Grady Smith, Sr. (1921–2009), who served from 1956-1964. Only the fourth mayor in Baker history, Heine stepped down in 1976 to run unsuccessfully for the mayor-presidency of East Baton Rouge Parish, having lost to the incumbent Democrat, W.W. Dumas. A Republican, Mayor Jack Breaux of Zachary, finished third in the race for mayor-president.

As the Baker mayor, Heine was succeeded by Michael A. "Mike" Cross, who served until 1981, when he resigned the position to succeed State Senator Gaston Gerald, who had been expelled from the chamber in a 33-3 vote because of his conviction and imprisonment of extortion to receive a bribe. Heine then returned to the mayoralty post to succeed Cross. Heine served until 1992, when he declined to run again. The Baker mayoralty then went to the Republican Bobby Simpson, who subsequently became mayor-president in 2001. In Heine's last campaign for mayor on March 8, 1988, he defeated another Democrat, Jewel E. "Duke" Welch, 2,244 (53.9 percent) to 1,923 (46.2 percent), a member of the East Baton Rouge Metro Council who was later elected as a state court judge. In that same election, the Democrat Sid J. Gautreaux, III, won the position of police chief in Baker. In 2007, Gautreaux was elected sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish. Heine served as a mayor in East Baton Rouge Parish longer than any other person.

From 1993 to 2000, Heine was the first parish manager for West Feliciana Parish in St. Francisville, north of Baton Rouge.

Heine ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in the 1971 Democratic closed primary, the last of its kind held in the state prior to adoption of the nonpartisan blanket primary. The eventual winner was former New Orleans City Council member Jimmy Fitzmorris. In 1973, Heine was elected in a nonpartisan race as a delegate from East Baton Rouge Parish to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention, which drafted the current charter approved by voters statewide in 1974.

In 1991, Heine forced Mike Cross, his first successor as mayor of Baker, into a general election runoff for Cross' Senate seat. Cross led with 19,650 votes (45 percent) to Heine’s 13,808 (31.8 percent). Two other Democratic candidates shared the remaining 23 percent of the ballots cast. In the second round of balloting, Cross prevailed, 28,234 votes (57.8 percent) to Heine’s 20,813 (42.4 percent).

After his mayoral tenure, Heine was elected to the Place 2 position on the Baker City Council. In his bid for reelection in the primary election held on March 5, 2016, Heine, polled 402 votes (47.8 percent) and was placed into a runoff with fellow Democrat Cleveland Thomas, who trailed with 219 votes (26.1 percent). Two other Democrats with a combined 26 percent of the vote were eliminated from further contention. Heine then defeated Thomas, 365 votes (60 percent) to 244 (40 percent), to retain his city council seat.