Democrat Parks Helms, a fixture in North Carolina politics, dies at 87

Parks Helms, a longtime Democratic politician who served more than three decades in state and county government, died Saturday at 87.

Helms’ daughter, Deborah Alston, confirmed his death on Monday.

A stalwart lawmaker, Helms served in the North Carolina General Assembly for 10 years and on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners for 16 years.

Photos: Parks Helms through the years

Helms’ death was first reported by the Charlotte Ledger. His former colleagues told The Charlotte Observer they remember him for his leadership and his passion for his work.

Former Mayor Jennifer Roberts remembers him as ahead of his time, supporting racial equity and LGBT rights in the early 2000s.

“What’s wrong with love?” Roberts recalls him asking during debates over gay marriage.

He was consistently ranked one of the N.C. House’s most effective members after he was first elected in 1974. He pushed the Equal Rights Amendment and engineered a law in the 1970s allowing the sales of liquor-by-the-drink in Mecklenburg.

In 1988, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor. Four years later, he ran for Mecklenburg commissioner and was elected chairman.

“He was really influential in terms of Democratic leadership,” current Chairman George Dunlap told the Observer.

Serving on the board, Helms pushed for more spending on social programs and education, and he wasn’t afraid of a property tax hike to get it. He presided over a 15% property tax rate increase in 2001, much to the chagrin of his conservative colleagues.

He was unapologetic about a tax hike, too, Roberts said.

“Parks used to say, ‘It’s what do we do in local politics: We tax people. And then we spend it,’” Roberts said.

One time, “we had to raise taxes and he would always say the amount of tax we’re asking people to pay is the cost of a Chick-fil-A sandwich,” County Manager Dena Diorio said. “I thought it was nice to hear someone put it in perspective.”

He advocated for a new courthouse and consolidation between city and county governments. In 1997, Helms voted to continue funding the Arts & Science Council after it sponsored a play with nudity. A majority voted to cut the money.

“He was who he was,” Diorio said. “He never apologized for who he was.”

“It has been a great adventure,” Helms said of his political career in a 2015 Observer interview.

He saw the job of county commissioner as a human service business — and he took it seriously. He missed his daughter’s valedictorian speech to vote on legalizing sales of liquor-by-the-drink, Roberts remembers. He felt awful she said, but that was life as a public servant.

“This is what sacrifice is about,” Helms would say.

Near the end of his political tenure, Helms hadn’t taken a vacation with his wife Eleanor for two years. Visiting their grandchildren in Louisville, Kentucky, was difficult, the Observer reported in 2008 when he was retiring.

“It was so painfully obvious that for whatever reason, she thinks I should step aside,” Parks Helms said of his wife. “Sometimes if you love somebody like I love her, you do what’s most important. And that’s what I did.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates at charlotteobserver.com