John Kennedy (Louisiana politician)

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John Kennedy (Louisiana politician)
John Neely Kennedy, official portrait, 115th Congress.jpg
United States Senator
from Louisiana
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Serving with Bill Cassidy
Preceded by David Vitter
Treasurer of Louisiana
In office
January 10, 2000 – January 3, 2017
Governor Mike Foster
Kathleen Blanco
Bobby Jindal
John Bel Edwards
Preceded by Ken Duncan
Succeeded by Ron Henson (Acting)
Personal details
Born (1951-11-21) November 21, 1951 (age 72)
Centreville, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party Democratic (Before 2007)
Republican (2007–present)
Spouse(s) Rebecca Stulb
Children 1 son
Education Vanderbilt University (BA)
University of Virginia (JD)
Magdalen College, Oxford (BCL)
Website Senate website

John Neely Kennedy (born November 21, 1951) is an American politician who is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana, serving since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he served terms as Louisiana state treasurer and took office as Louisiana's junior senator in the United States Senate on January 3, 2017, alongside the state's senior senator Bill Cassidy. He defeated Democratic candidate Foster Campbell in the Senate election runoff by more than 21 percentage points, about a month after prevailing in the state's jungle primary, along with Campbell.[1]

Education and career

Born in Centreville, Mississippi, Kennedy was reared in Zachary in East Baton Rouge Parish. He graduated in 1969 from Zachary High School. He finished magna cum laude in 1973 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a degree in Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics.

At Vanderbilt, he was elected president of his senior class and named to Phi Beta Kappa. After Vanderbilt, Kennedy received a law degree in 1977 from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the University of Virginia School of Law, he was editor of the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

In 1979, he earned a Bachelor of Civil Law degree with first class honours from Magdalen College, Oxford in England.[2][3]

Prior to entering politics, Kennedy practiced law at the New Orleans and Baton Rouge firm of Chaffe McCall. Before he took office as state treasurer, Kennedy was the secretary of the Department of Revenue and was a legal counselor and secretary for then Governor Buddy Roemer.[citation needed]

Along with being state treasurer, he has been an adjunct professor at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center in Baton Rouge.[4]

Political career

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. In 1988, Kennedy became special counsel to then Governor Roemer.[5] In 1991, he was appointed cabinet secretary and served in that post until 1992. In 1991, he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for state attorney general to succeed the retiring William J. Guste. Democrat Richard Ieyoub of Lake Charles instead won the position.

Following his first stint in state government, Kennedy returned to the private practice of law until 1996. That same year, he was appointed Secretary of the state Department of Revenue in the cabinet of Republican Governor Mike Foster.[6]

Kennedy left the Foster administration when he was elected state treasurer in 1999, having unseated the incumbent Democrat Kenneth "Ken" Duncan, 621,796 (55.6 percent) to 497,319 (44.4 percent).[7] Kennedy was reelected as treasurer without opposition in 2003.

Kennedy at the Natchitoches Christmas Parade in 2014

In 2004 he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. He ran a distant third in Louisiana's unique nonpartisan blanket primary. He lost to the outright winner, Republican U.S. Representative David Vitter, who then represented Louisiana's 1st congressional district. Vitter polled more votes than Kennedy (15 percent), State Senator Arthur Morrell (3 percent), and Democratic U.S. Representative Christopher John (29 percent) combined to win in the primary for the seat without a formal general election, popularly called the runoff in Louisiana.

After being courted by the Republican Party for months, Kennedy announced in a letter to his constituents that he was leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republicans, effective August 27, 2007. In his letter, he announced that he would run again for state treasurer.[8]

In 2008, Kennedy ran again for the United States Senate, this time as a Republican, against incumbent Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu. He lost 52.1 to 45.7 percent though the unsuccessful Republican presidential nominee John McCain defeated Barack H. Obama in Louisiana.[9]

During the state treasurer's term to which he was elected in 2007, Kennedy devised twenty-four points by which the state could save money.[10]

Kennedy was elected as a Republican to the state treasurer's office at the same time that Bobby Jindal won the governor's race against two Democrats, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and then State Senator Walter Boasso. In the following years, Kennedy spoke out against Jindal's practice of using one-time funds as part of the annual operating budget. In June 2012, Jindal used the line-item veto to reduce the state treasurer's office budget by $511,279.

Jindal said Kennedy could "streamline" his own department. Many ideas that Kennedy had suggested were originally proposals that came from the Louisiana Commission for Streamlining Government, on which the treasurer was a member.[11]

In the 2016 presidential election, Kennedy supported Donald Trump.[12] Trump, as president-elect, subsequently campaigned for Kennedy the day before the runoff election with Foster Campbell.[citation needed]

Edmonson Act

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Kennedy in 2014

In July 2014, Kennedy and government watchdog C. B. Forgotston, the late lawyer from Hammond questioned an amendment approved on July 2, the last day of the state legislative session, by State Senator Neil Riser of Columbia, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana.

Riser pushed to passage a bill which could increase by $55,000 annually the retirement pay of Colonel Mike Edmonson, the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police and a Republican appointee of Governor Jindal, and, inadvertently, at least one other unnamed state trooper. Legislative rules prohibit a conference committee report from being considered on the last day of a session.

However, both chambers voted by the two-thirds majority to suspend the rules and pass Riser's amendment. Treasurer Kennedy has urged the state police retirement board, of which he is an ex officio member, to litigate the constitutionality of Senate Bill 294, which Jindal promptly signed into law.[13]

Though he had first denied authorship of the amendment, Riser said that he was asked to submit the measure to the full legislature by Charles Dupuy, the deputy police superintendent. Riser said it was his understanding that the bill in question addresses the rights of law enforcement officers and "broad retirement issues", not specific individuals who could benefit from its provisions.[13]

Meanwhile, Forgotston took a particular interest in the retirement controversy; the story was broken by Ruston native and journalist Tom Aswell. Forgotston claims that Riser's amendment, labeled in the media as the "Edmonson Act", would have applied to "hundreds of thousands" of current and future retirees in all departments of state government and would have increased taxpayer liability by "millions of dollars" in accrued expenses. Forgotston said that Riser flatly lied to him in first denying the authorship of the amendment: "Riser has now said, ‘Yeah, it was me...' He should have apologized to the public. He should have apologized to the other five members of the conference committee. He threw them under the bus. He definitely owes an apology to his staff member - he threw her under the bus."[14][15]

Riser, meanwhile, is an announced candidate to succeed Kennedy as state treasurer in a special election to be held in 2017.[16]

On September 16, 2014, Forgotston, Aswell, and Kennedy were vindicated when a state court judge in Baton Rouge declared the "Edmonson Act" unconstitutional. The suit challenging the law was brought forward by State Senator Dan Claitor, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Louisiana's 6th congressional district seat in the November 4 primary election.[17]

U.S. Senate campaigns

President Donald Trump and Kennedy campaigning in Baton Rouge

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In 2004, Kennedy campaigned for the United States Senate seat held by John Breaux, who retired from elected office. Kennedy ran as a Democrat in the state's jungle primary but lost to Republican David Vitter and Democrat Chris John. Vitter defeated John to win the seat in the general election.[18][19] In 2008, Kennedy again ran for the United States Senate, this time as a Republican but lost to incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu.[20]

On January 26, 2016, Kennedy announced that he would run for the U. S. Senate for a third time. In seeking to succeed the retiring David Vitter, he faced more than twenty opponents, many politically unknown.[21] Vitter announced his retirement from the Senate in 2015 after losing a bid for governor to the Democrat John Bel Edwards.[22] Kennedy, who had supported Vitter for governor the previous year, led the field of candidates and then faced the Democrat Foster Campbell in a runoff contest on December 10. Kennedy prevailed, 536,204 (61 percent) to 347,813 (39 percent). Kennedy lost the largest populated parishes of Orleans and East Baton Rouge Parish, in which he had been reared, but he was a runaway winner in Campbell's home parish of Bossier.[23]

U.S. Senate

Kennedy was sworn in as Louisiana's Junior U.S. Senator on January 3, 2017.

Committee Assignments

Personal life

Kennedy resides in Madisonville in St. Tammany Parish in suburban New Orleans with his wife, Becky, and son, Preston. He attends North Cross United Methodist Church in Madisonville.[4] He is unrelated to the Kennedy family of Massachusetts.[24]

Electoral history

Results of the 2016 U.S. Senate nonpartisan blanket primary. Parishes won by Kennedy are shown in red.
Results of the Senate runoff. Parishes won by Kennedy are shown in red, darker shades indicate a higher percentage of the vote.
Louisiana Attorney General Primary Election, 1991
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Richard Ieyoub 447,423 31
Republican Ben Bagert 312,968 22
Democratic John Kennedy 288,104 20
Democratic Winston Riddick 224,200 16
Republican James McPherson 124,341 9
Republican Kai David Midboe 24,118 2
Louisiana Treasurer Primary Election, 1999
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic John Kennedy 621,796 56
Democratic Ken Duncan (inc.) 497,319 44
Louisiana Treasurer Primary Election, 2003
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic John Kennedy (inc.) n/a 100
Louisiana U.S. Senate Primary Election, 2004
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican David Vitter 943,014 51
Democratic Chris John 542,150 29
Democratic John Kennedy 275,821 15
Democratic Arthur Morrell 47,222 3
Libertarian Richard Fontanesi 15,097 1
Independent "Skip" Galan 12,463 1
Democratic Sam Houston Melton, Jr. 12,289 1
Louisiana Treasurer Primary Election, 2007
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican John Kennedy (inc.) n/a 100
Louisiana U.S. Senate Primary Election, 2008
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Mary Landrieu (inc.) 988,298 52
Republican John Kennedy 867,177 46
Libertarian Richard Fontanesi 18,590 1
Independent "Jay" Patel 13,729 1
Independent Robert Stewart 8,780 0
Louisiana Treasurer Primary Election, 2011
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican John Kennedy (inc.) n/a 100
Louisiana Treasurer Primary Election, 2015
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican John Kennedy (inc.) 787,677 80
Republican Jennifer Treadaway 195,791 20
Louisiana U.S. Senate Primary Election, 2016
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican John Kennedy 482,591 25
Democratic Foster Campbell 337,833 17
Republican Charles Boustany 298,008 15
Democratic Caroline Fayard 240,917 12
Republican John C. Fleming 204,026 11
Republican Rob Maness 90,856 5
Republican David Duke 58,606 3
Democratic Derrick Edwards 51,774 2
Democratic Gary Landrieu 45,587 1
Republican "Crawdaddy" Crawford 25,523 1
Republican Joseph Cao 21,019 1
Independent Beryl Billiot 19,352 1
Libertarian Thomas Clements 11,370 1
11 additional candidates 46,173 2

See also

References

  1. Republican John Kennedy re-elected to fifth term as Louisiana's state treasurer
  2. Southeastern Louisiana University FACULTY SENATE Meeting Minutes
  3. Biography of Treasurer John Neely Kennedy profile, treasury.state.la.us; accessed November 18, 2016.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. "Roemer is no-show for opening session", Minden Press-Herald, April 7, 1991, p. 1
  6. Ron Gomez, My Name Is Ron And I'm a Recovering Legislator: Memoirs of a Louisiana State Representative, Lafayette, Louisiana: Zemog Publishing, 2000, p. 247; ISBN 0-9700156-0-7
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Treasurer Bolts to GOP, nola.com; accessed November 18, 2016
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Kennedy elaborated the plan in many venues across the state. See § III of the following: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. A particular focus of Kennedy's cost-saving ideas was reduction in the hiring of consultants.
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  13. 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  15. The Moon Griffon Show, August 1, 2014.
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External links

Political offices
Preceded by Treasurer of Louisiana
2000–2017
Succeeded by
Ron Henson
Acting
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for U.S. Senator for Louisiana
(Class 2)

2008
Succeeded by
Bill Cassidy
Preceded by Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Louisiana
(Class 3)

2016
Most recent
United States Senate
Preceded by
David Vitter
U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Louisiana
2017–present
Served alongside: Bill Cassidy
Incumbent
United States order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States Senators by seniority
99th
Succeeded by
Catherine Cortez Masto