Posted on 09/03/2005 9:12:54 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco On January 12, 2004, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco became the first woman to serve as governor of Louisiana. In her long, distinguished career, Governor Blanco has served the people with a vision of creating a new Louisiana, filled with hope and opportunity for all citizens.
As Governor, her top priorities include: providing affordable, accessible healthcare, improving the state’s education system, and creating a strong and vibrant economy.
In her inaugural address, Governor Blanco outlined her priorities as governor: “We face important challenges in this new century: expanding our economy and creating quality jobs; building an effective health care system; improving our roads and highways; rebuilding our coastline; protecting our farmers; and ensuring that all our citizens, no matter their age, have superior educational opportunities.”
Governor Blanco believes that Louisiana’s challenges can only be met “if we have the courage and wisdom to pursue a new and different path.” That, she says, means striking “a hopeful chord -- one that unites our people in lifting up all Louisiana families; one that cherishes our children, protects our environment, and creates new economic opportunity for all our citizens.”
Before serving in the state’s top office, Governor Blanco completed two terms as Lieutenant Governor. As the state’s second-highest official, she supervised the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. Under her leadership, tourism in Louisiana increased by 41 percent. This growth led to a $2.5 billion increase in the tourism industry’s economic contribution to the state and the creation of 121,000 new tourism-related jobs.
First elected lieutenant governor in 1995, Governor Blanco was overwhelmingly re-elected to her second term in 1999, winning 80 percent of the vote.
Governor Blanco began her career as a public servant in 1984, when she became the first woman ever elected to represent the people of Lafayette in the state Legislature. Five years later she was elected to the Public Service Commission, where she became the first woman to serve as a Commissioner and, later, as the first woman to chair the Commission (1993-94).
Before joining the public sector, Governor Blanco taught at Breaux Bridge High School, a public school in Southwest Louisiana, not far from the community of Coteau, where she was born. She received a B.S. degree in Business Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and her husband Raymond have been married since 1964. They are the parents of six children and the proud grandparents of seven.
Before joining the public sector, Governor Blanco taught at Breaux Bridge High School, a public school in Southwest Louisiana, not far from the community of Coteau, where she was born. She received a B.S. degree in Business Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
She looks like the crazy old lady who takes school kids on nature hikes through her garden.
she thinks teaching is working in the private sector???
Of course she's qualified to lead!
A Brownie pack.
Mark my words: as time passes, her and Mayor Nagin's incompetence will be forgotten, and all anyone will remember will be the Federal Gov't's slow response. (just keep repeating to yourself: "it's all Bush's fault".)
Is she qualified to lead? Manifestly, the answer is NO!
Her deer-in-headlights look since this disaster started makes me think that she would be much better off on the sofa eating cookie dough and watching Oxygen.
Incompetance that walks on two legs.
She is qualified to be HUNG!!!! With a hat like that no wonder she did not issue shoot-to-kill orders on looters and marshall law!
Condi would never wear a hat like that either.
At the heart of EVERY problem are the actions of politicians, lawyers and corporate executives!
She should resign.
Sure, she's qualified.
She's from south Louisiana and has a Cajun name.
LOL ! Katrina may have interrupted those activities.
With all the corruption in New Orleans, investigation will probably find them all to be incompetent...including that outraged police commissioner on with Geraldo last evening. They climbed up through very suspicious channels I'm sure, and hopefully it will all finally be shown for what it is down there. The people will benefit if they can remove the decades (centuries?) old corruption and graft there, even if they'd much perfer to continue to simply blame Bush.
LOL! Agreed.
She's getting such a free pass from the media.
Really sucks this clueless bag won because of her French last name. Jindal would have been great.
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