Kenner Republican Announces Bid for Louisiana Lieutenant Governor

The Shreveport (LA) Times ^ | 04-17-03 | Wilson, Loresha

[Theodore R.]

Too much political corruption in Louisiana hurts the state both in tourism and economic development, says Stephen Rue, candidate for state lieutenant governor.

"We need to end corruption and that's an image issue of who we are going to have as our next lieutenant governor," he said.

[Theodore R.]

One of the Democrats seeking to succeed Democrat Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a gubernatorial candidate this year, is State Rep. Mitch Landrieu, younger brother of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.

[JohnnyZ]

Kirt Bennett for Lieutenent Governor!

In the lieutenant governor’s race, it is a dead heat up to this point between Kirt Bennett, the African-American Republican, and Democrat Melinda Schwegmann, who served one term in that office before running for governor in 1995. She is now a state representative.

Here are the standings, based upon 119 ballots:
Kirt Bennett (R) ­- 40 votes or 33.6%.
Melinda Schwegmann (D) ­- 40 votes or 33.6%.
Mitch Landrieu (D) ­- 24 votes or 20.2%.
Stephen Rue (R) ­- 14 votes or 11.8%.

This is from a straw poll.

Looks like Bennett has the support going in. I believe he's getting more establishment support too.

Nothing against Rue of course . . .

[Theodore R.]

Is former Lt. Gov. Melinda Schwegmann the daughter-in-law or former daughter-in-law of the late Jefferson Parish grocery magnate and former state senator John Schwegmann? John Schegmann sought the 1971 Democrat gubernatorial nomination that went to Edwin Washington Edwards. He was considered very conservative 30 years ago.

[JohnnyZ]

Yes, I think so. It's been a while since I was last on the ground working the Loosiana political scene.

[fieldmarshaldj]

If we end up with a 'Rat as Governor because too many Republicans are in the mix, we damn well shouldn't screw up with the Lieutenant-Governor's race. The only problem I see, however, is that getting an African-American elected statewide in a place like LA is very difficult. White folks may see the name (the old 'Rat voters who usually don't have much of a problem crossing over to vote for a Republican) and think, "Uh, oh, it's another Cleo Fields" (referring to the former leftist Congressman who ran for Governor against Mike Foster in '95), and then vote for the White 'Rat in the runoff, despite them being more liberal. Blacks will be apprehensive solely because he's an "R", and as such, he'll largely be ignored by the media as a viable candidate (the opposite if he were a 'Rat, of course). BTW, if Bennett is successful (and I hope he is), he will be the 2nd African-American Lieutenant-Governor in the state's history, the first was Republican Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback in the early 1870s. Pinchback, upon the death of the sitting Lt Gov was elevated to that position, and then when the sitting Governor was impeached in 1872, he became the first Black Governor in the US. Not until 118 years later with the election of Doug Wilder in Virginia did any state (excluding the Virgin Islands) have a Black Governor. Pinchback also was elected to both the US House and the US Senate (the 2nd Black man to have that distinction for the latter), but was denied his seat in both contests, unfortunately. It would be nice to see Mr. Bennett follow in Governor Pinchback's footsteps.

[Theodore R.]

Still with a candidate named "Landrieu" (liberal brother of the liberal senator) in the running, I would think that one of the two runoff spots is automatically reserved for him. And the other popular Democrat is the former Democrat Lt. Gov. Melinda Schwegmann. That doesn't leave much room for Republicans to maneuver.

The only Republican elected Lieutenant Governor in modern times was Paul J. Hardy, a former Democrat state senator, elected on the GOP ticket in 1987. I never heard what happened to Hardy politically. He just, in the words of Douglas MacArthur, "faded away."

[AuH2ORepublican]

I think Kirt Bennett's candidacy is much bigger than who will serve as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana for four years. If a state in the Deep South can elect a black Republican state-wide, when black liberal Democrats can't get elected outside of black-majority districts, it won't take long for black politicians to realize that they will be subjected to a glass ceiling so long as they stay in the Democrat reservation. And if a black Republican like Bennett can get even 25% of the black vote, it will give the GOP a formula in the South that would be impossible for the RATs to defeat (look at the 2000 presidential results, and imagine if 25% of blacks had voted for Bush---now think about the insurmountable number of Bush voters a RAT would have to attract in order to win). Plus, if blacks actually start voting by looking at the issues and who is the better candidate, it will make it impossible for the RATs to win not only in the Deep South, but in many parts of the nation, since blacks are one of the most religious and most socially conservative constituencies in America and the RATs can't win without getting 90% of the black vote. So we need to support Kirt Bennett's historic candidacy, not just for Louisiana, but for the entire nation.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Most importantly, the man needs money, strong party support, and lots of media exposure. We may end up having a problem if any other White Republicans get into the race (and I've heard that a state legislator named Tony Perkins may run, and he is a good guy, but I really want to see us put forth Mr. Bennett).

[Theodore R.]

I do not know anything about Kirt Bennett. Tell us about him. I do know that CO elected Joe Rogers (or Rodgers) as a Republican lieutenant governor who happened to be black, and he got into an open intraparty feud with Governor Bill Owens, a dispute in which Owens emerged triumphant.

The problem with your scenario is that LA blacks won't vote for ANY Republican, white or black. LA blacks associate the Republican Party with Goldwater, who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they (95 percent) won't vote for any Republicans for anything. LA blacks were also staunch admirers (not just voters) of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Many of these LA blacks also think that Ronald Reagan was "segregationist" even though it was Reagan who signed their King holiday bill. Otherwise, you pose an interesting possibility.

[JohnnyZ]

Most of the info out there is on http://www.kirtbennet.com

"A former student body president at Louisiana State University, where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in political science in 1991, Bennett is the executive director of Young Leaders' Academy of Baton Rouge, an organization with an annual budget of about $750,000 that he helped create in 1993. It offers after-school tutoring, a Saturday leadership training program and a summer academy each year to 120 black males ranging from the third to 11th grades". originally from the Times-Picayune

He has deep roots in Louisiana, and his family is from Honduras. He's running on keeping Louisiana kids in state through economic growth, including economic partnerships with Latin American countries, and offering tax benefits to retirees, as the duties of the lt. gov. include overseeing the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and the Retirement Development Commission.

[JohnnyZ]

Yeah, that was too bad about Joe Rogers. I don't know what the feuding was about, but it was unfortunate, as otherwise he might be in Congress right now, and we wouldn't have to listen to that "no black" crap.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"Yeah, that was too bad about Joe Rogers. I don't know what the feuding was about, but it was unfortunate, as otherwise he might be in Congress right now, and we wouldn't have to listen to that "no black" crap."

I think Rogers got a seriously raw deal practically from the start, with petty accusations flying back and forth between Gov. Owens's office and his (the relationship was somewhat similar between Owens/Rogers and the CA Gov and Lt Gov, Davis and Cruz Bustamante). There was also an audit performed with claims of improper spending, but Rogers said there was nothing improper and that it was a political witch hunt. I'm still annoyed that Bill Owens didn't provide support to his running mate, and left him high and dry. He was looking for any excuse to dump him. We had more statewide African-American Republicans in Colorado after the '98 election than any other state (Rogers and Secretary of State Vikki Buckley), and within a year, Ms. Buckley, a rising star, had died and Rogers was made persona non grata. Now we have zero Black Republicans in Colorado, as Owens replaced both with White women. The one criticism I have of our party is that we don't often vigorously support our Black Republican candidates. In a speech I saw by Ms. Buckley, she pointed out that she won in '94 for that office with practically ZERO support from the state party (as the dreadful Gov. Roy Romer was winning his last term by a landslide), and if that wasn't enough, the state party also similarly IGNORED (!) her as an incumbent running for reelection. Her family claimed that the stress from running her reelection campaign contributed to her untimely death at 53 (she died not long after that election). Joe Rogers was also a rising star and his announcement back in '95 that he was running for the Denver-based 1st seat against Pat Schroeder hastened her retirement (he faced the current Rep., and lost by a fair, but not huge, margin, and got a whopping share of the non-Caucasian vote, something like 50%, but he lost because of all the White Denver liberals). He should've received the nomination for the new 7th outright, but the GOP utterly ignored him and coronated Bob Beauprez. I had nothing against Beauprez, but Rogers did not deserve the screwing he received. I hope he doesn't exit politics, as he turns only 38 this year, but one can hardly blame him if he does. I just think this demonstrates we have some serious work to do in this area.