Posted on 03/26/2025 8:46:52 PM PDT by RandFan
Former Louisiana Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, a Democrat who chaired the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and who fought off a surprisingly strong challenge from David Duke in 1990, died Tuesday. He was 92.
Johnston, a moderate Democrat who served from 1972 through 1997, was a strong defender of nuclear energy and a mild-mannered lawmaker prone to deal-making in a state often known for populist flamethrowers.
His election to the Senate came after he unsuccessfully ran for Louisiana governor in 1971; he lost to Edwin W. Edwards in a Democratic runoff, which nonetheless gave him the name recognition to successfully run for Senate a few months later.
He either led the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel or served as ranking member from 1973 to 1996 at a key time for U.S. energy policy, with his chairmanship overlapping with Middle East conflicts that impacted the price of foreign oil and a nuclear reactor accident at Three Mile Island in 1979.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
DOGE, not another dime.
Looting the US Treasury was his favorite past time second only to croquette.
Lol!
That description should be his epitaph, chiseled in Old English font.
At all.
“...in a state often known for populist flamethrowers.”
Stupid statement. We had only one — Huey Long. His brother tried to take up the reins, but was a joke.
I present to you- Edwin Edwards.
Edwin Edwards was definitely NOT a flamethrower. The FLAMETHROWER was the stupid part.
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