Jay Dardenne
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| Jay Dardenne | |
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| In office 2006 – Present |
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| Preceded by | Al Ater |
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| Born | February 6, 1954 Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Catherine McDonald "Cathy" Dardenne |
| Profession | Politician |
John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. (born February 6, 1954), is the Republican secretary of state of Louisiana. Formerly, Dardenne was a state senator from the Baton Rouge suburbs, having served from 1992 until after his election on September 30, 2006 as secretary of state.
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[edit] Personal information and early career
Dardenne is the son of Janet Abramson Dardenne and the late John Leigh Dardenne, Sr. He is married to the former Catherine "Cathy" McDonald (born 1955) and has two sons, John L. Dardenne, III (born 1984), and Matthew M. Dardenne. Dardenne is Jewish, and is the first known Jewish state official in Louisiana since U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Jonas in the 19th century. He graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, with both bachelor's and law degrees. He was elected student body president while at LSU.
He is also a community leader, active in numerous social and civic endeavors in his native Baton Rouge, including the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the annual Labor Day Telethon, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, and the River City Festivals Association. He currently serves as chairman of the U. S. National Senior Sports Classic (the Senior Olympics) and has served as president of ten nonprofit entities serving the greater Baton Rouge Community.
In 1987, Dardenne narrowly lost his first race for the state Senate to the Democrat Larry Bankston. He then won a special election for a seat on the East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council and held that seat until 1992.
In 1991, Dardenne ran again for the state Senate. He trailed fellow Republican Lynda Imes in the primary but came back to win the seat in the general election. He quickly gained a reputation as a champion of reform and a thorn in the side of Democratic Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, though few of his reform proposals were passed.
Following the election of Republican Murphy J. "Mike" Foster as governor in 1995, Dardenne became the governor's floor leader and began to pass landmark legislation. He continued to push for reforms in the administration of Foster's successor, Democrat Kathleen Blanco, but Blanco largely shunned Dardenne.
Among other accomplishments, Dardenne helped pass constitutional amendments on term limits, coastal erosion and victims' rights, the creation of a single State Board of Ethics, spearheading reform of the river pilots' system, and working to reduce government waste as the chairman of the Louisiana Senate Finance Committee.
Dardenne was named the "National Republican Legislator of the Year" in 2003. According to the Louisiana Political Fax Weekly of December 20, 2002, "Jay Dardenne... is widely regarded as one of the most talented lawmakers to ever serve [sic] in the Capitol."
[edit] Secretary of state candidacy and transition
Dardenne ran in the September 30 special election to complete the term vacated by the death of former Secretary of State W. Fox McKeithen, a fellow Republican who died in the summer of 2005. McKeithen had been temporarily succeeded by his friend, former Democratic State Representative Alan Ray Ater (born 1953) of Ferriday in Concordia Parish, at the time an assistant secretary of state under McKeithen, who chose not to run for the post in the special election.
The major candidates in the race were Dardenne, Democratic state Senator Francis Heitmeier of New Orleans and former Republican State Chairman Mike Francis of Lafayette. The race was characterized by attacks on Dardenne from Francis (both taking pro-life positions) over predominantly social issues, including a vote that Dardenne cast in the 1990s, which, by altering the federal Hyde Amendment (named for former U.S. Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois), allows federally-funded abortions related to rape and incest. Critics say the two exceptions punish the unborn for the crimes of the fathers. Dardenne, however, maintained that his vote was required to allow the flow of Medicaid funds into Louisiana. Also in the 2006 legislative session, Dardenne voted against Senate Bill No. 33, which would have banned abortions in Louisiana had the United States Supreme Court overturned precendents granting a Constitutional right to abortion. He explained that he accidentally pressed the wrong button on his voting machine. His critics countered that the voting machines were kept open for nineteen seconds.
Despite these attacks, Dardenne was able to project himself as the candidate of reform in the race, and racked up huge numbers of votes in the Baton Rouge area, the suburbs of New Orleans and even into the heavily Democratic city of New Orleans itself. He received 30 percent of the vote in the primary; Heitmeier, 28 percent, and Francis, 26 percent. Minor candidates took the rest of the vote. A Dardenne v. Heitmeier runoff loomed. Francis chose not to endorse either candidate and stated his intentions to run for the seat in the 2007 regular election.
About two weeks into the special election runoff campaign, Heitmeier withdrew. He cited the fact that his New Orleans black voter base had been decimated because of Hurricane Katrina. He said that without help from national Democrats, victory over Dardenne would be impossible. Perhaps, his action was premature in light of the national Democratic sweep in the 2006 midterm elections.
There was speculation that the secretary of state race could mark a sea change in Louisiana politics because Dardenne, Francis and two minor Republicans together received 54 percent of the vote in the city of New Orleans. Dardenne alone obtained 40 percent. New Orleans has previously been the power base for the state Democratic Party; several major Democrats could be potentially weakened by this development, including Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu. Still, months earlier, two Republican candidates for mayor of New Orleans combined barely polled 10 percent of the vote.
Following Heitmeier's withdrawal, Dardenne was declared the winner by default. He was sworn into office on November 10, 2006. He will seek the position for a full four-year term in 2007, with the defeated Mike Francis possibly waiting in the wings to challenge him directly.
Shortly after becoming secretary of state, Dardenne announced that he will personally participate in anti-litter efforts even though such activities are not within the domain of his office. Dardenne told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that he saw too much litter as the traveled the state in his campaign for secretary of state. "The landscape of our state is . . . a window to the world. Anything we can do to call attention to this problem, we will do," Dardenne said.[1]
[edit] Election History
Louisiana State Senate, District 15, 1987
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 24, 1987
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| Larry S. Bankston | Democrat | 15,401 (46%) | Runoff |
| John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. | Republican | 10,313 (31%) | Runoff |
| Johnny H. Dykes | Democratic | 3,790 (11%) | Defeated |
| "Chuck" Hall | Republican | 2,046 (6%) | Defeated |
| Others | n.a. | 2,063 (6%) | Defeated |
Second Ballot, November 8, 1987
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| Larry S. Bankston | Democratic | 12,619 (51%) | Elected |
| John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. | Republican | 12,332 (49%) | Defeated |
East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council, District 12, 1988
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 1, 1988
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. | Republican | 5,596 (62%) | Winner |
| Craig S. Watson | Democratic | 2,175 (24%) | Defeated |
| "Pam" Atiyeh | Republican | 1,005 (11%) | Defeated |
| Mike Kolakowski | Democratic | 285 (3%) | Defeated |
Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1991
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 19, 1991
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| Lynda Imes | Republican | 21,679 (48%) | Runoff |
| John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. | Republican | 18,642 (42%) | Runoff |
| Francis Pellegrin | Republican | 2,098 (5%) | Defeated |
| Others | n.a. | 2,391 (5%) | Defeated |
Second Ballot, November 16, 1991
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. | Republican | 26,120 (52%) | Elected |
| Lynda Imes | Republican | 23,934 (48%) | Defeated |
Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1995
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. | Republican | -- | Unopposed |
Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1999
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| John L. "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. | Republican | -- | Unopposed |
Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 2003
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 4, 2003
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| Jay Dardenne | Republican | 34,679 (78%) | Elected |
| Chris Warner | Republican | 9,758 (22%) | Defeated |
Secretary of State of Louisiana, 2006
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, September 30, 2006
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| "Jay" Dardenne | Republican | 191,562 (30%) | Runoff |
| Francis C. Heitmeier | Democratic | 179,153 (28%) | Runoff |
| "Mike" Francis | Republican | 168,185 (26%) | Defeated |
| Mary Chehardy | Republican | 56,225 (9%) | Defeated |
| Others | n.a. | 48,802 (13%) | Defeated |
Second Ballot, November 7, 2006
| Candidate | Affiliation | Support | Outcome |
| "Jay" Dardenne | Republican | -- | Elected |
| Francis C. Heitmeier | Democratic | -- | Withdrawn |
| Preceded by Kenneth Osterberger (R) |
Louisiana State Senator, District 16 1992–2006 |
Succeeded by Bill Cassidy (R) |
| Preceded by Al Ater (D) |
Secretary of State of Louisiana 2006–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| State Secretaries of State in the United States | ||||
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AL: Beth Chapman |
IN: Todd Rokita |
NE: John Gale |
RI: Ralph Mollis |
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| *Lt. Governor performing the typical functions of a Secretary of State | ||||
[edit] References
Categories: Articles lacking sources from January 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Louisiana Republicans | American lawyers | Louisiana State Senators | Louisiana State University alumni | People from Baton Rouge | 1954 births | Jewish American politicians | Leaders of cities in Louisiana | Secretaries of State of Louisiana | Living people | Jewish American lawyers | Louisiana lawyers
