Jay Dardenne - Biography

John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. (born February 6, 1954), has been Louisiana's Republican lieutenant governor since November 22, 2010. He won a special election to the position held in conjunction with the regular November 2 general election. At the time, Dardenne was Louisiana secretary of state. Formerly, Dardenne (pronounced DAR DEN) was a state senator from the Baton Rouge suburbs, having served from 1992 until after his election as secretary of state on September 30, 2006.

Dardenne was reelected to a full term as secretary of state in the October 20, 2007, nonpartisan blanket primary. He received 758,156 votes (63 percent) to 373,956 (31 percent) for the Democrat R. Wooley. A "No Party" candidate, Scott Lewis, received the remaining 64,704 votes (5 percent). Dardenne won fifty-eight of the state's sixty-four parishes. Dardenne outpolled gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal, a fellow Republican, in raw votes and won sixty-one parishes to Jindal's sixty.

On November 2, 2010, Dardenne was elected the next Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, defeating opponent Caroline Fayard, a young Democrat originally from Denham Springs, in the 2010 State of Louisiana elections. Tom Schedler, Dardenne's chief deputy in the secretary of state's office, succeeded him in performing the responsibilities of the secretary of state when Dardenne was sworn in as lieutenant governor. Dardenne polled 719,243 votes (57 percent) to Fayard's 540,633 (43 percent). Dardenne won most of the sixty-four parishes but lost Orleans, Caddo, and St. Landry.

Personal information

Dardenne is the son of the late John L. Dardenne, Sr., and the former Janet Abramson. He is married to the former Catherine "Cathy" McDonald (born 1955), and they have two sons: John Dardenne, III (born 1984), and Matthew M. Dardenne. Dardenne is Jewish and the first known Jewish state official in Louisiana since U.S. Senators Judah P. Benjamin and Benjamin F. Jonas in the 19th century. Buddy Caldwell, Louisiana's current attorney general, is also Jewish. and was first elected to that statewide position in 2007, a year after Dardenne was elected to fill an unexpired term for the Secretary of State's office. Dardenne is a graduate of Baton Rouge High School. Dardenne later 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 active in social and civic endeavors in his native Baton Rouge and through non-profit organizations throughout Louisiana. Dardenne also volunteers with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the annual Labor Day Telethon, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, and the River City Festivals Association. He serves as chairman of the U.S. National Senior Sports Classic (the Senior Olympics) and has served as president of ten non-profit organizations in the greater Baton Rouge Community.

Dardenne has won "Dishonorable Mentions" for his entries in the 2008 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a competition where contestants submit bad opening lines to imaginary novels. Dardenne also won the Most Vile Pun award in the contest.

State senator

In 1987, Dardenne narrowly lost his first race for the state Senate to the Democratic incumbent Larry S. Bankston (born 1951), one of three sons of former Democratic state party chairman and centenarian Jesse Bankston. Dardenne then won an election for a seat on the East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council and held that seat until 1992.

In 1991, Dardenne ran the District 16 seat in the state Senate vacated by the retiring Republican Kenneth E. Osterberger. In the primary, Dardenne trailed fellow Republican Lynda Imes, the District 8 member of the East Baton Rouge Metro Council. However, in the general election, Dardenne defeated Imes. Dardenne quickly gained a reputation as a champion of reform and a thorn in the side of Democratic Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. However, few of his reform proposals were enacted.

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."

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 and Crowley. 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 for language in the federal Hyde Amendment which allows for federally-funded abortions in the case of rape or incest. These exceptions have been included since 1977 in response to women's rights advocates, while abortion opponents argue that they punish the unborn for the crimes of the fathers. Dardenne maintained that his vote was required to allow the flow of Medicaid funds into Louisiana.

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 campaigned in North Louisiana with assistance of Aubrey W. Young, a former state official and grass roots organizer originally from Monroe whose service dated back to the role of aide de camp under Governor John J. McKeithen, the father of Fox McKeithen. Dardenne 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. Franics, however, did not seek the position in the October 20, 2007, jungle primary.

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.

In an aberration, Dardenne, Francis, and two minor Republican candidates together received 54 percent of the vote in the city of New Orleans, the power base for the state Democratic Party. Two months earlier, two Republican candidates for mayor of New Orleans together barely polled 10 percent of the vote.

Dardenne in two-car collison

Dardenne was hospitalized on August 6, 2007, for a spinal injury and broken ribs following a two-car collision on Interstate 12 in Baton Rouge.

The collision occurred near the Essen Lane exit ramp after the secretary of state had left a downtown breakfast meeting. He was transported to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center where he was in the neurological intensive care unit. He sustained rib fractures, chest bruises, and pelvic and back injuries to the L-2 vertebra, near the base of the spine. Dardenne was reportedly awake and alert. His surgery was completed on August 14.

Secretary of state

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.

He also successfully pushed to cancel admission fees to the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport and the Old State Capitol and Old Arsenal Museum in Baton Rouge, saying that the financial loss from museum fees will be absorbed in his departmental budget through other cost reductions and that "people ought to be able to enjoy museums free of charge." Dardenne has promoted tourism through his office and has taken a special interest in the creation of the Delta Music Museum and the companion restoration in 2008 of the Arcade Theatre in Ferriday in Louisiana.

In the recent legislative session, Dardenne also pushed for election reform and against establishing satellite voting areas throughout the state and elsewhere for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, similar to those established for the New Orleans mayoral race in 2006 and the 2007 gubernatorial and statewide races. Dardenne proposed that poll commissioner fees be increased, election day hours be shortened, and an early voting period to compensate for the reduced hours on election day.

Dardenne also objected to widespead satellite voting for Katrina evacuees on the basis that it would impose an overwhelming and impossible burden on election workers, stating that "if this bill passes, you are saying to them [election workers], you have to run an additional election for Orleans Parish. The 2006 mayoral race received special consideration because no other elections were held on that day. Dardenne did support the reinstatement of absentee voting provisions from the election.

In December 2007, Dardenne named a former state Senate colleague, Tom Schedler of St. Tammany Parish, a Republican, as his chief deputy.

In 2008, Dardenne was mentioned as a possible United States Senate candidate against incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu, but the Republican candidate was State Treasurer John N. Kennedy, a Democrat who switched to the GOP before qualifying for reelection in 2007.

Lieutenant governor

On February 12, 2010, Dardenne announced his intention to run for Lieutenant Governor in the special election held on October 2. Leading a multi-candidate field with 28 percent of the ballots cast, Dardenne advanced to face Democrat Caroline Fayard, a previously political unknown who enjoyed the backing of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and trailed with 24 percent of the vote. The two were to meet in the November 2 general election. Three other Republican candidates were eliminated in the primary—Country singer Sammy Kershaw (19 percent), St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis (8 percent), and Louisiana Republican Party state chairman Roger F. Villere, Jr. (4 percent)—along with Democrat Butch Gautreaux (4 percent), a Louisiana state senator. Kershaw, Davis, and Villere endorsed fellow Republican Dardenne, as Gautreaux supported fellow Democrat Fayard.

Republican chairman Villere's endorsement of Dardenne, which came after months of criticizing the frontrunner, was met with incredulous statements like those of political scientist Pearson Cross of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette:

Maybe he thinks that you can at the end of the day say, "Well, we just need to all come together." It just seems odd.

Dardenne and Fayard appeared on the October 15 episode of the news magazine Louisiana: The State We're In televised by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and in an October 22 forum sponsored by the Baton Rouge League of Women Voters.

On October 4, Southeastern Louisiana University political scientist Michael Kurt Corbello summarized the runoff election between veteran officeholder Dardenne and political newcomer Fayard as "a very interesting, competitive race."

Political columnist John Maginnis joked that

Dardenne, rather, needs to raise the stakes of this election, emphasizing experience and readiness. Otherwise, should this become a beauty contest, he's got problems.

The runoff campaign soon turned controversial as Dardenne described Fayard as a supporter of U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama, a proponent of gay marriage, and an opponent of the death penalty, while Fayard, who was 32 years of age and had never held political office, countered that Dardenne represented "the same old crowd" of Louisiana politics. For further information about the 2010 election, please see Louisiana state elections, 2010#Lieutenant Governor.

2011 reelection

The 2011 regular election for a four-year term as lieutenant governor was similarly raucous, as Dardenne was challenged by fellow Republican William Harold "Billy" Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish and the son of the late former Republican Party state chairman William A. "Billy" Nungesser. In a low-turnout race, Dardenne defeated Nungesser, 504,228 votes (53.1 percent) to 444,750 ballots (46.9 percent). .

Election history

Louisiana State Senate, District 15, 1987

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 24, 1987

Second Ballot, November 8, 1987

East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council, District 12, 1988

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 1, 1988

Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1991

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 19, 1991

Second Ballot, November 16, 1991

Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1995

Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 1999

Louisiana State Senate, District 16, 2003

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 4, 2003

Secretary of State of Louisiana, 2006

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, September 30, 2006

Second Ballot, November 7, 2006

Secretary of State of Louisiana, 2007

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 20, 2007

Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, 2010

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 2, 2010

Second Ballot, November 7, 2010

Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, 2010

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 22, 2011

All election results taken from the Louisiana Secretary of State website.

Footnotes