Dist. 3 senator among Lt. Gov. bidders

Tri-parish state Sen. Butch Gautreaux is one of four Democrats vying against five Republicans to become Louisiana’s 49th lieutenant governor.

Other notables running for the post are Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis and country musician Sammy Kershaw and state Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere.

Also running are Baton Rouge Republican Melanie McKnight and Democrats Kenneth Burkhalter of Slidell, Jim Crowly of Shreveport and Caroline Fayard of New Orleans.

“I entered the race because I didn’t see anyone qualifying who really understands the threat our way of life is under,” Gautreaux said. “The people in my senatorial district and throughout coastal Louisiana stand to lose the most through the Horizon crisis. While all of Louisiana will suffer the losses in revenues generated by the energy and fishery industries, it is my people who are experiencing personal loss of financial security.”

Gautreaux was elected to the state House of Representatives in the mid-1990s, where he served for one term. Afterward, he was elected to the state Senate. He is in the final year of this third term.

“I have a unique perspective of the importance of jobs and a growing economy,” he said. “Every day that the Horizon well spills oil into the Gulf and every day that drilling is shut down, Louisiana’s losses are in the millions.”

Away from Baton Rouge, Gautreaux is employed as an administrator at Arabie Trucking of Thibodaux. Before that, he spent 30 years in the retail appliance business – the former Today’s TV, Furniture and Appliances in Morgan City.

Gautreaux said the state is facing the challenge of funding basic services to its citizens. “Health care and higher education can’t continue to be cut without causing a blow to economic recovery,” he said. “My expertise is getting the best bang for the buck within significant financial restraints I haven’t met a tight budget that I couldn’t work with.”

Citing the damage caused to the state’s seafood and oil-and-gas industries as well as recreational fishing and hunting by the BP Horizon Deepwater oil rig spill, the state senator said the next lieutenant governor will have to work to restore the state’s waters and reputation. A part of the commitment, he said, includes recruiting new businesses and technologies to the state.

“… our marches will need immediate and constant attention,” he said. “I will be a constant fixture, pushing for resources to not only bring us back to where we were before the Horizon incident, but it will have to be better. … It is smart management that will bring us back from the brink.”