Incumbents battle for Dist. 3

It is not often when two incumbents of the same party face one another in a political race. When the Louisiana Legislature approved a new congressional map in April 2011, the result was that combination as a 7th Congressional District was eliminated and transformed into a new location for the 3rd Congressional District.

However, the two incumbents, each wanting to return to Washington, are now facing one another and additional competition. The two Republicans are being challenged on the Nov. 6 election by three challengers who also believe they are best suited to represent the people of that political region.

Name: BRYAN BARRILLEAUX

Affiliation: Republican

Home: Lake Charles

Website: Facebook.com/bryan.barrilleaux.3

Bryan Barrilleaux is a practicing physician in Lake Charles. He has never before sought an elected position, but is responding to a campaign finance reform petition that sparked his interest.

“That petition was certified by the registrar of voters in six or seven parishes and the secretary of state,” Barrilleaux said. “As I got involved I qualified [to run for Congress] at the will of the people.”

Barrilleaux, 57, said that his ethics and principles recognized by his supporters have him willing to take on two well-funded office holders. “The incumbents are going to make our message for us every day when they argue with each other and buy a lot of campaign ads,” he said. “It will demonstrate how much money they have gotten. Those people that pay for those ads get influence, access to power, and even worse access to the public treasury, because they get influence for what they want.”

As an internal medicine physician, Barrilleaux said health care reform needs to help people that tend to be underserved. He believes that free clinics can help meet the needs of the uninsured as doctors, nurses and pharmacists either donate or volunteer their services. “I think this is a model we can use as the system catches up,” he said. “The country is broke and we have no money. The answer is to restore the federal government’s budget and prosperity. Until then it is a matter of deficit spending or charitable giving.”

Barrilleaux said for the federal government to manage health care is a mistake, because it is too grand an effort. “It is better to let those things occur on a local level,” he said. “Less government involvement in health care is going to be better. Let business, private or charitable interests provide health care.”

Coastal restoration, according to Barrilleaux, should be handled through the Louisiana Master Plan. “The only weakness of the plan is it is not funded,” he said. “I would advocate funding of the plan that would not add to the debt, in a way of a tax cut, like the harbor maintenance tax,” he said. “If we remove that tax it encourages shippers to bring cargo, then the tariffs could pay for dredging and coastal restoration.”

Taking on two incumbents, this candidate claims they are unable to inspire the kind of confidence among the public that is necessary to move forward. “The biggest frustration people have is that they do not have legitimate representation, because everything that happens in Washington occurs because of some exchange of funds and favors,” he said. “I’ll be the guy you have the least reason to distrust.”

Barrilleaux said he is not accepting any contributions and there is no funding of his election bid. “This campaign spends no money,” he said. “We rely on word of mouth and a responsible media that would cover each candidate. So far response has been pretty good.

“I have original ideas,” Barrilleaux continued. “That is a conservative approach.”

NAME: Charles W. Boustany (incumbent)

AFFILIATION: Republican

HOME: Lafayette

WEBSITE: Boustany.house.gov

Rep. Charles Boustany has more than 20 years of experience as a cardiovascular surgeon and was first elected to Congress in December 2004. He is currently in his fourth term in office for what was the 7th Congressional District and seeking a return in the newly designated 3rd Congressional District.

The 56-year-old representative is described as a moderate Republican and serves on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee. During his six years in Congress he has sponsored bills on Medicaid reform, patient care acts and bills to prevent trade invasions and reform tax codes.

Between January 2005 and September 2012, Boustany missed 158 of 6,276 recorded or roll call votes to post an absentee level of 3 percent, while the median level is 2.5 percent.

“I have worked hard over my course of time in Congress to provide conservative leadership that gets results,” Boustany said.

The congressman said when he entered office, Louisiana had no plan for coastal restoration. He wrote original legislation that began funding for a hurricane protection plan in his district. “Back then the original legislation involved Vermillion, Cameron and Calcasieu parishes,” he said. “We are looking to modify it to ensure the three new parishes that are involved, including St. Mary, Iberia and St. Martin parishes in regard to coastal concerns.”

Boustany said health care remains a concern for him. “The health care law that passed [the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act] actually made things worse. It has created a large amount of disruption among health care providers and created major bureaucratic hurdles.”

This doctor turned politician is among those who have exposed so-called free health care as being a health code containing 21 new taxes intended to generate $1 trillion. He is among those working for a change.

Boustany said he has been a strong advocate for the oil and gas industry as being important to Louisiana’s economy and national security. “I’ve sponsored 30 bills in the last two years to get us back to work in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “I want to expedite the leasing and permitting process and promote energy production.”

Among the field of challengers, Boustany is being faced in this race by Rep. Jeff Landry, who represents the current 3rd Congressional District and is making his own bid to maintain that office.

“I think the primary difference between the two of us is I have a conservative record in Congress,” Boustany said. “I am a pro-life fiscal conservative. I’m a conservative that can be trusted and have gotten results in our district. Mr. Landry has had a term in Congress, but I don’t think he can point to anything he has passed into law.”

NAME: Jeff Landry (incumbent)

AFFILIATION: Republican

HOME: New Iberia

WEBSITE: landryforlouisiana.com

Rep. Jeff Landry has called himself a conservative’s conservative. He entered his inaugural term in Congress just in time to learn that Louisiana redistricting meant he and Rep. Charles Boustany would two years later probably be seeking the same seat.

Landry, 41, contends the primary difference between himself and his main contender is that while Boustany has worked to get along with other Republicans, Landry has on occasion stood up against their common party as well as Democrats.

Identified as a rank-and-file Republican, Landry serves on the House of Representatives Natural Resources, Small Business, and Transportation and infrastructure committees. He has sponsored legislation to finance fish farms, Social Security preservation and offshore installation of the Emergency Evacuation Act.

From January 2011 to September 2012, Landry missed 95 of 1,531 recorded or roll call voted. This is an absentee level of 6 percent in comparison to the median 2.5 percent.

“One thing I’ve been able to accomplish is the fact that we have been able to pass major pieces of legislation and amendments that cut government spending,” Landry said. “Every time we have put an instrument on the House floor we have had bi-partisan support. That is a pretty major accomplishment for someone they claim is inexperienced or doesn’t have the ability to work well with others.”

Landry said he has worked hard to support small business by building coalitions and helping those businesses secure contracts.

Like Boustany and most Republicans, Landry opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and wants it repealed. Landry said he opposes efforts that would reduce the quality of care, lead to rationing, and place bureaucrats between patients and doctors.

“I do support efforts to allow insurance to be purchased across state lines, increasing competition,” Landry said. “Competition will increase services and lower costs. I believe government mandates to provide service that patients do not want or do not need increase costs. I support reducing these mandates and putting the choices back in the hands of the patients and the doctors.”

Landry has probably been most recognized for this offshore oil and gas drilling support. “As the only member of Louisiana’s Congressional delegation who comes from an oil and gas industry background, I have been the leader in Congress fighting for more drilling and domestic oil and gas energy production,” he said. “I have also urged worker safety.

“We simply cannot drop all dependence on fossil fuels,” Landry continued. “It is an unrealistic approach. Here in Louisiana, the vast resources we have in fossil fuels, such as oil shale, can lessen our dependence on foreign sources of oil, especially to those countries that do not hold to the values and interests of our country.”

Landry said a congressional term revealed to him that the problem in Washington is not opposing parties, but career politicians.

NAME: Ron Richard

AFFILIATION: Democrat

HOME: Lake Charles

WEBSITE: Facebook.com/VoteRonRichard/timeline?filter=3

A native and resident of Lake Charles, Ron Richard is the only Democrat running for the Congressional District 3 position.

A trial lawyer by trade, Richard, 43, said he is proud to have represented 50,000 people during the past 15 years. He has never before sought public office.

“I am a Democrat because that is the party most closely aligned with working people,” Richard said. “I got in the race because I could not believe there was not a Democrat in the race and [Boustany and Landry] are the main figures that are just trying to out-anti-president the other guy and out-conservative the other guy.”

Richard said that concerns such as coastal restoration, health care, energy and education are not going to find resolution as long as members of Congress simply vie for positions. “None of that stuff is going to happen as long as people cannot sit down and talk,” he said.

“Nobody has got all the answers,” Richard said. “One day I was watching these guys and it hit me like a ton of bricks that they all had their sound bites, but nobody was talking. They were just sitting there screaming.”

Richard said he is the only guy he knows running against two incumbents. His strategy is to let the Republicans beat up one another while he approaches a moderate position.

“I’m going to fight to save funding for charity hospitals and other things common working people need,” Richard said.

As for national finances, Richard said that he would start with changing the federal tax code. His approach, he contends, would bring lower tax rates for 98 percent of taxpayers while generating solid revenue for federal coffers.

Richard endorses the expiration of tax cuts for the wealthy and wants capital gains to be taxed the same as wages. He wants to end corporate tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas.

By contrast, Richard would reward domestic manufacturing companies with tax breaks and keeping the jobs local.

Richard said tax reform should create certainty in the tax code. “Reforms must be simple, transparent and fair,” he said.

Richard said he is being an example in responsibility by personally financing his own campaign.

NAME: Jim Stark

AFFILIATION: Libertarian

HOME: Lake Charles

WEBSITE: JimStark2012.com

Jim Stark is originally from Pennsylvania and moved to Louisiana about four years ago. He is a part-time delivery driver and this is his first bid for elected office.

Stark, 46, says he had been a Republican supporter of former presidential candidate Ron Paul before switching to the Libertarian Party.

“I don’t consider myself a conservative or liberal,” Stark said. “I just like limited government.”

This candidate said he is dissatisfied with where the country is headed and thinks more people have Libertarian views in terms of being fiscally conservative and socially liberal than not.

As for local issues Stark said he likes the Louisiana Coastal Master plan and thinks it is important for coastal restoration. “I’m for funding the master plan. I’m not an expert, so I like to trust the experts on what needs to be done.”

Stark said he is a firm believer of energy independence and wants to have alternatives to offset oil and gas. “What I am not for is the government choosing who succeeds and fails,” he said. “I’m against corporate welfare. Businesses ought to succeed or fail on their own. As for the regulatory process, get the government out of the way. Drill until the last drop.”

This candidate’s platform begins with evaluating the U.S. international footprint. He would close or consolidate overseas bases and facilities to work more efficiently, and save money for domestic programs.

Job creation and changing the tax code to a fair tax format are primary issues for him. Stark supports a repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, in favor of a new national sales tax to replace all other taxes.

He backs legislation that allows for the open commercial growing of marijuana and legalization of its use.

Stark wants to end all foreign aid except that which supports vital interest of U.S. national security.

As a combat veteran, Stark said he wants to place the War Powers Ace strictly in the hands of Congress.

Stark opposes laws dictating relationships among adults. “It’s none of the governments business who consenting adults are with, period,” he said. “I support getting rid of marriage licenses altogether, and replacing them with private, voluntary legal agreements.”

In terms of issues like health care, this candidate said it is a very complex matter with no easy solution that he knows to recommend. “I’m open to suggestions, and will support the best ideas to solve this problem,” he said.

Stark said he supports stationing military assets along the U.S. border and would support opening mini military bases along the border for proper security.

“I will also support the elimination of all incentives such as free benefits, education, and welfare for non U.S. citizens,” Stark said. “The only thing I would support is legitimate emergency hospital care. Even that should be, for as much as possible, paid by charities and donations.

District 3 Candidates