Locals announce run for Senate seat

Two Thibodaux-based candidates have entered a crowded field to run for a vacant Louisiana State Senate seat.

Lafourche Parish Councilman Jerry Jones, a Democrat from Thibodaux, qualified for the April 29 special election for the state’s 2nd senatorial district. Joining Jones in the race will be Thibodaux businessman Tommy Lyons, running as an independent.

Jones and Lyons are two of 14 candidates who qualified to replace Troy Brown in the 2nd district, which spans seven parishes and covers communities from Geismar to Thibodaux to LaPlace. Brown resigned from the seat in February as he was facing expulsion proceedings from his colleagues in relation to two misdemeanor incidents of domestic violence, both of which he pleaded no contest to.

Jones has been serving on the parish council for more than 24 years, with his first term beginning in 1992. He has worked for Enterprise Products for 44 years and is the owner of Jones Bail Bonds and part owner of Triple J Transportation. In his announcement, Jones said he will focus on bringing local issues such as infrastructure improvements, levees, coastal erosion and commercial fishing to the fore in Baton Rouge. Jones said more cooperative endeavors between the state and local vocational-technical schools and plant industries would be key to bringing more jobs to District 2. According to Jones, the diverse economic profile of the district makes it highly valuable to the state.

“If you go to West Baton Rouge, you got the port over there. Iberville, Ascension, St. Charles, St. James, it’s all plant industry,” Jones said. “On this side of the river, agriculture, and then we get down to the lower part, Lafourche and Terrebonne, it’s commercial fishermen. There’s a lot of ways I can help in this state because these parishes bring so much to Louisiana.”

While Lyons has not held public office before, he has been involved in politics for most of his life, helping his father Edward “Bubby” Lyons, former mayor of Houma and Terrebonne Parish President, on his campaigns. Lyons worked as a political consultant from 2000 until 2006 and ran for Terrebonne Parish Clerk of Court in 2003, losing to Bobby Boudreaux. Lyons said while he does not have financial largesse backing his campaign, he will use his political experience to get the most bang for the buck on his spending. He said he plans to make new technology and social media cornerstones of his campaign, and pointed to the crowded field and low turnout in the special election as factors that could make for a high-variance race.

“You have 14 different people who have a little bit of influence and stroke in their particular area. But district-wide, there’s really no one candidate that everybody’s going to attach onto,” Lyons said. “It’s an opportunity for a lot of people like myself who said hey, I’ve been thinking about doing something with public service, and let me give it a shot.”

Jones said while his political life has focused on Thibodaux and Lafourche Parish, his life experiences have acquainted him with the entirety of District 2.

“I work in these locations, I’ve been in these plant industries. I believe I know what it takes to get things here,” Jones said.

A major issue for whomever is elected to the vacant seat will be the state’s financial woes. Last year, the newly-elected state legislature and senate had to close a $943 million budget deficit by June 30, with a combination of tax hikes and budget cuts helping the state break even. This year, state lawmakers have faced a midyear deficit of more than $300 million, with another round of taxes, cuts and some money from the state’s “rainy day fund” covering the budget hole. Under Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration, the state’s education and healthcare systems suffered deep cuts, as the two areas able to be cut freely, to make up for massive budget gaps.

Jones said he would not make the state’s youngest or oldest bear the burden of Louisiana’s financial follies, saying he would like to look at all of the state’s revenues and expenses to find places to cut. He pointed to Louisiana’s gambling revenues and money for the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to see how their money is being spread across different projects.

“I don’t want to see anymore cuts in education. I want the best education and the highest education for our kids,” Jones said. “There’s some other ways to cut. I’m not looking to cut the elderly. That’s a no-no for me, because I think the elderly’s what brought Louisiana this far. I wouldn’t want to put the burden on them.”

Lyons said he would like to see local governments take the lead by handling more of their affairs, and paying for those services by saving money through consolidation. Lyons said consolidation saves parishes and towns money, and he advocated for different government entities, such as law enforcement and school districts, sharing similar departments like information technology, risk management and human resources to improve efficiency.

“When you do that (consolidation), you eliminate redundancy, you better utilize tax dollars that you get to provide services that you have to have,” Lyons said.

Lyons said while he is running as an independent, he has many conservative views but with a libertarian bent. He said while he is conservative, prison reform is an important issue to him. According to Lyons, the state is imprisoning too many people for too many unreasonable things, but the state also has to do a better job of reducing recidivism by helping those leaving penitentiaries transition back into life in the wider community. Lyons said he thinks his running as an independent gives him a chance to truly work with both sides in the state senate.

“When you get elected as a Democrat or Republican, you have an automatic enemy. The guy across the aisle is your enemy, like it or not, we live in a divided political system currently,” Lyons said. “And compromises happen, I know that. As an independent, I don’t have any enemies. I have no party behind me saying, oh you got to do this, you got to do that.” ∙

Jerry JonesTommy Lyons