Free Republic

THE ETHICS SCANDALS SWIRLING ABOUT Capitol Hill make it all but certain that the 2006 elections will be unusually focused on character. That's a good thing, of course, except that it obscures a different development, one that stands to be equally influential in determining the personality of our national legislature--the rise of the heirloom congressional seat.In the 109th Congress, there are 30 members of the House and Senate whose parents also served in Congress, four sets of siblings, and four wives who succeeded their husbands. There's also a gaggle of congressional offspring back home, quietly positioning themselves for their parents'...

Filed at 4:32 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. House of Representatives committee chairman, who earlier this year ended negotiations to head the pharmaceutical industry's top lobby after critics questioned the ethics of the move, has now accepted the post, the group said on Wednesday. Rep. W. J. ``Billy'' Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican, announced in February that he would step down as the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman and leave Congress because of a bleeding ulcer. Democrats criticized him for considering the high-profile post leading the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which lobbies Congress on behalf...

BATON ROUGE, La. An official count from the 13 parishes comprising Louisiana's Third Congressional District shows Billy Tauzin the Third lost ground. Unofficial results from Saturday night's runoff between the Republican and Democrat Charles Melancon gave Melancon a 523-vote margin from more than 104-thousand votes cast. The parishes opened their voting machines this morning. A survey by The Associated Press determined that Tauzin lost 62 votes, while Melancon gained one vote. The parishes will send their tallies to the secretary of state, who will make the count official.

Boustany, Melancon top vote Tauzin III awaits final tally By PATRICK COURREGES and ANGELA SIMONEAUX Acadiana bureau Southern Louisiana voters Saturday appeared to have decided the last two congressional races in the nation, electing Democrat Charlie Melancon in the 3rd District and Republican Charles Boustany Jr. in the 7th District, giving the Democratic and Republican parties a split of the final two seats available. But the 3rd District race was decided by slightly more than 500 votes out of more than 114,000 cast, and 3rd District Republican candidate Billy Tauzin III is not conceding the race. In the 3rd District,...

NEW ORLEANS -- Republicans picked up a congressional seat in southern Louisiana on Saturday, but gave another right back to Democrats in a second, much closer runoff election that was also in Cajun country. A longtime Democratic bastion in Louisiana's 7th District went to Republican Charles Boustany, a retired heart surgeon. With 94 percent of the precincts reporting, Boustany had 72,223 votes or 55 percent, and Democratic state Sen. Willie Landry Mount had 58,968 or 45 percent. Farther south, Billy Tauzin III narrowly lost a race to succeed his retiring father, a Republican House of Representatives powerhouse. In the 3rd...

Thougths, comments, concerns? One thought I have, if Tauzin III loses, he should be shot. If he wins, he should be given the worst possible committee assignment.

South Louisiana voters will replace their two representatives in the U.S. House today during elections in the 3rd and 7th congressional districts, ending rancorous campaigns that drew national attention and millions of dollars from special interest groups and the Republican and Democratic parties.

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 3 - This year's political campaign, which began in the cold and snow of Iowa and New Hampshire, will come to an end at long last on Saturday in the bayous and Cajun country of South Louisiana. Two Congressional elections in adjoining Gulf Coast districts will determine whether Republicans add to the majority they secured on Nov. 2, when races for national office were decided in the rest of the country. One of the elections will determine whether a familiar name remains in the House. Vice President Dick Cheney has campaigned on behalf of the Republicans ("I...

What a drive. But so worth the time, because the Beatles are playing. Or is it the Stones? Or Outcast? Or Maroon 5? Actually, it’s Cheney’s band. Here in Louisiana, that would be Jindal, Vitter, Boustany, and Cheney, the man. Cheney’s up close and personal, very much in action. It’s hard to explain the phenomenon, but I took some pics that might help…. Because I’m a little horrified to tell you…that in his way…Cheney is…well,…a rock star. Yes. He has that quality. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, felt the heat with my own body, I would...

A Message from Wes Clark December 2, 2004   Dear Loyal Supporter,The holiday season is here, but the election season isn't over yet.  So it is with great urgency that I write you today.  My friend, Charlie Melancon, won a place on this Saturday's Louisiana run-off ballot for a seat in Congress, and he needs your help in these final few hours before the election.Charlie Melancon is a native Louisianan who has the experience to get the job done in Washington.  As a state legislator and community leader, he's fought to improve schools and provide our families with health care. ...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney will stump for Louisiana's two Republican congressional candidates Wednesday, making a morning appearance for Billy Tauzin III in Houma and an afternoon showing for Charles Boustany in Lake Charles. In the final week of campaigning before Saturday's runoff, the races in both the 3rd and 7th Districts are heating up, with a slew of tough ads hitting the airwaves on both sides. The Lake Charles event takes Boustany's fight for the 7th Congressional District seat to the heart of his opponent's home turf — Democrat Willie Mount is the town's former...

He have a huge chance to expand our majority in the House of Representatives.The elections are on Saturday, 12/4. Bill Tauzin III (Rep.) vs. Charles Melancon (Dem.)Charles Boustany (Rep.) vs. Willie Landry Mount (Dem.)

Naturally we are all pumped after the President's BIG WIN yesterday, but I wanted to drop a note to let you all know that the 2004 campaign has not ended in Louisiana. We are on a roll here however; Bush outpolled Kerry 57% - 42%, we elected our first Republican Senator since the Reconstruction Era in David Vitter, and we have secured four of five congressional seats that have been decided across the state for the Republican Party, including our newly-elected star Bobby Jindal. But there are still two congressional races that remain to be settled and the leading vote-getters...

U. S. Senator 208 of 4,124 precincts reporting Results by Parish will be available later this evening 1,728 2% Richard M. Fontanesi, O - 642 1% R. A. "Skip" Galan, O - 31,624 32% "Chris" John, D - 15,197 15% John Kennedy, D - 650 1% Sam Houston Melton, Jr., D - 1,291 1% Arthur A. Morrell, D - 47,803 48% David Vitter, R - U. S. Representative, 1st Congressional District 1 of 499 precincts reporting Results by Parish will be available later this evening 0 0% Roy Armstrong, D - 0 0% "Bobby" Jindal, R - 0 0% M....

Republicans hold the lead in Louisiana’s three most competitive races according to new public opinion surveys conducted on Thursday by pollster Verne Kennedy of Pensacola, Florida. U.S. Representative David Vitter continues as the frontrunner in the election for United States Senate with 48% of the vote, just shy of the majority he needs to avoid a December run-off. After enduring repeated attacks from the Democratic Party and his opponents, Vitter is well within striking distance because 14% of the voters remain undecided. U.S. Representative Chris John trails Vitter with 22% of the vote while State Treasurer John Kennedy receives 13%...

I know that most of our attention has been focused on the presidential election - and for good reason - but I thought I might give all of you a quick look at the races for Congress and Senate here in Louisiana, because the news is quite encouraging for the good guys here. To put it in short terms the results likely will be that, while coming into this year with the seven Louisiana congressional seats split four to three between Republicans and Democrats respectively and both Senate seats held by Democrats, we should come out of this fall's campaign...

Tauzin faces five opponents in bid to replace father By DOUG SIMPSON Associated Press writer HOUMA -- Some voters affectionately call him "Little Billy." A political rival calls him simply, "That Boy." Billy Tauzin III's name is as famous as any other in south Louisiana politics, familiar to the oilmen, shrimp fishermen and sugar cane farmers of Cajun towns like Houma and New Iberia. They know Tauzin's father, U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin Jr., a former oil rig worker who won a seat in Congress in 1980, was re-elected 11 times and, as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee,...

Congressional runoff may be all-G.O.P. affair

In case you haven't heard, the Marriage amendment got shot down in the house: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134134,00.htmlHere's the Republicans voting Nay: Bass Biggert Bono Castle Cox Dreier Foley Frelinghuysen Gerlach Gibbons Gilchrest Greenwood Hobson Hostettler Houghton Johnson (CT) Kirk Knollenberg Kolbe Leach McInnis Ose Paul Pryce (OH) Sanders Shays Simmons Here's the republicans not voting: Boehlert Cannon Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Dunn Hunter Nethercutt Ros-Lehtinen Tauzin Be sure to contact these people & show your appreciation. Here's the list of Dems voting FOR: Berry Bishop (GA) Boucher Boyd Carson (OK) Chandler Cooper Costello Cramer Davis (AL) Davis (TN) Edwards Etheridge Ford Gordon...

Tauzin unveils energy plan Incentives for deep wells in coastal shallows included By PATRICK COURREGES pcourreges@theadvocate.com Acadiana bureau Billy Tauzin III, a Republican candidate for Louisiana's 3rd District congressional seat, said Tuesday he wants to give oil and gas companies reason to dig a little deeper closer to shore. Tax breaks and relief from royalty requirements for businesses willing to go to the extra expense of drilling deeper inshore and in the shallow coastal area of the Gulf of Mexico are part of the energy plan Tauzin unveiled this week. Tauzin, a Thibodaux Republican and lobbyist for BellSouth, is one...

Some want committee to reverse Tauzin endorsement By The Associated Press State Republicans meet Saturday in Baton Rouge, and a hot topic is certain to be the continuing squabble over the party's endorsement of a prominent name in the 3rd Congressional District race: Billy Tauzin. But it's not the well-know senior congressman and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the party is endorsing; he's retiring. Rather, it's his son, a lobbyist for BellSouth Corp. who hopes to take over the seat. Party officials, looking appreciatively over the younger Tauzin's high name recognition and favorable prospects in the...

It's Over for Kerry in Louisiana; Are Other State Democrat Hopefuls Next? PoliticsLA.com Commentary By Prof. Jeff Sadow July 28, 2004 It's now officially over in Louisiana but it was really over five months ago: President George W. Bush was assured of carrying the state as soon as Sen. John Kerry emerged as the presumptive Democrat nominee. Officially over because Democrats have pulled any organized ad campaign for Kerry and even Republicans have dispatched party workers from Louisiana to hotter campaign spots. A recent poll confirmed this, with Bush having an almost insurmountable lead in the state. One must wonder...

Breaux thinks John best fit for his shoes By GERARD SHIELDS gshields@theadvocate.com Advocate staff writer It's official -- U.S. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is supporting U.S. Rep. Chris John, D-Crowley, in the race to succeed Breaux. Breaux's endorsement of John was expected. But the fellow Crowley native who is retiring after 32 years in Congress made it official by co-hosting a New Orleans fund-raising event on May 22 on behalf of John. Event chairs were asked to raise $25,000. Event hosts were asked to contribute or raise $10,000. And it was suggested that each guest who attended contribute $1,000. Laura...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) issued the following statement addressing Sen. John Kerry's travel to Louisiana: "John Kerry's plans for the energy industry would cost Louisiana countless jobs. When Kerry referred to oil and said 'that black stuff is hurting us,' he revealed how out of touch he is with an industry that employs thousands of Louisiana workers and powers the state's economy. “Kerry voted to impose excise taxes on petroleum and has opposed our state's delegation on many issues important to Louisiana's energy industry. Kerry even supported a fifty cent per gallon tax increase on gasoline...

Jan. 28, 2004--Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit legal watchdog group, sent a letter to President Bush asking that he call upon the White House Counsel to investigate Vice President Cheney's confirmation of leaked classified information in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News on January 9, 2004. Federal law prohibits leaking classified information. Confirming information that has already been leaked is also prohibited. In his Jan. 9th interview, Mr. Cheney referred his interviewer to a story that appeared in The Weekly Standard's November 24, 2003 issue. The story, written by Stephen F. Hayes, discussed...

Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) has been diagnosed with cancer and is taking a 30-day medical leave of absence from Congress. The former Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, who is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, will undergo surgery next week at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It will be the seventh time since December that Tauzin has been hospitalized, Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson said. Over the last couple of months, Tauzin has received treatments for a bleeding ulcer. The cancer, which is in the upper small intestine and is related to the ulcer, was not initially detected...

Hunt Downer will not seek Billy Tauzin's seat in Congress Despite polls that show he has every advantage in retiring Rep. Billy Tauzin's 3rd district, retired Louisiana House of Representatives Speaker and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Hunt Downer has decided not to make a run for the seat. Tauzin's seat is a high priority for the Democratic Party, and many people in top political circles believe it will be difficult to retain the seat for Republicans without Downer on the ticket. Downer's decision today will leave the seat open for a number of candidates. Currently numerous Demcrats are looking at...

<p>Posted on March 3, 2004 Phone calls from President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney failed to change his mind, but U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery couldn't say no to his wife, Johnette, who convinced him to seek a ninth term in Congress.</p>

<p>One way you can tell that Republicans have become the dominant political party in Washington is to watch them cash in.</p> <p>Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana has announced that next Monday he will step down as chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Observers expect he will soon leave Congress to become the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry at an annual salary that's rumored to approach $2.5 million, a record for a trade association head. Mr. Tauzin isn't doing anything illegal, but what's good for him isn't good for the country or for the Republican Party. Their voters are already showing signs of concern that congressional Republicans are taking on the bad habits of the Democrats they ousted from power in 1994.</p>

<p>Rep. Billy Tauzin told House Republican leaders yesterday that he is stepping down from his powerful chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and that he will not seek re-election in the fall.</p> <p>The Louisiana Republican officially made his decision Sunday night and hand-delivered a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, yesterday around 6:30 p.m., said Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson.</p>

WASHINGTON - Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., resigns as chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee after playing pivotal role in Medicare bill. MORE...

January 30. 2004 12:00AM Tauzin likely will not run for 14th term By Jeremy J. Alford Daily Comet Capitol Correspondent BATON ROUGE – A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin said this morning that the 13-term congressmen from Chackbay is leaning more toward leaving office than ever, but his choice of a successor is concrete. “(Tauzin) probably won’t run again given the fact that he’s term limited as (House and Energy Commerce) chairman and given the fact he’s had health concerns recently,” said Ken Johnson, Tauzin’s spokesman. “He’s pretty much closed the door on running for re-election. He hasn’t...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House's top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi of California, strongly criticized a Republican lawmaker Wednesday for his consideration of a lucrative job offer from the pharmaceutical industry -- an offer that came weeks after he helped to negotiate a sweeping Medicare bill that established a prescription drug benefit for America's seniors.</p>

Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) is close to a decision to leave Congress to head the pharmaceutical industry's trade association after turning down an offer from Hollywood to succeed Jack Valenti as the movie industry's top lobbyist, a number of sources in Washington and Hollywood said today. [SNIP] If Tauzin takes the pharmaceutical lobbying offer quickly, a special election to fill his congressional seat likely would be held. The deadline to file for the November election to fill the seat is August. A prominent Louisiana Republican and Tauzin friend, Hunt Downer, a former state speaker of the house and gubernatorial...

<p>Louisiana congressman Billy Tauzin has been plucked to replace Jack Valenti, the long-running head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), according to sources familiar with the matter.</p> <p>Speculation that the 82-year-old Valenti, who has headed the movie industry's powerful lobbying group since 1966, would step down has run rampant for years. But now, sources say, Tauzin, a Republican, has agreed to take the job, which comes with a reported $1 million annual salary.</p>

<p>BATON ROUGE - In endorsing fellow Democrat Kathleen Blanco of Lafayette in Louisiana's gubernatorial race, U.S. Sen. John Breaux cut all ties with her opponent, Republican Bobby Jindal of Baton Rouge, who assisted Breaux in drafting Medicare reform.</p> <p>Jindal's ads talk about how he worked with Breaux and President George W. Bush on health care issues to show he can work with members of both parties. The front-runner in the Oct. 4 gubernatorial primary was executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, heading the staff and preparing policy for members of the commission co-chaired by Breaux.</p>

<p>Republican Bobby Jindal has agreed to participate in a number of televised debates, but there could be a problem.</p> <p>He might be the only candidate there.</p> <p>Democrat Kathleen Blanco said Friday she would have to check her calendar to see if she is available on the nights Jindal has set up with television stations.</p>

<p>Plenty of theories have been floated to explain Attorney General Richard Ieyoub's failure to make the Nov. 15 runoff for governor. Most commentators have pointed to low voter turnout and a well-financed challenge by former Congressman and fellow Democrat Claude "Buddy" Leach of Lake Charles.</p>

<p>Senate Republicans abandoned their stalled energy bill yesterday, scuttling months of arduous political labor, and agreed to substitute the energy bill written by Democrats last year when they controlled the chamber.</p> <p>The extraordinary political maneuver, brought on by days of delaying tactics each party blamed on the other, ensures an energy bill will get to conference with the House, which passed its version in April.</p>

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A group of powerful state Republicans has met with some of the seven GOP candidates for governor in an effort to narrow the field and avoid a possible Democrat-only runoff. State Rep. Hunt Downer will soon receive the endorsement of the statewide group, one of his opponents said. A group led by Republican fundraiser and shipyard owner Donald "Boysie" Bollinger met with at least three of the seven GOP candidates, one by one, Monday in a hotel conference room near the New Orleans airport, Downer and others said. For months, party leaders worried in private...

While Congress hightailed it out of Washington during the Memorial Day recess, lobbyists and staff not only took long lunches, left early and showed up late. Some also were busy floating a rumor that Rep. Billy Tauzin was slated to retire to become Hollywood's lobbyist in Washington. "That'd fiction," the Republican Louisiana lawmaker told The Hill. "It started last November -- and has not stopped since. Some of it is spread by people with other ambitions and intentions. They survive on these rumors. You can't pass the bill, you spread a rumor." Ken Johnson, Tauzin's spokesman, added: "We were not...

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Dominant U.S. local telephone companies such as BellSouth Corp. will likely invest further in high-speed networks despite a decision that they must continue to share their networks with rivals, Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell said on Wednesday. The FCC voted to keep rules that require the carriers to give rivals discounted access to their voice networks but lifted sharing requirements on fiber-optic networks in hopes of spurring further investment in high-speed networks and video-on-demand. Powell, who had favored reducing sharing requirements on most voice and data services offered by the carriers but was outvoted...

Loose Cannon: Tauzin's Flip-Flop Has DMers Asking "Who Was That Masked Man?" By Richard H. Levey Less than a week after opposing funding for a federal do-not-call list, Rep. William J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-LA), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, abruptly reversed his position, The Washington Post reported. His initial opposition would have effectively killed the list's implementation, keeping millions of consumer phone numbers available to telemarketers. Why the sudden reversal? I reckon some varmint got hold of Tauzin and convinced him there was room for only one "Killer" from The Pelican State -- rocker Jerry Lee Lewis....

Tauzin: Illegal Enron Activity Found February 06, 2002 2:09:00 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional investigators have uncovered ``substantial evidence of illegal activity'' by the now-bankrupt Enron Corp. (ENE ) and its management, Rep. Billy Tauzin, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Wednesday. Senior Enron management engaged in self-dealing transactions and the company did deals with outside partnerships attempting to hide losses from risky investments and then reported ``fictious gains on these transactions,'' said Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican. His comments came as he kicked off a hearing to examine the broad issues of accounting industry regulation and ...

<p>One could almost hear Louisiana oil and gas executives cheering when two Louisiana members of Congress, Democratic Sen. John Breaux and Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Chackbay, were named to the House-Senate conference committee that will negotiate a final deal on the energy bill. Tauzin will be chairman of the panel. The two Louisiana pols have been stalwart defenders of domestic oil and gas exploration and are expected to guard the local industry's interests at the negotiating table. Before the industry gets too giddy, however, the final deal still will have to win approval in the Democratic-controlled Senate and, if it's contentious, collect 60 votes to shut off a filibuster.</p>