<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There was recently an induction into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame, and there were two people from Lake Charles. I was wondering if the</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">American Press</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">plans to print anything about it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame inducted seven people on March 12 in a ceremony at the Cajundome Convention Center in Lafayette.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Among the inductees were Sam Houston Jones, a Beauregard Parish native, Louisiana’s 46th governor and a state park namesake, and Richard Ieyoub, former Calcasieu Parish district attorney, former state attorney general and current state conservation commissioner.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Jones was born in Merryville in 1897. He studied law at LSU until 1917, when he volunteered for the Army. After his service, he studied law under the tutelage of a DeRidder attorney and later worked as a prosecutor in Lake Charles. He was governor from 1940 to 1944.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Jones was instrumental in setting aside land for a state park, which lawmakers wanted to name after him. But because he still lived he couldn’t serve as a namesake, so legislators named the park “Sam Houston,” ostensibly after Texas’ first governor. After Jones died in 1978, they named the park for him.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Ieyoub, born in Lake Charles in 1944, earned a bachelor’s degree in history from McNeese State University and a law degree from LSU. He was elected Calcasieu district attorney in 1984 and state attorney general in 1991. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2003.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">From their museum biographies:</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">Sam Houston Jones</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">Sam Jones broke the 12-year hold on the Governor’s office enjoyed by the Long faction in Louisiana politics. … Jones had no experience in state government but promised — and delivered — an honest administration.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">He enacted civil service legislation, established competitive bidding for state purchases, and abolished the practice of annual voter registration. Governor Jones governed during wartime, a difficult period to administer new policies. The reduction of executive power further hindered him.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">The Governor did continue several of the Long programs including free lunches for schoolchildren, equal pay for black and white teachers, increased funding of state colleges and aid to the blind, elderly and indigent families. Chiefly, he restored state and national respect for Louisiana.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">Governor Sam Jones did not build a political dynasty. He ran again in 1948, against Earl Long but, as one historian wrote, “Long out promised Jones.” Sam Jones’ heritage of good government continues in a group he helped found, the Public Affairs Research Council.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">Richard Ieyoub</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">Richard is a Baton Rouge lawyer and a Democratic politician who was the attorney general of Louisiana from 1992 to 2004. Ieyoub was the Calcasieu Parish district attorney in Lake Charles from 1984 to 1992, and is now with the Baton Rouge firm Couhig Partners.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">As attorney general, Ieyoub won a multimillion dollar tobacco settlement for the state of Louisiana as compensation for the health care costs of smokers. He took a leading role in the formulation of the theory of parens patriae, which allows the state to sue on behalf of its citizens. Ieyoub claimed among his major accomplishments as attorney general the promotion of “initiatives that protect our children and help our children lead a better quality of life.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">He was active in the fight against narcotics through the Louisiana Coordinating Council on the Prevention and Treatment of Drug Abuse. Ieyoub worked closely with the National Council Against Drinking and Driving. His office has been nationally recognized for combating underage drinking and drunken driving.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">He established a statewide school safety program and created a high-technology unit that targets sexual predators on the Internet. Ieyoub was a member of the National Association of Attorneys General.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The other recent inductees: Braxton “B.I” Moody III, Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger, John Mamoulides, Kaliste Saloom Jr. and Randy K. Haynie.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.lapoliticalmuseum.com.</span>

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<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er answers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>