Ben Bagert
Encyclopedia
Bernard John "Ben" Bagert, Jr. (born January 10, 1944) is a prominent New Orleans attorney
who was a member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
from 1970 to 1992. As a legislator, Bagert was known as a politician who did not follow structured party dogma. A cultural and economic conservative with a pro-environment orientation, he was the first Louisiana legislator to warn of "Louisiana's tragic loss of wetland habitat". He has consistently opposed taxes and the expansion of government programs and enacted bills to reform the "welfare laws" that were then in effect.
In 1990, Bagert mounted a Republican challenge to entrenched incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., of Shreveport
. The controversial former Ku Klux Klan
sman, David Duke
, also entered the race as a Republican. Although Duke was opposed by the Louisiana Republican Party, he gathered immense media attention and significant support from traditionally Democratic and union voters, which made him a serious candidate. At the time, Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress ran simultaneously in Louisiana's nonpartisan blanket primary. As the election drew near, it became apparent to Bagert that he would run third and that Duke might defeat Johnston in the anticipated runoff election. Asserting that the election of Duke would set back emerging conservative principles for many years, Bagert withdrew from the race two days before the election to ensure Duke's early defeat without a runoff.
In 1991, Bagert did not seek reelection to the Louisiana State Senate, instead running as the Republican choice for Attorney General in an unsuccessful bid to succeed the retiring William J. "Billy" Guste Jr.
also of New Orleans.
Bagert then returned full time to his successful law practice and has never since sought public elective office. He has been elected several times to Republican Party office and the Republican State Central Committee and has been a delegate to the National Republican Convention. Bagert was the lawyer for Robert Dole and Elizabeth Dole
in each of their presidential
campaigns.
, from which he received his juris doctor
in 1968. He was a "Blue Key" National Honor Fraternity member and the president of the student body in law school. While in college, he won boxing tournaments which led to part-time work as a longshoreman on the Mississippi River. The friendships he made during this period were an important factor in his early political success.
Bagert is admitted to the practice of law before the United States Supreme Court, the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Louisiana Supreme Court, and other lesser courts. Bagert has written textbooks on Louisiana succession and family law. His law firm is located at 650 Poydras Street adjacent to the federal courthouse in New Orleans. He has practiced primarily in Louisiana, but has handled cases in Texas
, Mississippi
, and Florida
. The firm handles administrative law, business law, federal criminal defense and conspiracy, construction law, wills and estates, trusts, and insurance defense.
Bagert's younger brother, Broderick A. Bagert, Sr., is a former member of the New Orleans City Council. As young men, the Bagerts were an unbeatable team on the New Orleans political scene. They were among the first to rely on computer technology to enhance campaign operations. Brod Bagert (born 1947) retired from politics and is a poet
, lecturer
, and author of children's books.
. He won full terms to the state House in 1972, 1975, and 1979. He was a member of the "Young Turks" reformers led by future Speaker E.L. "Bubba" Henry of Jonesboro
in Jackson Parish and Robert G. "Bob" Jones of Lake Charles, Louisiana
, the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones. Bagert often questioned certain state expenditures. In the spring of 1972, for instance, he asked why the state continued to spend $214,488 per year to maintain the Louisiana Livestock Brand Commission, which he described as a useless entity whose members "ride around looking for stolen cows and checking brands on cows."
In the House, Bagert held leadership positions including the Chairmanships of the Criminal Justice Committee and the Commerce, Insurance, and Banking Committee. In 1983, he was elected to the first of two terms to the state Senate. In his last election victory, in the 1987 jungle primary, Bagert defeated his opponent by a huge margin: 23,953 (89%) to 3,043 (11%).
During his legislative service, Bagert received accolades from a variety of good government, environmental, and conservative organizations. The Alliance for Good Government named him Legislator of the Year in 1973, 1983, and 1985. Friends of the Environment and Citizens for Clean Environment honored him with the Brown Pelican Award in 1991 as he was the first Louisiana State official to address the near extinction of the Brown Pelican, which is the Louisiana State Bird and appears on the State Seal, in 1971, when he authored measures to prevent programs that expended public funds for the aerial application of the pesticide Mirex, a chlorinated hydrocarbon that is similar to DDT. He was also named Conservationist of the Year by the National and Louisiana Wildlife Federation in 1986 for his work to salvage depleted Redfish and Speckled Trout stocks and in 1988 for his work to abate wetlands loss.
voters. Virginia Republican leader and Iran-Contra figure Oliver North
campaigned for Bagert, four years before North would make his own failed race against Senator Charles Robb, a son-in-law of Lyndon B. Johnson
.
Bagert's list of contributors includes Governor David C. Treen
, the state's first Republican congressman and governor since Reconstruction; Bryan Wagner
, the first GOP
member elected in modern times to the New Orleans City Council; John Hainkel
, a Democrat and later Republican member of the state Senate from an Orleans-area district; party chairmen James H. Boyce (shortly before his death) of Baton Rouge, George Despot
of Shreveport, Donald Bollinger of Lockport
, and William "Billy" Nungesser of New Orleans; Louis J. Roussel, Jr.
, a businessman and financier who had bankrolled campaigns of earlier Democrats, including Edwin Washington Edwards and William J. "Bill" Dodd; future Congressman and U.S. Senator David Vitter
of Metairie
; the late "Cajun" humorist, chef, and former Democrat Justin Wilson; Dalton Woods, a Shreveport oilman and friend of President George Herbert Walker Bush; state Representative Clark Gaudin
of Baton Rouge, New Orleans businessman James A. Noe, Jr., son of a former Democratic governor; future U.S. Senate candidate Suzanne Haik Terrell
, another former member of the New Orleans City Council; former state Senator "Bob" Jones, the Lake Charles stockbroker; and even a Texas
-Louisiana businessman, Albert Bel Fay
, who had once been the Republican national committeeman from Texas.
Although Bagert campaigned hard, he continued to trail Duke an Johnston in the public opinion polls. In the week before the primary, U.S. Senators John C. Danforth of Missouri
and Ted Stevens
of Alaska
announced that they were "supporting" their Democratic colleague Johnston. When it became clear to Bagert that by continuing the battle he would only improve Duke's chances, he withdrew so that a Duke runoff election could be avoided. Many of Bagert's campaign advisers protested this action bitterly in the belief that such action would damage his political career. Bagert knew they were right, but replied, "I do not want my footnote in history to read: 'His persistence led to the election of a man who tarnished American conservatism for many years.'"
Johnston won reelection to his fourth and final term with 753,198 votes (54%) to Duke's 607,091 (43%). Another 3% was shared by two minor Democratic candidates. Many in the Republican establishment voted for Johnston even though they had recruited Bagert to try to unseat Johnston. It was not to be the last time that state party leaders would also vote for a Democrat to block Duke. A year later, many Republicans supported discredited Governor Edwin Washington Edwards in order to thwart the gubernatorial candidacy of Duke.
, a lawyer from Lake Charles. Ieyoub won the race. The Attorney General's race was the last campaign that Bagert waged. He has since concentrated on his successful law practice. In 1996, he was a Louisiana delegate to the Republican National Convention in San Diego
, which nominated the unsuccessful Robert J. Dole and Jack French Kemp
ticket.
. The damage occurred when the nearby 17th Street Canal broke during the storm. He now resides in Metairie.
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who was a member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
from 1970 to 1992. As a legislator, Bagert was known as a politician who did not follow structured party dogma. A cultural and economic conservative with a pro-environment orientation, he was the first Louisiana legislator to warn of "Louisiana's tragic loss of wetland habitat". He has consistently opposed taxes and the expansion of government programs and enacted bills to reform the "welfare laws" that were then in effect.
In 1990, Bagert mounted a Republican challenge to entrenched incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., of Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
. The controversial former Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
sman, David Duke
David Duke
David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
, also entered the race as a Republican. Although Duke was opposed by the Louisiana Republican Party, he gathered immense media attention and significant support from traditionally Democratic and union voters, which made him a serious candidate. At the time, Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress ran simultaneously in Louisiana's nonpartisan blanket primary. As the election drew near, it became apparent to Bagert that he would run third and that Duke might defeat Johnston in the anticipated runoff election. Asserting that the election of Duke would set back emerging conservative principles for many years, Bagert withdrew from the race two days before the election to ensure Duke's early defeat without a runoff.
In 1991, Bagert did not seek reelection to the Louisiana State Senate, instead running as the Republican choice for Attorney General in an unsuccessful bid to succeed the retiring William J. "Billy" Guste Jr.
William J. Guste
William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr., is a New Orleans attorney, businessman and popular Democratic attorney general of Louisiana from 1972 to 1992. He succeeded the scandal-plagued Jack P.F. Gremillion, a fellow Democrat who had held the position since 1956. Guste received recognition for molding the...
also of New Orleans.
Bagert then returned full time to his successful law practice and has never since sought public elective office. He has been elected several times to Republican Party office and the Republican State Central Committee and has been a delegate to the National Republican Convention. Bagert was the lawyer for Robert Dole and Elizabeth Dole
Elizabeth Dole
Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford "Liddy" Dole is an American politician who served in both the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush presidential administrations, as well as a United States Senator....
in each of their presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
campaigns.
Early years and education
Bagert was educated at Jesuit High School and Loyola University New Orleans College of LawLoyola University New Orleans College of Law
Loyola University New Orleans College of Law is a private law school in New Orleans, Louisiana affiliated with Loyola University New Orleans. Loyola's law school opened in 1914 and is now located on the Broadway Campus of the University in the historic Audubon Park District of the city. The College...
, from which he received his juris doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1968. He was a "Blue Key" National Honor Fraternity member and the president of the student body in law school. While in college, he won boxing tournaments which led to part-time work as a longshoreman on the Mississippi River. The friendships he made during this period were an important factor in his early political success.
Bagert is admitted to the practice of law before the United States Supreme Court, the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Louisiana Supreme Court, and other lesser courts. Bagert has written textbooks on Louisiana succession and family law. His law firm is located at 650 Poydras Street adjacent to the federal courthouse in New Orleans. He has practiced primarily in Louisiana, but has handled cases in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. The firm handles administrative law, business law, federal criminal defense and conspiracy, construction law, wills and estates, trusts, and insurance defense.
Bagert's younger brother, Broderick A. Bagert, Sr., is a former member of the New Orleans City Council. As young men, the Bagerts were an unbeatable team on the New Orleans political scene. They were among the first to rely on computer technology to enhance campaign operations. Brod Bagert (born 1947) retired from politics and is a poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, lecturer
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
, and author of children's books.
Six legislative elections as a Democrat
At age 25, Bagert won a special election for the Louisiana House of RepresentativesLouisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 Representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of...
. He won full terms to the state House in 1972, 1975, and 1979. He was a member of the "Young Turks" reformers led by future Speaker E.L. "Bubba" Henry of Jonesboro
Jonesboro, Louisiana
Jonesboro is a town in and the parish seat of Jackson Parish in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 3,914 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
in Jackson Parish and Robert G. "Bob" Jones of Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
, the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones. Bagert often questioned certain state expenditures. In the spring of 1972, for instance, he asked why the state continued to spend $214,488 per year to maintain the Louisiana Livestock Brand Commission, which he described as a useless entity whose members "ride around looking for stolen cows and checking brands on cows."
In the House, Bagert held leadership positions including the Chairmanships of the Criminal Justice Committee and the Commerce, Insurance, and Banking Committee. In 1983, he was elected to the first of two terms to the state Senate. In his last election victory, in the 1987 jungle primary, Bagert defeated his opponent by a huge margin: 23,953 (89%) to 3,043 (11%).
During his legislative service, Bagert received accolades from a variety of good government, environmental, and conservative organizations. The Alliance for Good Government named him Legislator of the Year in 1973, 1983, and 1985. Friends of the Environment and Citizens for Clean Environment honored him with the Brown Pelican Award in 1991 as he was the first Louisiana State official to address the near extinction of the Brown Pelican, which is the Louisiana State Bird and appears on the State Seal, in 1971, when he authored measures to prevent programs that expended public funds for the aerial application of the pesticide Mirex, a chlorinated hydrocarbon that is similar to DDT. He was also named Conservationist of the Year by the National and Louisiana Wildlife Federation in 1986 for his work to salvage depleted Redfish and Speckled Trout stocks and in 1988 for his work to abate wetlands loss.
The aborted campaign against Bennett Johnston
Bagert was the official Republican Party choice to challenge Democratic Senator Johnston in the 1990 primary. Former KKK leader, David Duke, ran as well and won the support of many traditionally Democratic blue collarBlue collar
Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...
voters. Virginia Republican leader and Iran-Contra figure Oliver North
Oliver North
Oliver Laurence North is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer, political commentator, host of War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News Channel, a military historian, and a New York Times best-selling author....
campaigned for Bagert, four years before North would make his own failed race against Senator Charles Robb, a son-in-law of Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
.
Bagert's list of contributors includes Governor David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
, the state's first Republican congressman and governor since Reconstruction; Bryan Wagner
Bryan Wagner
Bryan James Wagner is the first Republican since Reconstruction to have been elected to the New Orleans City Council. He filled a vacancy of an unexpired term in District A from May 1980 to April 1982....
, the first GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
member elected in modern times to the New Orleans City Council; John Hainkel
John Hainkel
John Joseph Hainkel, Jr., was a gregarious, ruffled, and raspy-voiced legislator from New Orleans who died in office after thirty-seven years of service...
, a Democrat and later Republican member of the state Senate from an Orleans-area district; party chairmen James H. Boyce (shortly before his death) of Baton Rouge, George Despot
George Despot
George Joseph Despot was a Shreveport businessman and a pioneer in the establishment of a competitive Republican Party in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He was the state Republican chairman from 1978-1985...
of Shreveport, Donald Bollinger of Lockport
Lockport, Louisiana
Lockport is a town on Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,624 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, and William "Billy" Nungesser of New Orleans; Louis J. Roussel, Jr.
Louis J. Roussel, Jr.
Louis J. Roussel, Jr. , was a powerful businessman and political kingmaker from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, a businessman and financier who had bankrolled campaigns of earlier Democrats, including Edwin Washington Edwards and William J. "Bill" Dodd; future Congressman and U.S. Senator David Vitter
David Vitter
David Vitter is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of...
of Metairie
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were...
; the late "Cajun" humorist, chef, and former Democrat Justin Wilson; Dalton Woods, a Shreveport oilman and friend of President George Herbert Walker Bush; state Representative Clark Gaudin
Clark Gaudin
Edward Clark Gaudin is a Baton Rouge attorney who served for twenty-one years in the Louisiana House of Representatives as the first Republican member from East Baton Rouge Parish in the 20th century....
of Baton Rouge, New Orleans businessman James A. Noe, Jr., son of a former Democratic governor; future U.S. Senate candidate Suzanne Haik Terrell
Suzanne Haik Terrell
Suzanne Haik Terrell is a Louisiana lawyer who failed in a high-profile Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and for state attorney general in 2003. She was the state's last commissioner of elections, having served from 2000 to 2004. In 2005, President George W...
, another former member of the New Orleans City Council; former state Senator "Bob" Jones, the Lake Charles stockbroker; and even a Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
-Louisiana businessman, Albert Bel Fay
Albert Bel Fay
Albert Bel Fay, Sr. , was a wealthy Texas and Louisiana businessman, United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, and a Republican Party activist whose political involvement began with the presidential campaign of Dwight D...
, who had once been the Republican national committeeman from Texas.
Although Bagert campaigned hard, he continued to trail Duke an Johnston in the public opinion polls. In the week before the primary, U.S. Senators John C. Danforth of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and Ted Stevens
Ted Stevens
Theodore Fulton "Ted" Stevens, Sr. was a United States Senator from Alaska, serving from December 24, 1968, until January 3, 2009, and thus the longest-serving Republican senator in history...
of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
announced that they were "supporting" their Democratic colleague Johnston. When it became clear to Bagert that by continuing the battle he would only improve Duke's chances, he withdrew so that a Duke runoff election could be avoided. Many of Bagert's campaign advisers protested this action bitterly in the belief that such action would damage his political career. Bagert knew they were right, but replied, "I do not want my footnote in history to read: 'His persistence led to the election of a man who tarnished American conservatism for many years.'"
Johnston won reelection to his fourth and final term with 753,198 votes (54%) to Duke's 607,091 (43%). Another 3% was shared by two minor Democratic candidates. Many in the Republican establishment voted for Johnston even though they had recruited Bagert to try to unseat Johnston. It was not to be the last time that state party leaders would also vote for a Democrat to block Duke. A year later, many Republicans supported discredited Governor Edwin Washington Edwards in order to thwart the gubernatorial candidacy of Duke.
1990s
In 1991, Bagert ran for Attorney General. He faced a formidable opponent in Richard IeyoubRichard Ieyoub
Richard Phillip Ieyoub, Sr. , 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 presently with the Baton Rouge firm Couhig Partners...
, a lawyer from Lake Charles. Ieyoub won the race. The Attorney General's race was the last campaign that Bagert waged. He has since concentrated on his successful law practice. In 1996, he was a Louisiana delegate to the Republican National Convention in San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, which nominated the unsuccessful Robert J. Dole and Jack French Kemp
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
ticket.
Personal life
His home in the Lakeview area of New Orleans was flooded in Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. The damage occurred when the nearby 17th Street Canal broke during the storm. He now resides in Metairie.
External links
- http://www.newsmeat.com/campaign_contributions_to_politicians/donor_list.php?candidate_id=S0LA00055&li=V
- http://www.bagertlaw.com/
- http://www.time.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,971358,00.html
- http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2002-08-20/politics.html
- http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=16530986
- http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/san.diego/facts/delegate.profile/LA.shtml
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=111691
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=100690
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10248736
- http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=203947&pub=1&div=News
- http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi?lastname=KIEFER&start=3041