The Terrytown Republican is winding down his final year as a state representative.
Speaker of the House Jim Tucker has announced his bid for Louisiana secretary of state. The Terrytown (suburban New Orleans) Republican is winding down his final year as a state representative due to term limits. The Republican lawmaker announced his candidacy at noon at the Baton Rouge Press Club.
Tucker earned a bachelor's degree in finance in 1986 from the University of New Orleans and lists his private occupations as investment banker and real estate developer.
Current Secretary of State Tom Schedler, a former state senator who has been serving on an interim basis since Jay Dardenne resigned after winning a special election for lieutenant governor, has announced his candidacy for the post. Also in the running is Democrat Carolyn Fayard, who lost in a runoff to Dardenne for the lieutenant governor post.
[UPDATE: Within a couple of hours of Tucker's campaign emailing the announcement of his candidacy to media, Schedler released the following statement:
Elections are about choices. The voters will be faced with what I believe is an easy choice. Since taking office, I have saved taxpayers money, made it easier for small businesses to get up and running and proposed legislation that reduces the number of special elections to save time and money.
On the other hand, it seems that this latest move by Representative Tucker will be his plan for getting the pay raise he always wanted. As the architect of the legislative pay raise fiasco, Speaker Tucker tried to double his salary.
Thankfully, the people of Louisiana and Gov. Jindal saw it differently. I'm running for the right reason: to do the job of Secretary of State. I'm not looking for a title or a pay raise.]