Lafayette businessman Ed Roy is seeking the District 2 Public Service Commission seat currently held by Jimmy Field.
Lafayette businessman Ed Roy is seeking the District 2 Louisiana Public Service Commission seat currently held by Jimmy Field.
The recently redrawn District 2 covers the parishes of Lafayette, St. Mary, St. Martin, Terrebonne, Lafourche, East Feliciana, West Feliciana and Point Coupee as well as parts of Iberia, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville and Livingston parishes. Field, a Baton Rouge attorney, has served as a commissioner since December 1996.
Field's office confirmed to The Independent that he will seek re-election. The primary election is Tuesday, Nov. 6.
An independent regulatory agency, the PSC manages public utilities and motor carriers in the state. It has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms.
Like Field, Roy is a Republican. He is founder and president of Global Data Fusion, an investigative and screening firm, and is the current president of the Louisiana Private Investigators Association. A meteorologist who worked as a TV and radio weatherman for two decades, Roy also served as a criminal intelligence detective for the Lafayette Parish sheriff's office for 16 years, and is a certified fraud investigator. He was a member of the Lafayette Parish Council from 1992 to 1996.
Longtime oilman Paul Hilliard, left, is serving as Ed Roy's finance chairman in Roy's bid to unseat District 2 Public Service Commissioner Jimmy Field.
Roy's campaign also announced that longtime Lafayette oilman and civic leader C. Paul Hilliard will serve as finance chairman. "I am particularly pleased that Paul shares my view that it's time for new leadership on the Public Service Commission," Roy said in a statement. "I have admired and respected Paul for all the time that I've known him. His involvement is a strong signal that we are taking this race very seriously, and we are running to win," Roy continued. "With his help, I am looking forward to bringing Louisiana's business and civic leadership to our campaign and earning the support of the voters in November."