Dan Kyle

Daniel Guin "Dan" Kyle​
Louisiana Legislative Auditor​
In office 1989​ – 2003​
Preceded by	Joseph H. Burris
Succeeded by	Steven Theriot
Born	August 29, 1937 ​
Political party	Republican​
Spouse(s)	Connie Musick Kyle​
Children	Alfred Daniel Kyle​ Ronald Glen Kyle​
Residence	Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA​
Alma mater	Southern Arkansas University​ University of Arkansas​
Occupation	Certified Public Accountant​ Former professor at Louisiana State University
Religion	United Methodist​

Daniel Guin Kyle, known as Dan Kyle (born August 29, 1937), is a businessman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as his state's legislative auditor from 1989 to 2003, when he stepped down to run unsuccessfully for insurance commissioner. An active Republican, Kyle uncovered many instances of misappropriations in state and local governments during his fifteen years as auditor. He planned to run for governor in 2003, but he switched to the insurance commissioner race, when another Republican candidate for that office, Tony Perkins, a state representative from East Baton Rouge Parish, abandoned the campaign to become president of the Family Research Council.​

Background

Kyle, whose place of birth is not known, entered the work force at the age of fourteen in 1951, at the time of his father's death. He laid bricks and worked in retail to provide for his family and to earn his way through college. He is married to the former Connie Musick (born 1943). The couple has two sons, Alfred Daniel Kyle (born 1966) and Ronald Glen Kyle (born 1969), both of Baton Rouge. At some point prior to coming to Baton Rouge, Kyle had resided in Huntsville, Alabama.

Kyle received his Bachelor of Science in accounting in 1959 from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. He then procured an MBA in 1961 and a Ph.D. in business administration in 1968, both from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. The Kyles have been active in the First United Methodist Church of Baton Rouge since they moved to the state capital in 1968.​

As legislative auditor

As legislative auditor, Kyle posted an office sign "In God We Trust, All Others We Audit." His work uncovered embezzlers, cronyism, and political corruption. His office moved against the late Elections Commissioner Jerry Fowler, who was indicted and convicted of receiving kickbacks from voting-machine contractors. Kyle investigated several college presidents but stressed that he does not believe in dismissing academic heads solely because of problems with an audit, as such positions are multi-faceted in scope. Kyle's work led to the conviction of nearly 250 public officials and government employees for the misappropriation of state funds.

Prior to his auditor's position, Kyle, both a PhD and a C.P.A., taught governmental accounting and auditing from 1968 to 1989 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 2000, Kyle uncovered serious problems with an audit of the historically African-American Grambling State University in Grambling in Lincoln Parish west of Ruston. A 1998 audit of the same institution uncovered no problems, but two years later, the auditor received inaccurate and incomplete information from the university administration. Grambling had four months of data missing, which rendered it impossible to conduct the required two-year audit.​

In 1998, Kyle was invited by Leo Deslatte, the new Republican mayor of Pineville in Rapides Parish, to conduct an audit of the previous administration of long-term Mayor Fred Baden. While Kyle's report found malfeasance regarding Baden's management, the state attorney general, Richard Ieyoub, Baden's fellow Democrat, declared insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to bring about an indictment of the 28-year Democratic mayor.​

As auditor, Kyle made numerous appearances on the statewide radio talk show hosted by Moon Griffon, then of Monroe and later of Lafayette.

Other campaigns

In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 4, 2003 for insurance commissioner, Kyle trailed the Democrat J. Robert Wooley, 424,961 (33.7 percent) to 467,084 (37.1 percent). Four lesser-known candidates held the remaining but critical 30 percent of the vote. In the general election, Wooley defeated Kyle, 773,578 (57.7 percent) to 567,034 (42.3 percent). Kyle won only a quartet of the more Republican parishes, Bossier, Lafayette, Livingston, and St. Tammany.​

Kyle is a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Executive Committee.​ In 2007, as the deputy chairman of the state Republican Party under since former chairman Roger F. Villere, Jr., Kyle worked for the unsuccessful GOP candidate for state attorney general, Royal Alexander of Shreveport, who was handily defeated by the Democrat Buddy Caldwell of Tallulah in Madson Parish, who later temporarily became a Republican. The GOP claimed that Caldwell spent public funds for personal uses and that he cursed and threatened Dan Kyle.​

In 2008, Kyle along with another Republican, Wayne Carter, then a parish council member and later a state representative, and a Democrat, Ron Johnson, ran unsuccessfully for the mayor-presidency of East Baton Rouge Parish but were handily defeated by the incumbent Democrat Kip Holden, an African American who scored his second term in the executive office. Kyle called for the establishment of a public bus system to help with traffic congestion. Kyle criticized Holden's bond issue as an example of "tax-and-spend philosophy." Kyle ran a weak second in the mayor-parish presidency, having polled 12,886 votes. In 2004, Holden unseated Republican Mayor-President Bobby Simpson.​

In June 2009, as treasurer of the Louisiana GOP, Kyle became one of the directors of a national presidential fund-raising effort promoting Governor Bobby Jindal. According to Kyle, the group hoped to raise $60 million to persuade Jindal to seek the 2012 party nomination, ultimately taken by Mitt Romney of Utah. Others on the committee were former State Representative Louis "Woody: Jenkins and U.S. Representative Steve Scalise. Former state Senator Tom Schedler of Slidell had his name removed from the group, not because he opposed Jindal but because such fund-raising activity could conflict with Schedler's then role as first assistant to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne.​ Jindal withdrew from the presidential nominating campaign even before the primaries began.

In October 2009, Kyle was named chief financial officer for Southern Star Amusement, Inc., a startup company which sought to redevelop the Six Flags New Orleans theme park, closed since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. Southern Star planned to construct a water and theme park at the former Six Flags site.​

Summation

In his race for insurance commissioner, Kyle summed up his political motivation, accordingly.​

"Louisiana is my home. ... Louisiana is my passion. Hard economic times has split up too many families and forced our children to search for jobs in other states. ... I will fight to keep our children and grandchildren in Louisiana . . . it will take my experience, integrity, and leadership to rid this state of corruption, create an economic climate for growth, and get this state off the bottom."

References

​​​