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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name=James Joseph "Jim" Donelon, III |birth_date=December 14, 1944 |birth_place=New Orleans, Louisiana |death_date= |death_place=..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=James Joseph "Jim" Donelon, III
|birth_date=December 14, 1944
|birth_place=[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=Merilynn Boudreaux Donelson
|children=Four daughters
|religion= [[Roman Catholic]]
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (1980)
|occupation=[[Lawyer]]<br>
Judge Advocate for the Louisiana Army National Guard.
|alma_mater=Jesuit High School<br>
University of New Orleans<br>
Loyola University New Orleans Law School
|office=Louisiana Insurance Commissioner
|term_start=February 15, 2006
|term_end=
|preceded=J. Robert Wooley
|succeeded=
|office2=Louisiana State Representative for Jefferson Parish
|term_start2=1982
|term_end2=2001
|preceded2=Charles Grisbaum, Jr.
|succeeded2=Tom Capella
|office3=Member of the [[Jefferson Parish Council
|term_start3=1976
|term_end3=1980
}}
'''James Joseph Donelon, III, known as '''Jim Donelon''' (born December 14, 1944), is the [[Republican Party|Republican]] insurance commissioner in [[Louisana]], a statewide post to which he succeeded on February 15, 2006.
Donelon was first elected on September 30, 2006, to complete a 15-month unexpired term as [[insurance]] commissioner, created by the resignation of [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], J. Robert Wooley.
Thereafter, Donelon won a full-term as commissioner in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, when Republican [[Bobby Jindal]] was elected [[governor]] to succeeded former opponent, Governor [[Kathleen Blanco]], a Democrat from [[Lafayette]]. Two other Republican candidates garnered the remaining 13 percent of the ballots cast in 2007.
Wooley left the insurance postion to become a [[lobbyist]] for the high-powered law firm, Adams and Reese in [[Baton Rouge]]. In 2001, Wooley appointed Donelon as his first deputy; under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, Donelon autotically became temporary commissioner upon Wooley's departure. Wooley said that he chose Donelon for chief deputy because of Donelon's impeccable reputation and his extensive knowledge of insurance:
<blockquote
Jim was the only guy I knew who could help me restore the credibility and integrity of an office embarrassed because the three previous insurance commissioners had gone to jail ... He is a consumer advocate who does the right thing for the right reasons, and he knows insurance inside and out. I believe he is the most qualified commissioner of insurance ever to assume the position.</blockquote>
Donelon serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and is chairman of the NAIC Surplus Lines Task Force. He also sits on the board of directors of the [[New Orleans]] Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the Blood Center for Southeast Louisiana. The Alliance for Good Government honored Donelon as both "Outstanding Jefferson Parish Official" and "Legislator of Distinction".
==Background=
A New Orleans native, Donelon was the namesake son of James Donelon, II (1911-1996), who is interred there at Greenwood Cemetery. He graduated from the [[Roman Catholic]] Jesuit High School, the University of New Orleans, and the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, also in New Orleans. In 1986, Donelon was the first recipient of the Homer L. Hitt "Distinguished Alumnus of the Year" award from the University of New Orleans, named for the first executive of the university<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=https://www.jimdonelon.com/|title=Jim Donelon Insurance Commissioner for Louisiana|publisher=Jimdonelon.com|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref>
Donelon retired after thirty-three years of service as State Judge Advocate for the Louisiana Army National Guard. He held the rank of colonel and received the Legion of Merit.<ref name=bio/>
A Roman Catholic, Donelon is married to the former Merilynn "Mopsy" Boudreaux. They reside in Jefferson Parish and are the parents of four daughters and have eight grandchildren.<ref name=bio/>
==Winning and losing==
Donelon's political career has been voluminous and topsy turvy. In 1975, as a Democrat, he ran successfully for the chairmanship of the Jefferson Parish Council (akin to county commissions in other states). He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, and 1999. He resigned midway through his fifth full term to join Wooley's staff.
In 1979, Donelon, still a Democrat, passed up a reelection bid to the Jefferson Parish Council to make an unsuccessful race for lieutenant governor against the Democrat Bobby Freeman of Plaquemine in Iberville Parish. Donelon was considered the "[[conservative]]" in that race to the "[[liberal]]" Freeman. Most of the supporters of Republican [[David C. Treen]], the narrow winner of the gubernatorial election that year, are believed to have backed Donelon, and most of the backers of Treen's general election opponent, Democrat Louis Lambert, a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, went with Freeman.<ref>''[[Shreveport Journa]]l,''February 21, 1980, p. 13C.</ref>
There was also a Republican in the race, Russel C. "Russ" Kiger, II (1914-1995), then a field representative of the National Cash Register Company based in Baton Rouge. Kiger said that his views parallelled those of Treen and claimed that his non-political technical background would have brought new insight into state government.<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]],'' October 11, 1979, special election supplement.</ref> Yet, Kiger polled only 46,847 votes in the primary, fewer than half of the registered Republicans then on the Louisiana voter rolls, and was hence eliminated from the Donelon-Freeman general election. Jesse Monroe Knowles, a state senator and decorated World War II veteran from [[Lake Charles]], was yet another candidate in the lieutenant governor's contest. Like Donelon, Knowles also switched to Republican affiliation.<ref>''Baton Rouge Advocate,'' April 3, 1980, p. B1.</ref>
==Congressional campaign, 1980==
Donelon became a Republican on February 20, 1980, when he announced his candidacy to succeed Treen as the [[U.S. Representative]] from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district in a special election. Treen urged Republican to coalesce behind Donelon even though there were other longer-tenured Republicans who were interested in making the race. Donelon attracted three Democratic opponents in the special election. The strongest was state Representative Wilbert Joseph "Bill" Tauzin, II, then of Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish, who was the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Also in the race was Democratic state Senator Anthony Guarisco, Jr., of Morgan City in St. Mary Parish, considered a "fiscal conservative" but a "social liberal", who was a strong proponent of the never ratified [[Equal Rights Amendment]]. Robert "Bob" Namer (born January 1, 1947), who criticized the other three candidates for excessive campaign spending, ran as a Democrat but later switched to the GOP. He is the executive director of National Business Consultants of New Orleans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/robert-namer/robertnamer?valid=true&|title=Robert Namer|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref> <ref>''The Alexandria Town Talk,'' April 17, 1980, p. 10D</ref>
Tauzin filed with the Federal Election Commission a complaint which charged that Donelon's campaign donations were tainted. He cited Donelon's series of letters of credit with no interest required through the Jefferson Bank and Trust Company. Such loans violated federal election law, Tauzin noted. Donelon in turn claimed that the first Mrs. Tauzin obtained a $60,000 loan for her husband's campaign and criticized Tauzin for making "a friviolous charge . . . in the waning days of the campaign."<br>''The Alexandria Town Talk,'' April 17, 1980, p. 10D.</ref>
Former Governor [[Edwin Edwards]] had initially told Donelon, who had been an Edwards aide prior to 1975, that Edwards would not become involved in the campaign. When Treen began to campaign for Donelon, Edwards endorsed Tauzin, a former floor leader for Edwards.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' April 12, 1980, p. 981.</ref> Donelon entered the first round of balloting as a slight favorite in that he had won some 57 percent of the vote in the parishes which then comprised the Third District in the lieutenant governor's race against Bobby Freeman just seven months earlier.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' April 12, 1980, p. 981.</ref> Guarisco, who was endorsed by the ''New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' which had supported Treen for governor in 1979, said that he did not want the support of either Edwards or Treen because he was "independent of all that."<ref>''New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' April 19, 1980, p. 1.</ref> Tauzin was also endorsed by Lieutenant Governor Freeman, United States Senator [[Russell Long]], and Congressman [[John Breaux]], whom Donelon would oppose eighteen years later when Breaux won his third term in the [[United States Senate]].
Donelon led in the first balloting with 37,191 votes (45.1 percent), but he had peaked and could not sufficiently broaden his appeal into the special election runoff. Tauzin followed with 35,384 ballots (42.9 percent); Guarisco had 8,827 (10.7 percent), and Namer 1,067 (1.3 percent). Donelon won his own Jefferson Parish with 67.4 percent and eked out a bare 50.5 percent in often Republican-leaning Iberia Parish at the western end of the district. In the other French parishes, Donelon fared poorly, taking just 14.9 percent in Tauzin's home base of Lafourche, 33.5 percent in Terrebonne Parish (Houma), 27.3 percent in St. Mary Parish, 30.2 percent in the two St. Martin Parish precincts in the district, and 38.7 percent in St. Charles Parish. Some 60 percent of Donelon's vote came from his own Jefferson Parish.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, April 19, 1980.</ref>
The Republican National Committee joined the National Republican Congressional Committee to raise money nationwide for Donelon. RNC Chairman [[Bill Brock]], former U.S. Senator from [[Tennessee]], and congressional chairman Guy Vander Jagt of [[Michigan]], said that funds were need to purchase media and newspaper advertising to reach undecided voters and to conduct a massive "get-out-the-vote" drive. Brock and Vander Jagt said that the Louisiana special election was "[a]n opportunity to hold this congressional seat. Donelon is an outstanding Republican and former Jefferson Parish president. His Democratic opponent [future Republican Tauzin] is pro-big labor and a big spender. Democrats and labor bosses will go all out with massive campaign blitz to win control of this district. Republican leaders in Louisiana join us in urgently requesting your immediate action to stop them ..."<ref>Letter from National Republican Congressional Committee by National Chairman William Brock and Congressional Chairman Guy Vander Jagt, [[Washington, D.C]], to Republican contributors across the nation, May 1980.</ref>
The Republican effort to elect Donelon to hold the Treen seat fell short. Tauzin prevailed with 62,108 votes (53.1 percent) to Donelon's 54,815 ballots (46.9 percent). Donelon's 2/3 majority in Jefferson Parish was insufficient to offset huge Tauzin majorities in Lafourche, St. Charles, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Terrebonne parishes. In Iberia Parish, the two split the vote, with Tauzin securing 50.1 percent. The turnout in the May 17 special election runoff was 116,923, compared to 82,462 in the April 19 first round of balloting.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, May 17, 1980.</ref> The greater participation occurred despite flooding that inundated much of south Louisiana the previous day.<ref>''The Baton Rouge Advocate,'' May 17, 1980, p. 1.</ref>
After his loss, Donelon announced that he would not challenge Tauzin for a full term later in the year. Tauzin became unbeatable in the district. Even when he switched parties, he was then untouchable by a Democratic opponent.
==Election to legislature, 1982==
In a special election in 1982, Donelon won the seat vacated by the resignation of Representative Charles Grisbaum, Jr., a Democrat-turned-Republican. Grisbaum, who became a judge on the new Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Gretna in Jefferson Parish, also ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1974 against David Treen. Grisbaum became a friend of Treen's during that campaign, and, in 1977, he switched parties while continuing his legislative service from Jefferson Parish. Grisbaum by 1980 had become one of Treen's point men in the legislature.
Donelon, who followed in Grisbaum's path, also has ties to Treen. It had been then newly inaugurated Governor Treen in 1980, who proposed that Republicans unite behind Donelon for the special election to choose Treen's congressional successor. In 1996–1997, the [[Christian Coalition]] gave him an overall 80 percent rating for that legislative session.
After he won repeated legislative reelection in Jefferson Parish, Donelon became his party's "sacrificial lamb" in 1998 against U. S. Senator John Breaux of Crowley in Acadia Parish, who was running for a third and, as it turned out, final term as senator. Donelon stepped up to run when other candidates deferred to the inevitability of Breaux's reelection. The race was not close. Breaux won the nonpartisan blanket primary, often called the jungle primary, outright with 620,504 votes (64 percent). Donelon trailed with 306,616 (32 percent). The remaining 4 percent was shared by a half-dozen minor candidates, including Luther D. Knox of Winnsboro in Franklin Parish, who legally changed his name to include "Nota", meaning "None of the Above" to stress the need for the option of rejecting all the declared candidates. <ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 3, 1998.</ref>
Donelon held the legislative seat, District 98, for nineteen years until his resignation on June 30, 2001. As he took the position in the Department of Insurance, Donelon was succeeded by a fellow Republican, Tom Capella.
Before he left the legislature, Donelon ran in a special judicial election on March 27, 1999. He was defeated by Republican Ronald Bodenheimer (born 1953), who polled 8,981 votes (55 percent) to Donelon's 7,300 (45 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns (Jefferson Parish, March 27, 1999.</ref> In that race Donelon unsuccessfully used the slogan "Who Better to Interpret the Laws Than the Person Who Wrote Them?" Judge Bodenheimer, a former prosecutor, went to prison for three years on conviction of having conspired to plant the prescription painkiller [[OxyContin]] in the automobile of an [[FBI]] informant who frequently complained about drug trafficking and zoning violations at a seafood marina owned by Bodenheimer in Orleans Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.noethics.net/News/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2266:former-judge-ronald-bodenheimer-of-new-orleans-criminal-convict-&Itemid=82 |title=Former Judge Ronald Bodenheimer of New Orleans; criminal, convict|publisher=The Committee to Expose Dishonest and Incompetent Judges, Attorney, and Public Official|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref>
Donelon, along with fellow lawmakers Kernan "Skip" Hand, Ken Hollis, and Steve Theriot, all of the New Orleans suburbs, admitted to having given [[Tulane University]] scholarships to their children. Legislators are allowed under an 1884 law to designate one Tulane scholarship recipient per year, but the practice of giving such awards, totaling $17,000 in 1993 dollars, to family members had been previously unknown.
==Insurance commissioner==
While serving in the Louisiana House, a part-time position, Donelon maintained his private law practice. In the legislature, he was chairman of the Committee on Insurance and Co-Chairman of the Republican legislative delegation. He was sworn in as insurance commissioner on February 15, 2006.
On June 5, 2006, Commissioner Donelon issued Advisory Letter 06-04 to the approximately one hundred companies with homeowners insurance policies in Louisiana. The letter requests their cooperation in extending from one to two years the prescriptive period for policyholders with [[Hurricane Katrina]] and/or Hurricane Rita claims to file no later than August 1, 2006. In most cases, a Louisiana policyholder's right to file suit on a homeowners insurance claim is limited to twelve months. Donelon said that "given the unprecedented number of claims following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, one year is simply not going to be enough time for many policyholders and insurance companies to work out a settlement favorable to both parties."
Wooley said that he had planned to resign prior to the hurricanes, "[but] when Katrina hit, we decided we had to try to get through at least the crisis part of it". Wooley said that he had accomplished most of his goals as commissioner prior to the hurricanes, the most important of which was restoring the public image of the Department of Insurance.
Wooley joined the department in 1999 as the chief deputy for then Insurance Commissioner [[James H. "Jim" Brown]]. In the fall of 2000, Brown, a Democrat, was convicted of lying to an FBI agent, and Wooley moved up to the commissioner's position. Wooley was the first commissioner to leave office without a streak of scandal. His predecessors went to prison. Brown served a six-month sentence in the facility in Oakdale in Allen Parish. Democrat Douglas D. "Doug" Green of Baton Rouge received twenty-five years for his part in the Champion Insurance scandal of the late 1980s but served eleven years. Sherman Albert Bernard, Sr., who is also remembered for having opposed the Democratic re-nomination of Senator Russell Long in 1974, served time for extorting bribes from insurance companies doing business with the state.
Commissioner Donelon clashed with former Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot, one of Donelon's former legislative colleagues who had also obtained Tulane scholarships for a family member. As part of an investigation, Theriot demanded department records from Donelon regarding the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Theriot's probe led to the indictment of the corporation's former president, Terry Lisotta. Ultimately, Theriot had to obtain a court order to inspect the records, which Donelon originally said were off limits.
==2006 special election==
In the special election, Donelon faced a fellow Democrat-turned-Republican in state Senator James David Cain of Dry Creek. Cain questioned Donelon's commitment to the Republican Party because of Donelon's acceptance of the staff appointment from the Democrat Wooley. Yet, Donelon has been a registered Republican for twenty years longer than Cain. Cain's opponents said that he violated [[Ronald W. Reagan]]'s "Eleventh Commandment": "Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican." Cain's state Senate term expired on January 14, 2008.
Cain attempted to taint Donelon into a "guilt by association" with the legal problems that past Louisiana insurance commissioners have endured. Donelon fired back. The Internet site bayoubuzz.com reported that Donelon courted local insurance agencies. He, like Wooley and Wooley’s former boss, Jim Brown, built a strong popularity with the industry's rank and file. Bayoubuzz.com also obtained a memo that seems to outline an aggressive strategy to appeal to frustrated homeowners still awaiting their benefits from the hurricane damage. Donelon also pledged to continue Wooley's work at improving the image of the agency.
In his term as chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, Cain criticized many of the policies of the Wooley administration, which Donelon had continued. Cain decried as "too little, too late" investigations by the Department of Insurance conducted against companies that tried to avoid reimbursing customers. He also attacked Donelon in the post-storm era, most notably over the continued operations of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
In the special election in 2006, Donelon polled 50.1 percent of the ballots cast in a low-turnout contest. His 283,316 votes were 847 more than the tabulations of his two opponents combined. Republican state Senator James David Cain of Sabine Parish polled 222,414 (39 percent); S. B. A. Zaitoon of the [[Libertarian Party]], received 60,094 votes (11 percent). There was no Democrat in the special election. Donelon ran strongest in urban areas; Cain, in rural parishes and small towns.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, September 30, 2006.</ref>
==2011 reelection==
Donelon was challenged for his second full term as commissioner in the primary held on October 22, 2011, by public-interest attorney Donald Carl Hodge, a Democrat. During the campaign, questions arose about the ethics of the Department of Insurance, the high cost of insurance rates, and the amount of funds that Donelon received from insurance companies. Donelon, however, handily prevailed with 651,285 votes (67.5 percent) to Hodge's 313,931 (32.5 percent).
==2015 campaign==
Donelon defeated opposition in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015, from a Democrat, Charlotte McDaniel McGehee, an attorney in Baton Rouge who carried the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party, and a fellow Republican, Matt David Parker (born September 1957), a veteran of the [[United States Air Force]] and an automobile body shop owner in his native [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]] in Ouachita Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Matt Parker claimed that Donelon had failed to keep down insurance rates in the state, with homeowners rates in Louisiana nearly double the national average and premiums up by more than a third since 2006. A second Democrat also ran for the position, Donald Hodge, Jr., of Baton Rouge, son of the 2011 candidate.
Donelon led the four candidate field with 561,382 votes (53.5 percent) to McGehee's 199,371 (19 percent), Parker's 147,481 (14.1 percent), and Hodge's 140,491 (13.4 percent).
==Campaign 2019==
In the nonpartisan blanket primary on October 12, 2019, Donelon faces one challenger, a fellow Republican, Timothy Jason "Tim" Temple<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/candidateinquiry|title=Candidate Inquiry|[publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref> (born February 18, 1970), a native of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish, a former insurance agent, and currently a financial services representative in Baton Rouge. Temple graduated from DeRidder High School in 1988 and thereafter [[Southern Methodist University]] in University Park near [[Dallas]], [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/timothy-temple/lacrabcake|title=Timothy Temple|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Temple has pledged to finance his campaign with a $1 million personal contribution.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donelon, Jim}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
|name=James Joseph "Jim" Donelon, III
|birth_date=December 14, 1944
|birth_place=[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=Merilynn Boudreaux Donelson
|children=Four daughters
|religion= [[Roman Catholic]]
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (1980)
|occupation=[[Lawyer]]<br>
Judge Advocate for the Louisiana Army National Guard.
|alma_mater=Jesuit High School<br>
University of New Orleans<br>
Loyola University New Orleans Law School
|office=Louisiana Insurance Commissioner
|term_start=February 15, 2006
|term_end=
|preceded=J. Robert Wooley
|succeeded=
|office2=Louisiana State Representative for Jefferson Parish
|term_start2=1982
|term_end2=2001
|preceded2=Charles Grisbaum, Jr.
|succeeded2=Tom Capella
|office3=Member of the [[Jefferson Parish Council
|term_start3=1976
|term_end3=1980
}}
'''James Joseph Donelon, III, known as '''Jim Donelon''' (born December 14, 1944), is the [[Republican Party|Republican]] insurance commissioner in [[Louisana]], a statewide post to which he succeeded on February 15, 2006.
Donelon was first elected on September 30, 2006, to complete a 15-month unexpired term as [[insurance]] commissioner, created by the resignation of [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], J. Robert Wooley.
Thereafter, Donelon won a full-term as commissioner in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, when Republican [[Bobby Jindal]] was elected [[governor]] to succeeded former opponent, Governor [[Kathleen Blanco]], a Democrat from [[Lafayette]]. Two other Republican candidates garnered the remaining 13 percent of the ballots cast in 2007.
Wooley left the insurance postion to become a [[lobbyist]] for the high-powered law firm, Adams and Reese in [[Baton Rouge]]. In 2001, Wooley appointed Donelon as his first deputy; under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, Donelon autotically became temporary commissioner upon Wooley's departure. Wooley said that he chose Donelon for chief deputy because of Donelon's impeccable reputation and his extensive knowledge of insurance:
<blockquote
Jim was the only guy I knew who could help me restore the credibility and integrity of an office embarrassed because the three previous insurance commissioners had gone to jail ... He is a consumer advocate who does the right thing for the right reasons, and he knows insurance inside and out. I believe he is the most qualified commissioner of insurance ever to assume the position.</blockquote>
Donelon serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and is chairman of the NAIC Surplus Lines Task Force. He also sits on the board of directors of the [[New Orleans]] Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the Blood Center for Southeast Louisiana. The Alliance for Good Government honored Donelon as both "Outstanding Jefferson Parish Official" and "Legislator of Distinction".
==Background=
A New Orleans native, Donelon was the namesake son of James Donelon, II (1911-1996), who is interred there at Greenwood Cemetery. He graduated from the [[Roman Catholic]] Jesuit High School, the University of New Orleans, and the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, also in New Orleans. In 1986, Donelon was the first recipient of the Homer L. Hitt "Distinguished Alumnus of the Year" award from the University of New Orleans, named for the first executive of the university<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=https://www.jimdonelon.com/|title=Jim Donelon Insurance Commissioner for Louisiana|publisher=Jimdonelon.com|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref>
Donelon retired after thirty-three years of service as State Judge Advocate for the Louisiana Army National Guard. He held the rank of colonel and received the Legion of Merit.<ref name=bio/>
A Roman Catholic, Donelon is married to the former Merilynn "Mopsy" Boudreaux. They reside in Jefferson Parish and are the parents of four daughters and have eight grandchildren.<ref name=bio/>
==Winning and losing==
Donelon's political career has been voluminous and topsy turvy. In 1975, as a Democrat, he ran successfully for the chairmanship of the Jefferson Parish Council (akin to county commissions in other states). He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, and 1999. He resigned midway through his fifth full term to join Wooley's staff.
In 1979, Donelon, still a Democrat, passed up a reelection bid to the Jefferson Parish Council to make an unsuccessful race for lieutenant governor against the Democrat Bobby Freeman of Plaquemine in Iberville Parish. Donelon was considered the "[[conservative]]" in that race to the "[[liberal]]" Freeman. Most of the supporters of Republican [[David C. Treen]], the narrow winner of the gubernatorial election that year, are believed to have backed Donelon, and most of the backers of Treen's general election opponent, Democrat Louis Lambert, a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, went with Freeman.<ref>''[[Shreveport Journa]]l,''February 21, 1980, p. 13C.</ref>
There was also a Republican in the race, Russel C. "Russ" Kiger, II (1914-1995), then a field representative of the National Cash Register Company based in Baton Rouge. Kiger said that his views parallelled those of Treen and claimed that his non-political technical background would have brought new insight into state government.<ref>''[[Shreveport Journal]],'' October 11, 1979, special election supplement.</ref> Yet, Kiger polled only 46,847 votes in the primary, fewer than half of the registered Republicans then on the Louisiana voter rolls, and was hence eliminated from the Donelon-Freeman general election. Jesse Monroe Knowles, a state senator and decorated World War II veteran from [[Lake Charles]], was yet another candidate in the lieutenant governor's contest. Like Donelon, Knowles also switched to Republican affiliation.<ref>''Baton Rouge Advocate,'' April 3, 1980, p. B1.</ref>
==Congressional campaign, 1980==
Donelon became a Republican on February 20, 1980, when he announced his candidacy to succeed Treen as the [[U.S. Representative]] from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district in a special election. Treen urged Republican to coalesce behind Donelon even though there were other longer-tenured Republicans who were interested in making the race. Donelon attracted three Democratic opponents in the special election. The strongest was state Representative Wilbert Joseph "Bill" Tauzin, II, then of Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish, who was the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Also in the race was Democratic state Senator Anthony Guarisco, Jr., of Morgan City in St. Mary Parish, considered a "fiscal conservative" but a "social liberal", who was a strong proponent of the never ratified [[Equal Rights Amendment]]. Robert "Bob" Namer (born January 1, 1947), who criticized the other three candidates for excessive campaign spending, ran as a Democrat but later switched to the GOP. He is the executive director of National Business Consultants of New Orleans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/robert-namer/robertnamer?valid=true&|title=Robert Namer|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref> <ref>''The Alexandria Town Talk,'' April 17, 1980, p. 10D</ref>
Tauzin filed with the Federal Election Commission a complaint which charged that Donelon's campaign donations were tainted. He cited Donelon's series of letters of credit with no interest required through the Jefferson Bank and Trust Company. Such loans violated federal election law, Tauzin noted. Donelon in turn claimed that the first Mrs. Tauzin obtained a $60,000 loan for her husband's campaign and criticized Tauzin for making "a friviolous charge . . . in the waning days of the campaign."<br>''The Alexandria Town Talk,'' April 17, 1980, p. 10D.</ref>
Former Governor [[Edwin Edwards]] had initially told Donelon, who had been an Edwards aide prior to 1975, that Edwards would not become involved in the campaign. When Treen began to campaign for Donelon, Edwards endorsed Tauzin, a former floor leader for Edwards.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' April 12, 1980, p. 981.</ref> Donelon entered the first round of balloting as a slight favorite in that he had won some 57 percent of the vote in the parishes which then comprised the Third District in the lieutenant governor's race against Bobby Freeman just seven months earlier.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' April 12, 1980, p. 981.</ref> Guarisco, who was endorsed by the ''New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' which had supported Treen for governor in 1979, said that he did not want the support of either Edwards or Treen because he was "independent of all that."<ref>''New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' April 19, 1980, p. 1.</ref> Tauzin was also endorsed by Lieutenant Governor Freeman, United States Senator [[Russell Long]], and Congressman [[John Breaux]], whom Donelon would oppose eighteen years later when Breaux won his third term in the [[United States Senate]].
Donelon led in the first balloting with 37,191 votes (45.1 percent), but he had peaked and could not sufficiently broaden his appeal into the special election runoff. Tauzin followed with 35,384 ballots (42.9 percent); Guarisco had 8,827 (10.7 percent), and Namer 1,067 (1.3 percent). Donelon won his own Jefferson Parish with 67.4 percent and eked out a bare 50.5 percent in often Republican-leaning Iberia Parish at the western end of the district. In the other French parishes, Donelon fared poorly, taking just 14.9 percent in Tauzin's home base of Lafourche, 33.5 percent in Terrebonne Parish (Houma), 27.3 percent in St. Mary Parish, 30.2 percent in the two St. Martin Parish precincts in the district, and 38.7 percent in St. Charles Parish. Some 60 percent of Donelon's vote came from his own Jefferson Parish.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, April 19, 1980.</ref>
The Republican National Committee joined the National Republican Congressional Committee to raise money nationwide for Donelon. RNC Chairman [[Bill Brock]], former U.S. Senator from [[Tennessee]], and congressional chairman Guy Vander Jagt of [[Michigan]], said that funds were need to purchase media and newspaper advertising to reach undecided voters and to conduct a massive "get-out-the-vote" drive. Brock and Vander Jagt said that the Louisiana special election was "[a]n opportunity to hold this congressional seat. Donelon is an outstanding Republican and former Jefferson Parish president. His Democratic opponent [future Republican Tauzin] is pro-big labor and a big spender. Democrats and labor bosses will go all out with massive campaign blitz to win control of this district. Republican leaders in Louisiana join us in urgently requesting your immediate action to stop them ..."<ref>Letter from National Republican Congressional Committee by National Chairman William Brock and Congressional Chairman Guy Vander Jagt, [[Washington, D.C]], to Republican contributors across the nation, May 1980.</ref>
The Republican effort to elect Donelon to hold the Treen seat fell short. Tauzin prevailed with 62,108 votes (53.1 percent) to Donelon's 54,815 ballots (46.9 percent). Donelon's 2/3 majority in Jefferson Parish was insufficient to offset huge Tauzin majorities in Lafourche, St. Charles, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Terrebonne parishes. In Iberia Parish, the two split the vote, with Tauzin securing 50.1 percent. The turnout in the May 17 special election runoff was 116,923, compared to 82,462 in the April 19 first round of balloting.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, May 17, 1980.</ref> The greater participation occurred despite flooding that inundated much of south Louisiana the previous day.<ref>''The Baton Rouge Advocate,'' May 17, 1980, p. 1.</ref>
After his loss, Donelon announced that he would not challenge Tauzin for a full term later in the year. Tauzin became unbeatable in the district. Even when he switched parties, he was then untouchable by a Democratic opponent.
==Election to legislature, 1982==
In a special election in 1982, Donelon won the seat vacated by the resignation of Representative Charles Grisbaum, Jr., a Democrat-turned-Republican. Grisbaum, who became a judge on the new Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Gretna in Jefferson Parish, also ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1974 against David Treen. Grisbaum became a friend of Treen's during that campaign, and, in 1977, he switched parties while continuing his legislative service from Jefferson Parish. Grisbaum by 1980 had become one of Treen's point men in the legislature.
Donelon, who followed in Grisbaum's path, also has ties to Treen. It had been then newly inaugurated Governor Treen in 1980, who proposed that Republicans unite behind Donelon for the special election to choose Treen's congressional successor. In 1996–1997, the [[Christian Coalition]] gave him an overall 80 percent rating for that legislative session.
After he won repeated legislative reelection in Jefferson Parish, Donelon became his party's "sacrificial lamb" in 1998 against U. S. Senator John Breaux of Crowley in Acadia Parish, who was running for a third and, as it turned out, final term as senator. Donelon stepped up to run when other candidates deferred to the inevitability of Breaux's reelection. The race was not close. Breaux won the nonpartisan blanket primary, often called the jungle primary, outright with 620,504 votes (64 percent). Donelon trailed with 306,616 (32 percent). The remaining 4 percent was shared by a half-dozen minor candidates, including Luther D. Knox of Winnsboro in Franklin Parish, who legally changed his name to include "Nota", meaning "None of the Above" to stress the need for the option of rejecting all the declared candidates. <ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 3, 1998.</ref>
Donelon held the legislative seat, District 98, for nineteen years until his resignation on June 30, 2001. As he took the position in the Department of Insurance, Donelon was succeeded by a fellow Republican, Tom Capella.
Before he left the legislature, Donelon ran in a special judicial election on March 27, 1999. He was defeated by Republican Ronald Bodenheimer (born 1953), who polled 8,981 votes (55 percent) to Donelon's 7,300 (45 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns (Jefferson Parish, March 27, 1999.</ref> In that race Donelon unsuccessfully used the slogan "Who Better to Interpret the Laws Than the Person Who Wrote Them?" Judge Bodenheimer, a former prosecutor, went to prison for three years on conviction of having conspired to plant the prescription painkiller [[OxyContin]] in the automobile of an [[FBI]] informant who frequently complained about drug trafficking and zoning violations at a seafood marina owned by Bodenheimer in Orleans Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.noethics.net/News/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2266:former-judge-ronald-bodenheimer-of-new-orleans-criminal-convict-&Itemid=82 |title=Former Judge Ronald Bodenheimer of New Orleans; criminal, convict|publisher=The Committee to Expose Dishonest and Incompetent Judges, Attorney, and Public Official|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref>
Donelon, along with fellow lawmakers Kernan "Skip" Hand, Ken Hollis, and Steve Theriot, all of the New Orleans suburbs, admitted to having given [[Tulane University]] scholarships to their children. Legislators are allowed under an 1884 law to designate one Tulane scholarship recipient per year, but the practice of giving such awards, totaling $17,000 in 1993 dollars, to family members had been previously unknown.
==Insurance commissioner==
While serving in the Louisiana House, a part-time position, Donelon maintained his private law practice. In the legislature, he was chairman of the Committee on Insurance and Co-Chairman of the Republican legislative delegation. He was sworn in as insurance commissioner on February 15, 2006.
On June 5, 2006, Commissioner Donelon issued Advisory Letter 06-04 to the approximately one hundred companies with homeowners insurance policies in Louisiana. The letter requests their cooperation in extending from one to two years the prescriptive period for policyholders with [[Hurricane Katrina]] and/or Hurricane Rita claims to file no later than August 1, 2006. In most cases, a Louisiana policyholder's right to file suit on a homeowners insurance claim is limited to twelve months. Donelon said that "given the unprecedented number of claims following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, one year is simply not going to be enough time for many policyholders and insurance companies to work out a settlement favorable to both parties."
Wooley said that he had planned to resign prior to the hurricanes, "[but] when Katrina hit, we decided we had to try to get through at least the crisis part of it". Wooley said that he had accomplished most of his goals as commissioner prior to the hurricanes, the most important of which was restoring the public image of the Department of Insurance.
Wooley joined the department in 1999 as the chief deputy for then Insurance Commissioner [[James H. "Jim" Brown]]. In the fall of 2000, Brown, a Democrat, was convicted of lying to an FBI agent, and Wooley moved up to the commissioner's position. Wooley was the first commissioner to leave office without a streak of scandal. His predecessors went to prison. Brown served a six-month sentence in the facility in Oakdale in Allen Parish. Democrat Douglas D. "Doug" Green of Baton Rouge received twenty-five years for his part in the Champion Insurance scandal of the late 1980s but served eleven years. Sherman Albert Bernard, Sr., who is also remembered for having opposed the Democratic re-nomination of Senator Russell Long in 1974, served time for extorting bribes from insurance companies doing business with the state.
Commissioner Donelon clashed with former Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot, one of Donelon's former legislative colleagues who had also obtained Tulane scholarships for a family member. As part of an investigation, Theriot demanded department records from Donelon regarding the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Theriot's probe led to the indictment of the corporation's former president, Terry Lisotta. Ultimately, Theriot had to obtain a court order to inspect the records, which Donelon originally said were off limits.
==2006 special election==
In the special election, Donelon faced a fellow Democrat-turned-Republican in state Senator James David Cain of Dry Creek. Cain questioned Donelon's commitment to the Republican Party because of Donelon's acceptance of the staff appointment from the Democrat Wooley. Yet, Donelon has been a registered Republican for twenty years longer than Cain. Cain's opponents said that he violated [[Ronald W. Reagan]]'s "Eleventh Commandment": "Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican." Cain's state Senate term expired on January 14, 2008.
Cain attempted to taint Donelon into a "guilt by association" with the legal problems that past Louisiana insurance commissioners have endured. Donelon fired back. The Internet site bayoubuzz.com reported that Donelon courted local insurance agencies. He, like Wooley and Wooley’s former boss, Jim Brown, built a strong popularity with the industry's rank and file. Bayoubuzz.com also obtained a memo that seems to outline an aggressive strategy to appeal to frustrated homeowners still awaiting their benefits from the hurricane damage. Donelon also pledged to continue Wooley's work at improving the image of the agency.
In his term as chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, Cain criticized many of the policies of the Wooley administration, which Donelon had continued. Cain decried as "too little, too late" investigations by the Department of Insurance conducted against companies that tried to avoid reimbursing customers. He also attacked Donelon in the post-storm era, most notably over the continued operations of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
In the special election in 2006, Donelon polled 50.1 percent of the ballots cast in a low-turnout contest. His 283,316 votes were 847 more than the tabulations of his two opponents combined. Republican state Senator James David Cain of Sabine Parish polled 222,414 (39 percent); S. B. A. Zaitoon of the [[Libertarian Party]], received 60,094 votes (11 percent). There was no Democrat in the special election. Donelon ran strongest in urban areas; Cain, in rural parishes and small towns.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, September 30, 2006.</ref>
==2011 reelection==
Donelon was challenged for his second full term as commissioner in the primary held on October 22, 2011, by public-interest attorney Donald Carl Hodge, a Democrat. During the campaign, questions arose about the ethics of the Department of Insurance, the high cost of insurance rates, and the amount of funds that Donelon received from insurance companies. Donelon, however, handily prevailed with 651,285 votes (67.5 percent) to Hodge's 313,931 (32.5 percent).
==2015 campaign==
Donelon defeated opposition in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015, from a Democrat, Charlotte McDaniel McGehee, an attorney in Baton Rouge who carried the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party, and a fellow Republican, Matt David Parker (born September 1957), a veteran of the [[United States Air Force]] and an automobile body shop owner in his native [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]] in Ouachita Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Matt Parker claimed that Donelon had failed to keep down insurance rates in the state, with homeowners rates in Louisiana nearly double the national average and premiums up by more than a third since 2006. A second Democrat also ran for the position, Donald Hodge, Jr., of Baton Rouge, son of the 2011 candidate.
Donelon led the four candidate field with 561,382 votes (53.5 percent) to McGehee's 199,371 (19 percent), Parker's 147,481 (14.1 percent), and Hodge's 140,491 (13.4 percent).
==Campaign 2019==
In the nonpartisan blanket primary on October 12, 2019, Donelon faces one challenger, a fellow Republican, Timothy Jason "Tim" Temple<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/candidateinquiry|title=Candidate Inquiry|[publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref> (born February 18, 1970), a native of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish, a former insurance agent, and currently a financial services representative in Baton Rouge. Temple graduated from DeRidder High School in 1988 and thereafter [[Southern Methodist University]] in University Park near [[Dallas]], [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/timothy-temple/lacrabcake|title=Timothy Temple|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Temple has pledged to finance his campaign with a $1 million personal contribution.
==References==
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