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Lenard became commissioner more than a year after the defeat of Governor [[David C. Treen]], Louisiana’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction, who was handily unseated in the fall of 1983 by Democratic former Governor  [[Edwin Edwards]]. Though [[Ronald W. Reagan]] twice won Louisiana’s [[electoral vote]]s for president, the Louisiana GOP grew slowly during the 1980s, hurt badly by its failure to win the election for [[U.S. Senator]] in 1986 to choose a successor to veteran [[Russell Long]].​

Lenard became commissioner more than a year after the defeat of Governor [[David C. Treen]], Louisiana’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction, who was handily unseated in the fall of 1983 by Democratic former Governor  [[Edwin Edwards]]. Though [[Ronald W. Reagan]] twice won Louisiana’s [[electoral vote]]s for president, the Louisiana GOP grew slowly during the 1980s, hurt badly by its failure to win the election for [[U.S. Senator]] in 1986 to choose a successor to veteran [[Russell Long]].​

Jerry C. Spears of Keithville, the clerk of the Caddo Parish Commission, recalls Lenard, who held the District 8 seat, as “kind of a watchdog over spending. A budget hawk.” During his tenure, Lenard worked with fellow commissioners to revamp the animal control ordinance and was involved in the efforts to obtain a new juvenile services building and jail.<ref name=stimes>{{cite web|url=[http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/OBITUARIES01/806130330/1046/js07|title=Former commissioner dies|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=June 12, 2019}}</ref>​

Jerry C. Spears of Keithville, the clerk of the Caddo Parish Commission, recalls Lenard, who held the District 8 seat, as “kind of a watchdog over spending. A budget hawk.” During his tenure, Lenard worked with fellow commissioners to revamp the animal control ordinance and was involved in the efforts to obtain a new juvenile services building and jail.<ref name=stimes>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/OBITUARIES01/806130330/1046/js07|title=Former commissioner dies|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=June 12, 2019}}</ref>​

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Lenard was succeeded on the commission by fellow Republican John P. Escude. In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 21, 1995, Escude defeated Republican Jeffrey D. Sadow, a [[political science]] professor at LSU in Shreveport, 4,697 votes (56.4 percent) to 3,628 (43.6 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 21, 1995.</ref>​

Lenard was succeeded on the commission by fellow Republican John P. Escude. In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 21, 1995, Escude defeated Republican Jeffrey D. Sadow, a [[political science]] professor at LSU in Shreveport, 4,697 votes (56.4 percent) to 3,628 (43.6 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 21, 1995.</ref>​