Changes

==Politics==

==Politics==

A Democrat, Hilburn was an admirer of former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner [[James H. "Jim" Brown]], who was forced from office in 2000 after multiple indictments but conviction only on one count for lying in an informal interview to an agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. Early in 2005, Hilburn reviewed Brown's book ''Justice Denied'' in which the former commissioner, who also served as a state senator and as the Louisiana Secretary of State, defends his conduct in office and denies having given false statements to the FBI. In his column Hilburn recalled the 1978 primary election for Louisiana's 5th congressional district]] seat in which the one-term Democrat incumbent, Thomas Jerald "Jerry" Huckaby, easily defeated Brown. Hilburn surprises readers; after praising Brown's public service, he reveals that he had voted for Huckaby in the race anyway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thelisburnpress.com/BookReviewTimes.html|title=Book Speaks to Travesty of Justice|date=January 10, 2005|publisher=thelisburnpress.com|accessdate=June 16, 2013}}</ref>Hilburn was originally a more [[conservative]] Democrat who supported [[Richard M. Nixon]] and [[Barry Goldwater]] in the 1960 and 1964 presidential elections, respectively, but thereafter shifted ideological lines to become decades later an active backer of [[Barack H. Obama]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20131121/OPINION02/311210043/Wiley-Hilburn-Column-JFK-Guilt-grief-another-direction|title=Wiley Hilburn Column: JFK - Guilt, grief and another direction|date=November 22, 2013|publisher=''The Monroe News Star''|accessdate=November 22, 2013}}</ref>​

A Democrat, Hilburn was an admirer of former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner [[James H. "Jim" Brown]], who was forced from office in 2000 after multiple indictments but conviction only on one count for lying in an informal interview to an agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. Early in 2005, Hilburn reviewed Brown's book ''Justice Denied'' in which the former commissioner, who also served as a state senator and as the Louisiana Secretary of State, defends his conduct in office and denies having given false statements to the FBI. In his column Hilburn recalled the 1978 primary election for Louisiana's 5th congressional district]] seat in which the one-term Democrat incumbent, Thomas Jerald "Jerry" Huckaby, easily defeated Brown. Hilburn surprises readers; after praising Brown's public service, he reveals that he had voted for Huckaby in the race anyway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thelisburnpress.com/BookReviewTimes.html|title=Book Speaks to Travesty of Justice|date=January 10, 2005|publisher=thelisburnpress.com|accessdate=June 16, 2013}}</ref>

 

Hilburn was originally a more [[conservative]] Democrat who supported [[Richard M. Nixon]] and [[Barry Goldwater]] in the 1960 and 1964 presidential elections, respectively, but thereafter shifted ideological lines to become decades later an active backer of [[Barack H. Obama]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20131121/OPINION02/311210043/Wiley-Hilburn-Column-JFK-Guilt-grief-another-direction|title=Wiley Hilburn Column: JFK - Guilt, grief and another direction|date=November 22, 2013|publisher=''The Monroe News Star''|accessdate=November 22, 2013}}</ref>​

On November 19, 2007, Hilburn published a column in ''The Shreveport Times'' which purports that former Louisiana [[Governor]] [[Kathleen Blanco]] would be judged much kinder by history than the difficult circumstances which followed [[Hurricane Katrina]]. It was those problems that prompted Blanco , a Democrat who died in 2019, not to seek a second term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007. Victory instead went to Blanco's 2003 opponent, Republican [[Bobby Jindal]]. Wiley Hilburn attended a bipartisan reception for Blanco at the Squire Creek Country Club near his home in Choudrant in Lincoln Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071119/NEWS0804/711190316/1060/NEWS01|title=Wiley Hilburn: History to be kinder to Blanco than her storm-tossed administration|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=November 19, 2007|accessdate=January 18, 2014}}</ref>​

On November 19, 2007, Hilburn published a column in ''The Shreveport Times'' which purports that former Louisiana [[Governor]] [[Kathleen Blanco]] would be judged much kinder by history than the difficult circumstances which followed [[Hurricane Katrina]]. It was those problems that prompted Blanco , a Democrat who died in 2019, not to seek a second term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007. Victory instead went to Blanco's 2003 opponent, Republican [[Bobby Jindal]]. Wiley Hilburn attended a bipartisan reception for Blanco at the Squire Creek Country Club near his home in Choudrant in Lincoln Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071119/NEWS0804/711190316/1060/NEWS01|title=Wiley Hilburn: History to be kinder to Blanco than her storm-tossed administration|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=November 19, 2007|accessdate=January 18, 2014}}</ref>​