Changes

==Political life==

==Political life==

In 1979, Neeson unseated one-term Democratic Senator [[Virginia Shehee|Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee]], a prominent civic leader and an officer of the Kilpatrick Funeral Home and Life Insurance companies, who died in 2015. Neeson was reelected in 1983, when he halted a challenge from Democrat former Senator [[C. K. Carter, Jr.]], whom Shehee had succeeded in 1975, with a margin of twenty-three votes. In 1987, Neeson only narrowly defeated the [[Republican Party|Republican]] candidate, [[Ron Bean]] of Shreveport, 10,451 (50.2 percent) to 10,373 (49.8 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election returns, November 21, 1987.</ref> Four years later in 1991, Bean, a [[Moderate Republican]], won the seat when Neeson declined to seek a fourth term, having narrowly defeated fellow Republican [[Tommy Armstrong]], who had served fifteen years on the Caddo Parish Commission and a year in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Bean served in the Senate from 1992 to 2004.

In 1979, Neeson unseated one-term Democratic Senator [[Virginia Shehee|Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee]], a prominent civic leader and an officer of the Kilpatrick Funeral Home and Life Insurance companies, who died in 2015. Neeson was reelected in 1983, when he halted a challenge from Democrat former Senator [[C. Kay Carter, Jr.]], whom Shehee had succeeded in 1975, with a margin of twenty-three votes. In 1987, Neeson only narrowly defeated the [[Republican Party|Republican]] candidate, [[Ron Bean]] of Shreveport, 10,451 (50.2 percent) to 10,373 (49.8 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election returns, November 21, 1987.</ref> Four years later in 1991, Bean, a [[Moderate Republican]], won the seat when Neeson declined to seek a fourth term, having narrowly defeated fellow Republican [[Tommy Armstrong]], who had served fifteen years on the Caddo Parish Commission and a year in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Bean served in the Senate from 1992 to 2004.

During his Senate tenure, Neeson chaired the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:cG-Q6RkZKMIJ:www.ag.state.la.us/Shared/ViewDoc.aspx%3FType%3D4%26Doc%3D11826+Richard+G.+Neeson&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us|title=Opinion No. 89-679|publisher=webcache.googleusercontent.com|accessdate=May 1, 2010}}</ref>

During his Senate tenure, Neeson chaired the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:cG-Q6RkZKMIJ:www.ag.state.la.us/Shared/ViewDoc.aspx%3FType%3D4%26Doc%3D11826+Richard+G.+Neeson&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us|title=Opinion No. 89-679|publisher=webcache.googleusercontent.com|accessdate=May 1, 2010}}</ref>