John Hainkel

John Joseph Hainkel Jr.
Louisiana State Representative for Orleans Parish
Preceded by	At-large delegation
Succeeded by	James St. Raymond
Louisiana State House Speaker
In office 1980–1984
Preceded by	E. L. "Bubba" Henry
Succeeded by	John Alario
Louisiana State Senator for District 6 (portions of Jefferson, Orleans, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa parishes)
Incumbent
Assumed office  1988
Preceded by	Thomas A. Casey
Succeeded by	Julie Quinn
President of the Louisiana State Senate
In office 2000–2004
Preceded by	Randy Ewing
Succeeded by	Donald E. Hines
Born	March 24, 1938 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Died	April 15, 2005 (aged 67) Poplarville Pearl River County Mississippi
Political party	Democrat-turned-Republican
Spouse(s)	Divorced
Children	Three children
Alma mater	De La Salle High School Tulane University Tulane Law School
Occupation	Attorney

John Joseph Hainkel, Jr. (March 24, 1938 – April 15, 2005), was a legislator from New Orleans, Louisiana, who died in office after thirty-seven years of service. He was the first person in his state and the second in United States history to have been elected as both Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives and President of the state Senate.

In the seventy-four legislative sessions that he attended, Hainkel was a champion of a more independent legislature. After joining the "Young Turks" movement of the 1970s, he became known as strong foe of Governor Edwin Edwards on gambling issues.

Hainkel was an opponent of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was rejected in a key House committee in 1976. When the ERA failed to gain ratification after an extended deadline, Hainkel, then Speaker, addressed a gathering of the opponents held in Baton Rouge on June 30, 1982. Hainkel noted that many states "unthinkingly" ratified the ERA when it passed Congress early in 1972 because that "was the thing to do" then. Hainkel said that he objected to placing accession rights and family law subservient to federal law. "Already in this state, credit laws have been changed, head and master changed to joint management, and through commerce and economics, we've addressed ourselves to problems. We've had increased equality on the basis of sex, but we've had it in the proper form, handled in the statutes of this state," Hainkel said.

Hainkel was elected to the Senate in 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003. He served as that body's president during the second term of Republican former Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster Jr., from 2000 to 2004.

A colorful lawmaker

With his front-row seat in the chamber, Hainkel was one of the legislature's most colorful figures. He wound up his career as a "bridge-building" Republican who put the interests of his state ahead of party. His Senate district encompassed only a sliver of his original Uptown base but included portions of Jefferson, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa parishes, including Hammond's Southeastern Louisiana University for which he became a legislative champion.

"A New Orleanian by birth, demeanor, appearance and conduct, he was really a good ol' boy in lifelong disguise," recalled then State Senator Jay Dardenne, a Baton Rouge Moderate Republican, another of Hainkel's close legislative allies.

In the words of Ed Anderson of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, "Hainkel was a legislative leader and deal-broker who could be moved to tears when recognizing an old friend or meeting a disabled child."

Anderson continued, "He moved at ease between the world of gentility and the tobacco-chewing country store crowd. He frequently wore madras clothes with mismatched shirts, whether he was in the halls of power or at his St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church parish.

"He knew almost all the roadside stands, bars, and restaurants in the district. He had a flair for making a point during the debate, punctuating his speeches with animated arm-flailing and near-screams. He once brought raw pork chops to the Senate floor when he went on a tear against 'pork barrel-spending' in a bill."

Ed Anderson added that Hainkel "had a joie de vivre.... Some viewed him as a curmudgeon, but he had a softer side and was always ready to party or enjoy a cookout, a parade, a fair, or a festival. He embraced enemies as friends after a day of legislative battle, literally -- sometimes hugging them as his hoarse laugh filled a room," much as Tip O'Neill sometimes told President Ronald Reagan, whom he opposed on most legislative matters, that they could have a drink together whenever it was after 6 p.m.

Hainkel was a chef in the Louisiana tradition but was most famous for his homemade fig ice cream.

Hainkel's death

Hainkel's longtime law partner, William Porteous, said that Hainkel had been at a meeting near Poplarville in Pearl River County in southwestern Mississippi on April 14, 2005, with other Republican lawmakers and was found dead in his bed the next morning. "They were at a camp. He just didn't wake up," Porteous explained. A coroner's report revealed that Hainkel asphyxiated. Apparently, fluid blocked his breathing passages as he slept and entered his lungs. (He did not succumb to heart failure, as originally thought.) He had spent his last evening cooking for friends, eating, and recounting political "war stories."

"I couldn't picture John Hainkel going out any other way," said then-Senator Tom Schedler, a Mandeville Republican and one of his closest friends, who later became Louisiana secretary of state.

Hainkel, who was divorced, was survived by three children and five grandchildren.

Southeastern Louisiana University

Hainkel, although a graduate of Tulane University, also took a special interest in Southeastern Louisiana University, which, as a public institution, he represented as a state senator. His Senate District 6 straddled Lake Pontchartrain, causing Hainkel to quip that he represented more fish than people. Hainkel originated the Pontchartrain Cup, a trophy traded between Tulane and Southeastern on the basis of which team wins the annual baseball game.

Hainkel, more than anyone else, was responsible for gaining over $5 million of state funding for the renovation of the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in the Historic District of Hammond and the acquisition of the Columbia's by Southeastern Louisiana University. The operatic performance room within the spacious theatre is named Hainkel Hall, and a plaque commemorating Senator Hainkel appears prominently in the lobby.

Hainkel was honored in 1996 in Hammond with Southeastern Louisiana University's "Golden Ambassador Award," a prestigious designation given for "outstanding service, achievement, and/or humanitarian efforts."

Legacy and honors

In June 2006, a bust of Hainkel was placed in the rotunda of the state Capitol. The Senate's briefing room in the Capitol has also been named for Hainkel. Gambit Weekly noted, "With theater-style seating and large plasma monitors, the John Hainkel Room is among the most luxurious in the Capitol."

Shortly after Hainkel's death, Congress, on a motion from Louisiana Republican Bobby Jindal (who was elected governor of Louisiana in 2007, declared that Hainkel's death "is a loss for me and for all Louisiana. He was a good friend and one of the most supportive people I know. He was always ready to lend a helping and guiding hand, whatever the situation may be." Later, at Jindal's request, Congress voted to rename the post office in Hammond in Tangipahoa Parish to honor Hainkel.</ref>

Hainkel is also the eponym of the John J. Hainkel Jr. Home and Rehab Center, a New Orleans unit of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Hainkel championed funding for the facility during his time in the Senate.

The Picayune's Anderson noted that Hainkel loved traditions: his birthday at a Tulane baseball game, for instance, and frequent parties for Tulane, LSU, and Southeastern sports contests, in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or Hammond. Anderson called him a "one-man tourism bureau" who promoted his love of Louisiana wherever he went. "His politicking was one-on-one: stumping the corner stores, roadside stands and restaurants of his district, shucking oysters at a school fair or tossing pumpkins in a parade."

Senator Robert J. Barham, a Republican from Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish, Republican, said of his fallen colleague: "It will be surreal when you show up for the session and look for John Hainkel, and he won't be there."

"John Hainkel was comfortable in the package God gave him," said Jay Dardenne, who was elected Louisiana secretary of state in a special election on September 30, 2006, and subsequently became lieutenant governor and the state commissioner of administration.

The New Orleans Chapter of the Alliance for Good Government awarded him their "Legislator of the Year" award more than once and with their" Special Award" in 1983. The Associated Builders and Contractors of Louisiana named him "Man of the Year" in 1972; he was honored with the Louisiana/Mississippi Associated Press Margaret Dixon Award in 1980; as "Alumnus of the Yea" of Tulane University, and as Alumnus of the Year of De La Salle High School. In 1988, Senator Hainkel was chosen Legislator of the Year by the Louisiana Restaurant Association. In 1999, Senator Hainkel was honored by the Tangipahoa Parish School Board for his leadership in providing for funding for public education.

Hainkel was succeeded in the Louisiana Senate by fellow Republican Julie Quinn, who won a special election runoff election in July 2005 against another Republican, Diane Winston, a state representative from Covington in St. Tammany Parish. After the district was considerably altered in the 2011 redistricting, Quinn did not seek reelection.

In 2002, Hainkel was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.