Difference between revisions of "Eddie Lambert"

Revision as of 02:19, October 15, 2019

​ Eddie Joseph Lambert (born February 16, 1956)^[1] is an attorney from Prairieville, Louisiana,^[1] who is the state senator for District 18, which encompasses Ascension, Livingston, St. James, and St. John the Baptist parishes. He is a former state representative for District 59 in Ascension Parish.^[2]​

When term-limited in the House, Lambert ran without opposition for his Senate seat, which was vacated by the term-limited Jody Amedee, another Republican, in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015.

Background

​ The son of Elmo and Concetta Lucia Lambert, Eddie Lambert was born^[1] and reared in Baton Rouge, where he graduated in 1974 from Istrouma High School and played football and baseball.^[3] Lambert then graduated from Louisiana State University. In 1982, he procured the Juris Doctorate degree from the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Prior to establishing his legal practice, Lambert worked as an alligator hunter for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.^[4] Over the years, he continued his small business of rasing crawfish. He is a member of Ducks Unlimited and the National Rifle Association.^[3]

Lambert's law firm, Lambert & Lambert, located in Gonzales though his residence is in Prairieville, specializes in Personal Injury, Criminal, Civil, Criminal Law, and Civil Law.^[5] Lambert began his law practice in 1985 and for a time was an assistant district attorney in the 23rd Judicial District. He has referred to himself as a former "hard-nosed prosecutor."^[3]

Personal life

Lambert and his wife, the former Marilyn Montgomery, married in 1985. Originally from Port Gibson, Mississippi, she graduated from Mississippi State University at Starkville with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. Like her husband, she is a graduate of the LSU Law School. She was the 2011 vice president of Delta Gamma in Baton Rouge, a member of Rotary Internationa], and an Ascension Parish judge.^[6]

The Lamberts have three children, Mary Claire, John Malcolm, and Lori Lambert. Lambert is Roman Catholic^[1] and a member of the Knights of Columbus men's organization. The family attends St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Prairieville.^[7]​

Legislative career

​ Lambert was elected to the House in 2003, when he upset the incumbent Republican Juba Diez. In the primary, Lambert and another Republican, George Cabanas, polled 6,581 votes (42.4 percent) and 3,002 (19.3 percent), respectively, as Diez trailed with 5,950 (38.3 percent.^[8] In the general election on November 15, 2003, Lambert topped Diez, 9,601 votes (57.7 percent) to 7,026 (42.3 percent).^[9] As a Democrat in 1999, Diez had polled 63 percent of the primary vote against another Democrat, Jeff Burns.^[10]

In 2007, Lambert was reelected to the House without opposition. He was the vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Education. He was a member of the committees on the Budget and Natural Resources and Environment as well as the subcommittees on Business Development and Litigation.^[4]

In 2011, Lambert voted with the House majority to make the Louisiana cigarette tax permanent. He then voted to override a veto by then Governor Bobby Jindal, who killed the permanent cigarette tax. The veto override failed to gain the two-thirds needed vote of the state House. Lambert voted to prohibit the holding of hand-held cellular devices while driving, another measure which failed. In 2010, he was ranked 100 percent by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, but only 58 percent in 2008-2009 by the Louisiana National Federation of Independent Business.^[11] Considered a strong conservative, Lambert focused on extending and improving the road network in House District 59. He also favoed requiring lawmakers and local officials to disclose their personal incomes.^[12]​

Most of Ascension Parish falls within House District 59, located on the east bank of the Mississippi River and among the fastest-growing areas of the state. Former farmlands have become suburbia, with residents from Baton Rouge fleeing urban problems but still plagued by floods and hurricanes. Gonzales is a major retail center, with a large outlet mall nearby but outside the House district. Ascension Parish still has many working-class residents employed in construction and petrochemical plants, but the influence of organized labor there has declined in recent years. Suburban development has brought more middle-class residents who commute to administrative, government. and professional positions in Baton Rouge.^[12]​

Near the end of the 2011 legislative session, Lambert sponsored a successful bill which returned the Louisiana U.S. presidential primary date from February, when it was held in 2008, to March, the date in and prior to 2004. Lambert's Republican colleague, Alan Seabaugh of Shreveport, said that without the measure, signed by Governor Jindal, Louisiana would have forfeited half of its delegates at the 2012 Republican National Convention held in Tampa, Florida. None of the Louisiana Democratic delegates in 2012 would have been eligible to cast convention ballots at the conclave in Charlotte, North Carolina, unless the date were returned to March. The measure hence switches the date of the primary to the third Saturday after the first Tuesday in March. Lambert, who has sought to tighten drunk-driving laws,^[12] attached a rider to the presidential primary bill which clarifies the drinking age for underage boaters on Louisiana waterways.^[13]​​

Lambert won a third House term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011. Since taking office in 2004, Lambert pushed for the four-laning of Louisiana Highway 42 in Prairieville. The previous highway was two-laned and had open ditches on both sides of the roadway.^[14]​

Advancing to the state Senate

Lambert succeeded Jody Amedee in Senate District 18, which includes east Ascension, Lower Livingston, St. James, and St. John the Baptistparishes.^[15][16]

In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 12, 2019, Lambert won his second term in the Senate without opposition.​ ​

References

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