Hunter Greene

Hunter Vann Greene (born 1966) is an attorney in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 66 in East Baton Rouge Parish.

On October 25, 2011, Governor Bobby Jindal endorsed Chuck Kleckley of Lake Charles as his choice to succeed the term-limited Jim Tucker as the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives.^[1] Greene and fellow Baton Rouge Representative Erich Ponti and Republican Representative Joel Robideaux of Lafayette and the Democrat Jeff Arnold of New Orleans were also seeking support for the presiding officer's position.^[2]The House of Representatives usually confirms the governor's choice as the Speaker.

Background

Greene was born, not in Baton Rouge, but in Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana to Herbert Vann Greene (1938–2010), a native of Bernice in Union Parish, and the former Edna Jan Barnett, originally from Cotton Valley in Webster Parish. The senior Greene was a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and a probation officer in Caddo Parish before he entered the business sector. Hunter Greene has a sister, Kelly Greene-Byram and husband, Kelly, of Shreveport, and a brother, Jade Greene, and wife, Joni, of Lebanon, Tennessee.^[3]

Greene graduated in 1984 from Southwood High School in Shreveport. In 1989, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1994, Greene, who is white, procured a law degree from historically black Southern University, also in Baton Rouge.^[4][5] Greene's legal practice in Baton Rouge specializes in child custody^[6] and divorce initiated by men.^[7]

Though his father was Baptist,^[3] Hunter Greene is Roman Catholic. Greene and his wife, the former Emily Aaron, have three children, Ashley, Matthew, and Lauren Greene, all of who attended Catholic schools. Active in the Thomas More Catholic Church, Hunter and Emily Greene are eucharistic ministers.^[8]

Greene is a tennis player and golfer and formerly coached basketball for St. Thomas More Church and the YMCA.^[8]

Legislative service

In 2005, Greene won a special election to the House by defeating a fellow Republican, Sean Riecke, 2,951 (53.5 percent) to 2,565 (46.5 percent).^[9] The vacancy occurred when the Republican Representative Mike Futrell resigned to become state director for U.S. Senator David Vitter, and later the chief administrative officer of East Baton Rouge Parish.^[10]

District 66 covers a large swath of Baton Rouge between downtown and mid-city. It includes the commercial and retail corridor along Florida Boulevard and reaches Jones Creek Road and Coursey Boulevard, a major growth area. Cortana Mall is located in the district; so is Bon Carre’, a technology center. District residents are small businessmen, middle managers, retirees, and younger couples. The district has few African American voters and hence favorable prospects for the GOP. Greene was unopposed for his first full term in the 2007 primary.^[5] The last Democrat to hold the seat, the newspaper publisher Woody Jenkins, later switched to the Republican Party to make unsuccessful races for the U.S. Senate in 1996 and the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008.^[11]

Greene is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a member of the Budget Committee.^[4] He formerly served on the House committees on Judiciary, Governmental Affairs, and Transportation, Highways and Public Works. As a freshman lawmaker, Greene wrote the state bill which defines specific ways to convict sexual predators on the Internet. In 2006, he sponsored a constitutional amendment to strengthen the qualifications needed for judges to run for office. He also authored legislation to eliminate the gift tax and repeal the inheritance tax. He supported repeal of the controversial Stelly Plan, named for former Representative Vic Stelly, which traded an increase in property taxes in exchange for a reduction in the state sales tax. Greene proposed a state income tax deduction for private school tuition, but the plan was vetoed by former Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.^[5]

In the spring of 2011, he ran unsuccessfully for a family court judgeship vacancy in East Baton Rouge Parish. Another Republican, Charlene Charlet Day, a former teacher who practices law in Zachary and resides in Central, Louisiana, narrowly outpolled the better-known Greene, 5,617 (50.7 percent) to 5,462 (49.3 percent).^[12] Day attributed her victory to grassroots organizers.^[13] After that defeat, Greene reaffirmed his commitment to remain in the state House and run for Speaker, where potential opponents will include Republicans Chuck Kleckley of Lake Charles and Erich Ponti of Baton Rouge, Democrat Jeff Arnold of New Orleans, and Independent Joel Robideaux of Lafayette.^[14]

References