Robert E. "Bob" Barton

Robert Earl "Bob" Barton (born July 3, 1948) is the first Republican to have served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from Bossier Parish. A former newspaper owner from Bossier City, Barton held the District 8 seat from 1996-2000. The position opened when the 16-year incumbent, Robert Roy Adley, ran for governor in the 1995 primary election. Barton did not seek reelection in the 1999 primary. Instead, he unsuccessfully challenged Republican State Senator Max T. Malone. Fellow Republican Jane H. Smith, the former Bossier Parish school superintendent, won Barton's seat without opposition from either party.^[1] Smith remains representative, and Adley is a member of the Louisiana State Senate from Bossier and Webster parishes.

Barton graduated from Bay High School in Panama City, Florida. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of West Florida in Pensacola and a master's degree from Florida State University in Tallahassee. He served in the United States Army from 1970-1973. Barton has also been affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club. He is Roman Catholic. As the former owner and publisher of the Bossier Press (since the Bossier Press-Tribune), Barton was a past president of the Louisiana Press Association and held membership in the National Newspaper Association.^[2] Barton and his wife, the former Jane Susan Kohlhaas, reside in Benton, the seat of Bossier Parish located north of Bossier City.

On October 21, 1995, Barton defeated the Democrat Bob G. Burford (1942–2009) in a low-turnout election, 5,416 votes (59.2 percent) to 3,740 (40.8 percent).^[3] Burford served as an academic chairperson at Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City and as a two-term member of the Bossier Parish Police Jury prior to relocating to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1997.^[4]

During the late 1990s, Barton, like Burford, was also affiliated with Bossier Parish Community College in the role of assistant to the then chancellor, Tom Carleton.^[1]

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