Bodi White

Mack A. "Bodi" White, Jr. (born 1956) is an incoming Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from Central City in East Baton Rouge Parish in south Louisiana. His District 6 includes parts of East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa parishes.^[1]

White won the Senate seat in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011, by having narrowly defeated fellow Republican Mike Mannino, 12,886 votes (51.7 percent) to 12,047 (48.3 percent).^[2] The incumbent senator, Republican Julie Quinn of Jefferson Parish, did not seek reelection.^[3]

Under redistricting, Senate District 6 has a different configuration reaching from Baton Rouge to the Florida Parishes. White describes the district as "sprawling, almost 100 miles long. It is an area of tremendous growth. The I-10 and I-12 corridors have added five new representative districts and 1-1/2 new Senate seats as a result of the census. It's also where we expect the growth to be over the next ten years."^[3] White describes the Senate district as "conservative" with "working people [who] believe in family values, and [oppose] tax increases.”^[3]

Background

An East Baton Rouge Parish native, White's father was Mack White, Sr. (1934–1999) of Baker.^[4] White holds an undergraduate degree in criminal justice from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond and completed graduate work in the same field from Loyola University in New Orleans.^[1] White was a detective for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s office for six years and a supervisor at ExxonMobil for seventeen years. He is an agent with Rogillio Real Estate Company in Baton Rouge and also owns a small private security company.^[3]

White and his wife, the former Robin Wunstel, wed in the fall of 1982. They have three children, Kimberly White, Kristen W. McKnight and her husband, Ivan Emmett McKnight, and Mackie White, and a granddaughter. He is a long-term member of the Blackwater United Methodist Church in Zachary in East Baton Rouge Parish. White has been named the Central City "Man of the Year". He assists in providing student scholarships for his alma mater, Southeastern.^[3]

State representative

White was first elected without opposition in 2003 to the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 64 to succeed fellow Republican Tony Perkins, who became the president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian political organization. Thereafter, White defeated two "No Party" opponents in the primary held on October 20, 2007, with nearly 77 percent of the vote.^[5] White served on the House committees of Administration of Criminal Justice, Appropriations, Budget, and Judiciary. He also sat on the Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Resources.^[1] White holds 100 percent ratings from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the Louisiana Right to Life Federation. He voted in the 2011 legislative session against the bill to make the Louisiana cigarette tax permanent. Then he voted against the attempt to override Governor Bobby Jindal's veto of the permanent cigarette tax. He voted against a bill to prohibit hand-held cellular devices while driving.^[6]

In the House, White pushed for ethics reform. He wrote a bill to protect government whistleblowers who disclose llegal or unfair activities in their office. He supported full disclosure on lawmakers' financial dealings.^[3] He favors the executive director of the Ethics Administration being a full-time appointee. White has pushed for mandatory governmental ethics training for legislative officials.^[3]

References