Cameron Henry

John Cameron Henry, Jr. (born November 1974), is a business analyst from Metairie, Louisiana, who has been since January 2008 a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 82 in Jefferson and Orleans parishes.^[1]

Background

A graduate of the Roman Catholic Jesuit High School in New Orleans, Henry holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge and a Master of Business Administration from Tulane University in New Orleans. He is affiliated with BearingPoint, Inc., a management and technology consulting firm in New Orleans. Henry is a former adjunct professor in the Delgado Community College business and technology division in New Orleans. He and his wife, Jamie, reside in Metairie with their three children.^[2]

Henry is a former member of the elected Jefferson Parish School Board and was an aide to Steve Scalise, his predecessor in District 82, now the U.S. representative from Louisiana's 1st congressional district.^[3]

Legislative matters

Henry won the District 87 seat over his fellow Republican Christopher Tidmore in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, 5,878 votes (57 percent) to 4,517 (43 percent).^[4] Henry serves on three House committees: House and Governmental Affairs, Labor and Industrial Relations, and Ways and Means. He is also a member of the Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay.^[3]

Proposal to abolish lieutenant governor's office

In 2010, Henry introduced legislation to abolish the office of lieutenant governor or to strip it of many of its existing duties.^[5] Now held by former Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne of Baton Rouge, the lieutenant governor's office primarily handles tourism matters. State Treasurer John N. Kennedy, who lost the U.S. Senate race in 2008 to Mary Landrieu, Mitch Landrieu's sister, had been mentioned as a possible candidate for lieutenant governor but did not file. Governor Bobby Jindal earlier supported Henry's efforts to abolish the office. A House committee, however, voted 9–8 to kill Henry's bill that would have stripped the office of most of its functions. He then withdrew a second bill that would have abolished the office outright.^[6]

Opposition to abortion

In April 2010, Henry voted with a large majority in the Louisiana House to forbid insurance companies operating in the state from offering coverage of elective abortions. The only procedures permitted under the legislation entail miscarriages or abortions to save the mother's life. The legislation was introduced by Republican Representative Frank Hoffmann of West Monroe. All of the opponents came from the Black Caucus.^[7]

Removal from House Appropriations Committee

Henry has emerged as a conservative critic of the administration of Governor Jindal. On November 2, 2012, Henry and a House colleague, Joe Harrison of Napoleonville, were notified by Speaker Chuck Kleckley of Lake Charles that they had been removed from the House Appropriations Committee a day after they had raised concerns about Jindal's privatization of the Office of Group Benefits in Baton Rouge.^[8]

Henry, the former Appropriations vice-chairman, opposes Jindal's use of one-time funds to balance the state budget and has called for greater spending cuts. Henry said that he believes Jindal made the actual decision to remove him from the vice-chairmanship. According to Henry, Jindal and Kleckley want "yes-men and yes-women" on important committees: "We didn't get elected to trust people. We got elected to ask questions."^[8]Harrison questioned Kleckley's lack of independence and unwillingness to defend his House colleagues when they come in conflict with Jindal.^[9]

References