Thomas G. Carmody

Thomas Gaughan Carmody, Jr. (born April 20, 1961), is a real estate broker from Shreveport, Louisiana, who since 2008 has been a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 6 in Caddo and Bossier parishes.^[1]

Background

Carmody is a son of Thomas Gaughan Carmody, Sr., and the former Katherine Elizabeth Phelan of Shreveport; Mrs Carmody, originally from Beaumont, Texas. His paternal grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Roderick Carmody, Sr., of Shreveport.^[2] He graduated in 1979 from the Roman Catholic Jesuit High School in Shreveport.^[3] In 1983, Carmody received the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.^[4]

Prior to his election to the legislature, Carmody served two terms (1998 - 2002 and 2002 -2006) as the District C member of the Shreveport City Council, which covers much of the same territory as House District 6, the bedroom communities of Broadmoor, South Highlands and Pierremont situated along Youree Drive, Kings Highway, and Line Avenue. In 2003, councilman Carmody pushed for an independent review of the police-related shooting death of Marquise Hudspeth, which at the time attracted national headlines.^[5]

House career

Carmody won a special election to the House after a fellow Republican Mike Powell stepped down in December 2007 before he could even begin his second term.^[1] Shreveport businessman Barrow Peacock, a Republican, immediately announced for the open seat, having just lost a state senate race to former Representative B.L. "Buddy" Shaw. Ultimately, however, Carmody defeated Peacock, 52 to 48 percent. In 2011 election cycle Carmody ran unopposed, and Peacock won the Senate seat to succeed the retiring Shaw.^[5]

Carmody serves on the House Commerce, Education, and the Municipal, Parochial, and Cultural Affairs committees.^[4] Carmody's biggest donors in his initial election were the Republican Party, the Louisiana Association of Educators, and the Louisiana Hospital Association.^[6]

Carmody ran for the House as a fiscal conservative and successfully worked to repeal the Stelly Plan, which had increased progressive state income taxes along with a decrease in regressive sales taxes. He has worked to fund public education and to protect youth from abuse. He secured passage in 2009 of a bill which strengthens penalties involving the crime of indecent behavior with juveniles. He has pushed to fund completion of Interstate 49 from Shreveport to the Arkansas border.

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