Mike Walsworth

Michael Arthur Walsworth, known as Mike Walsworth (born March 27, 1956), is an American real estate developer from West Monroe, Louisiana, who is a Republican member from District 33 of the Louisiana State Senate. He was first elected in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007. Prior to this he represented District 15 (Ouachita Parish) in the Louisiana House of Representatives until he was unable to seek reelection because of term limits.

Walsworth's Senate district includes Ouachita, Claiborne, Morehouse, Union, and West Carroll parishes. He defeated the Democratic State Representative Charles McDonald of the Fairbanks community in northern Ouachita Parish to succeed the term-limited Republican Senator Robert J. Barham of Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish. Walsworth polled 17,292 (51.7 percent) to McDonald's 16,058 (48.3 percent).^[1] McDonald's House seat, to which he was term-limited, was narrowly won in the November 17, 2007, state election by a Republican, Sam Little, a retired farmer from Bastrop, the seat of Morehouse Parish.

Walsworth in 2013 questioned the theory of evolution as it relates to E. Coli bacteria. His critics claim that he lacks basic scientific knowledge.^[2]

From 1984 to 1996, Walsworth was a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee. On February 9, 2008, he sought to return to the committee to represent his former State Representative District 15 berth. However, he withdrew his candidacy two days before the closed primary election, and the position went by default to M. Randall "Randy" Donald.

Walsworth was first elected to the state House in the 1995 primary, when he unseated the two-term Democrat Charles Anding of West Monroe and assumed the seat in 1996.

Biography

Walsworth was born to Leo Walsworth and his wife Lila "Tootsie" Kitchens (1921–2007) in West Monroe adjacent to Monroe in Ouachita Parish. His maternal grandparents, Marshall and Emily Kitchens, operated a grocery store in Monroe. Walsworth graduated from West Monroe High School in 1974. Thereafter, he procured a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe (then Northeastern Louisiana University). He is a real estate developer. He previously worked in management of Coca-Cola. He is affiliated with the Greater Ouachita Lions Club, the American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Clubs, the Civitan Club, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and the American Heart Association. He is also involved in the United Way of America, the National Rifle Association, and the ULM Alumni Association. Walsworth is the song leader at a local Church of Christ. He is the father of one daughter, Lindsay Michelle Walsworth.

"Looking at the generation, not the next election" is a motto of the Walsworth campaign. In the legislature, Walsworth worked to establish the Ouachita Port Commission and the Ouachita Expressway Commission. He authored the new law which prohibits video voyeurism. He worked on the Ethics Reform Bill to prohibit lawmakers from doing business with the state. He also worked to pass tort reform in his first legislative session. He has pushed for funding of rural schools, which abound in Senate District 15.

In his initial election to the House, Walsworth defeated Charles Anding, 7,745 (55 percent) to 6,403 (45 percent).^[3] In 1999, with 9,060 (67 percent), Walsworth defeated the Democrat Royce Calhoun, with 4,441 (33 percent) to win his second term in the House. He was unopposed in 2003 for his third and final term in the House.

In 2013, Walsworth joined with State Representative Rob Shadoin of Ruston to rename the Louisiana Highway 33 bridge over Lake D’Arbonne in Farmerville after the Representative James Peyton Smith of Union Parish who died in 2006.^[4]

Creationism and other controversy

In a committee hearing on Louisiana State Senate Bill No. 374,^[5] Walsworth denied the validity of the theory of evolution by requiring an experiment that "proved" humans evolved from E-Coli.^[6] His critics claim that he lacks knowledge of the scientific method and scientific theory by claiming evolution is "just a theory". As a science teacher described Richard Lenski's decades-long study with E. coli bacteria which froze some and allowed others to evolve, Senator Walsworth asked whether any of them evolved into human beings.^[7] Louisiana state bill 374 was designed to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act.

In 2014, Walsworth was alleged to have been involved in conveying a video to the Ouachita Citizen, weekly newspaper published in West Monroe. The video, which showed Republican United States Representative Vance McAllister of Louisiana's 5th congressional district in an ostensibly passionate kiss with his subordinate, Melissa Anne Hixon Peacock, who is married to a longtime friend of McAllister, who is also married. Walsworth firmly denied any connection with, or even knowledge of, the video prior to its publication. The video, which had been anonymously left with the Ouachita Citizen, evoked a national news story.^[8]

References

News Articles

• "Meet the Next Governor of Louisiana" louisianaconservative.com April, 2007
• "Senate Candidate Mike Walsworth Leads the Way" louisianaconservative.com August, 2007
• "REPRESENTATIVE MIKE WALSWORTH “A Warrior for What Is Right”" louisianaconservative.com September, 2007
• "MONROE NEWSSTAR ENDORSES MIKE WALSWORTH - SENATE DISTRICT 33" louisianaconservative.com October, 2007

External links

• Louisiana State Senate - Mike Walsworth official government website
• Mike Walsworth for State Senate official campaign website