Helena Moreno

Helena Nancy Moreno (born September 30, 1977) is a state representative in Louisiana, representing Louisiana House District 93. She was elected in May 2010.^[1] during a special election and was unopposed in her re-election in the fall of 2011. Rep. Moreno serves as Vice-Chair of the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee and is also a member of the Appropriations Committee, the Judiciary Committee, Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget and House Executive Committee. She is also an appointed member to the Louisiana Sentencing Commission and the Interstate Commission for Juveniles. She is a member of the Democratic Caucus, Louisiana Legislative Women’s Caucus and Orleans Delegation. Her district includes New Orleans neighborhoods such as Treme, Garden District, Central City, St. Roch, French Quarter, Mid City and Central Business District.

She is a media communication consultant based in New Orleans, Louisiana, affiliated with James Hartman & Associates, a multi-service political and marketing consulting firm.

Background

Helena Moreno was born in the seaside city of Veracruz, Veracruz State, Mexico, as the daughter of Felix and Nancy Pearson Moreno.^[2] With her parents she moved to Houston, Texas, where she became a 1995 graduate of Episcopal High School.^[3] Moreno is a 1999 graduate in mass communication from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, where she wrote for the Daily Campus; she also studied at American University in the District of Columbia while working in the White House for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. A native speaker of both English and Spanish, Moreno studied for 6 months in Madrid, Spain. On May 5, 2012 she married Christopher Meeks.^[4]

Television news

Prior to graduation from SMU Moreno served in internships with KTRK-TV and KHOU-TV in Houston. After graduation, she went to WTOC-TV in Savannah, Georgia, whence she was recruited by Hearst-Argyle Broadcasting Corporation for WDSU-TV in New Orleans. At WDSU Moreno soon became anchor for the morning news. Her reporting during Hurricane Katrina brought her numerous accolades, including a citation as Broadcaster of the Year from the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the (AFL-CIO).

Elections

In March 2008 Helena Moreno resigned from WDSU to challenge then-incumbent United States Representative William J. Jefferson in Louisiana's 2nd congressional district Democratic primary election.^[5] Her campaign was insistent on obtaining "the answers we deserve" concerning inadequate efforts to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She received sufficient votes to force the incumbent into a runoff election, which Jefferson won.^[6]

Jefferson was subsequently defeated, in the general election, by Republican Joseph Cao, who had Moreno's endorsement as well as that of other Democrats such as City Councilwomen Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson and Stacy Head.^[7] As of 2009, Moreno continued active in New Orleans civic circles.^[8] In 2009, she worked for EGF Partners (the Moreno family's oil firm) and for James Hartman & Associates in Mandeville, Louisiana, before joining the ultimately unsuccessful campaign of John Georges for mayor of New Orleans.^[9]

In 2010, after the election of Karen Carter Peterson to the Louisiana State Senate, Moreno became a candidate for Peterson's vacated District 93 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives.^[10] The special election primary occurred on 2010 May 1,^[11] with Moreno obtaining 27 percent of the vote and entering a runoff election with James Perry, who had 38 percent.^[12] Much of the runoff campaign, which Moreno won, involved personal issues of allegations of traffic violations.^[13] The allegations, and Perry's handling of them, were such that 2 weeks before the runoff the Times-Picayune, which earlier had endorsed Perry, withdrew its endorsement.^[14]

See also

• Rosalind Peychaud

Notes