Taylor Barras

Taylor Francis Barras (born January 1957) is an accountant and banker from New Iberia, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 48, based in Iberia Parish. On January 11, 2016, as he began his third term in the chamber, Barras was elected House Speaker by his colleagues, who in what was considered a political upset on the second ballot rejected Representative Walt Leger, III, of New Orleans, the choice of incoming Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. Barras received fifty-six votes; Leger, forty-nine. Since the days of Huey Pierce Long, Jr., legislators had confirmed the governor's choice for Speaker, but the Republican House majority instead elected Barras, the governor's wishes to the contrary.^[1]

Political biography

A New Iberia native, Barras (pronounced BAH RAH) is the third of four children of Mazel Borel Barras (1924-deceased) and Elton Joseph Barras (1923-2007), a decorated United States Army first lieutenant in World War II, who operated a country grocery store from 1951 until 1969 and was then from 1969 to 1983 the chief deputy under Iberia Parish Tax Assessor Clegg J. LaBauve, Sr. (1906-1987). The senior Barras was elected to succeed LaBauve as tax assessor in 1983; he handily defeated Erland "Ticky" LaBauve (born May 1947) and held the position from 1984 until his retirement in December 2000.^[2]

Taylor Barras graduated in 1975 from New Iberia Senior High School, an entity of the Iberia Parish School System. In 1975, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He is market president of Iberia Bank. He is married to the former Cheryl Lopez.^[3]

Elected in 2007 in his first political bid, as a Democrat like his father, Barras and Shane Romero led a four-candidate primary field to enter the November 17 general election. Barras received 5,436 votes (45.3 percent) to Romero's 3,191 (26.6 percent). The two other Democrats in contention, David N. Broussard and Raymond Lewis, shared the remaining but critical 28.5 percent of the vote.^[4] Barras then defeated Romero, 6,690 (62 percent) to 4,091 (38 percent)^[5]

In 2011, Barras became one of several members to switch to GOP affiliation. As a result of several special elections since 2010 and the party defections, Republicans gained a majority of the state House for the first time since Reconstruction. Barras is a candidate for a second term in the nonpartisan blanket primary set for October 22, 2011.^[6]

In his first term, Barras served on these committees: (1) House and Governmental Affairs, (2) Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs, (3) Ways and Means, and (4) Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay.^[7]

In 2010, Representative Barras was rated 100 percent by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, 82 percent by the Louisiana National Federation of Independent Business, and 89 percent by the Louisiana Family Forum. In 2011, Barras voted, unsuccessfully, to override then Governor Bobby Jindal's veto of an increase in his state's cigarette tax. He also voted to ban hand-held cellular devices while driving. He voted against a 2011 proposal to establish a commission to study how to end state corporate and personal income taxes over the next decade.^[8]

Barras predicted no shortcuts to the reconciliation of the state budget, the first agenda item in the special legislative session set for mid-February. "None of the choices are easy or ideal, but we have to face them," Barras said.^[1]

References