Entering Louisiana Politics
Knowles was first elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives as a Democrat in the 1959-1960 election cycle. In 1964, Knowles was elected again as a Democrat to the Louisiana State Senate, in which he served for four terms. He was named "Outstanding Legislator" by the Lake Charles Jaycees.
In the 1979 jungle primary, Knowles did not seek a fifth state Senate term but instead ran for lieutenant governor in a bid to succeed James E. "Jimmy" Fitzmorris, Jr., of New Orleans, who was running instead, unsuccessfully, for governor. Knowles lost, and fellow Democrat Robert "Bobby" Freeman became lieutenant governor for the first of two terms.
Knowles supported Republican gubernatorial candidate David C. Treen in the 1979 general election. Early in 1980, Knowles, with just a few weeks remaining in his senate term, switched his party affiliation to Republican. Governor Treen then appointed Knowles, a past chairman of the Louisiana Wildlife Commission, as secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. However, a heart attack caused him to resign the post after only twelve days. Treen later named him to the Louisiana Rice Promotion Board. He was also elected to the board of directors of the Louisiana Rice Council and served thereafter as president of that group.
Read more about this topic: Jesse Monroe Knowles
Famous quotes containing the words entering, louisiana and/or politics:
“At the end of one millennium and nine centuries of Christianity, it remains an unshakable assumption of the law in all Christian countries and of the moral judgment of Christians everywhere that if a man and a woman, entering a room together, close the door behind them, the man will come out sadder and the woman wiser.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“The recent attempt to secure a charter from the State of North Dakota for a lottery company, the pending effort to obtain from the State of Louisiana a renewal of the charter of the Louisiana State Lottery, and the establishment of one or more lottery companies at Mexican towns near our border, have served the good purpose of calling public attention to an evil of vast proportions.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“The politics of the exile are fever,
revenge, daydream,
theater of the aging convalescent.
You wait in the wings and rehearse.
You wait and wait.”
—Marge Piercy (b. 1936)