Current Makeup
Early in 2009 the PSC consisted of commissioners Foster L. Campbell, Jr., Jimmy Field, and Eric Skrmetta and a vacancy resulting from the resignation of Dale Sittig. Former U.S. Representative Clyde C. Holloway was effectively elected to replace Sittig when the other candidate in the special election runoff, state Senator Joe McPherson of Woodworth, conceded on April 13.
Campbell, a Democrat from Bossier City, has served on the PSC since 2002, when he unseated his fellow Democrat Donald Lynn "Don" Owen of Shreveport, a former newsman for KSLA-TV. Campbell failed in his own gubernatorial bid in 2007. Owen had been elected to the PSC in 1984, when then-incumbent Francis Edward "Ed" Kennon, Jr., declined to seek a third term. Kennon is descended from a famous Louisiana political family: his uncle Robert F. Kennon was governor from 1952 to 1956. Ed Kennon, a Shreveport developer, also ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in the 1971 Democratic primary.
Dale Sittig of Eunice served on the PSC from 1995 to 2008, when he resigned to accept a position with the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. A special election on April 4, 2009, to choose a successor, resulted in a runoff between Republican Clyde C. Holloway and Democrat Joe McPherson. Former Democratic State Representative Gil Pinac of Crowley, the seat of Acadia Parish, ran as a Republican candidate for the position but was eliminated in the primary and immediately endorsed Holloway. On April 13, 2009, McPherson conceded to Holloway, making Holloway effectively the commissioner-elect. Holloway ran for lieutenant governor in 2003 on a gubernatorial ticket headed by then Commissioner Jay Blossman, who withdrew from the race. Holloway remained a candidate for lieutenant governor but was crushed in the primary election.
In replacing Democrat Sittig, Holloway's addition to the PSC (even including the forerunner Louisiana Railroad Commission) developed the body's first-ever Republican majority. Commissioners Jimmy Field and Eric Skrmetta are, like Holloway, Republican. Simultaneously, the PSC became the first statewide electoral group in Louisiana to develop a Republican majority since the Reconstruction era.
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