Roy Brun

Infobox_State Representative


imagesize = 150px
name= Roy Louis Brun
caption= Roy Brun
office= Louisiana State Representative from Caddo Parish (District 5)
term_start= 1988
term_end=1997
preceded=Benjamin Frankin "Ben" O'Neal, Jr.
succeeded= Wayne Waddell
office2= First Judicial District Judge in Shreveport, Louisiana
term_start2= 1997
term_end2=
birth_date= birth date and age |1953|01|15
birth_place= Shreveport, Louisiana
spouse= Kimberly Bourgeois Brun
children=Two children, including Andrew Louis Brun (born 1985)
party= Republican
religion= Episcopalian
occupation= Attorney and Judge

Roy Louis Brun (born January 15, 1953) is a First Judicial District state judge in Shreveport (Caddo Parish), who was a Republican member of the Louisiana state Louisiana House of Representatives from 1988-1997. Brun was considered to have been one of the most outspoken conservative members of the legislature during his nine years of service.

Early years and education

Brun (pronounced BRUNN) was born in Shreveport to Edwin Louis Brun (born 1925) and the former Faye Hendrick (born 1927). He graduated from Fair Park High School in Shreveport in 1971. He received his bachelor of arts degree and a law degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He is a member of the Louisiana and Shreveport bar associations. He practiced law prior to and during his legislative career.

Brun is married to the former Kimberly Bourgeois (born 1962), and they have two children, including a son, Andrew Louis Brun (born 1985). Until he began his judicial service, he was a member of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee and the Board of Election Supervisors. He was a member of the Caddo Parish Home Rule Study Commission in 1982. He is a member of the Caddo-Bossier Association of Retarded Children. He is a past president of the Ark-La-Tex Gun Collectors. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club. The Bruns are members of the Holy Cross Episcopal Church in downtown Shreveport.

Early political activities

In 1975, at twenty-two, Brun ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Senate.

In 1976, at twenty-three and still in law school, Brun was one of the youngest delegates to the Republican National Convention, which met in the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Brun, like the majority of the Louisiana delegatees, was committed to the insurgent challenge of former California Governor Ronald W. Reagan. When Reagan's intraparty rival, President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., narrowly won the GOP nomination, Brun with little enthusiasm at the time agreed to support the party ticket.

Louisiana's key Republican leader, then Congressman David C. Treen of Jefferson Parish, supported Ford, though he had voted for Reagan at the 1968 convention held in Miami Beach. Treen had been unable to convince many of his fellow Louisiana delegates of the merits of a Ford nomination. Brun told the "Shreveport Times", his hometown newspaper, after Ford's nomination that he would support the "dumb collectivist," meaning Ford, rather than the "smart collectivist," referring to Ford's Democratic challenger, former Georgia Governor James Earl Carter, Jr.

In 1978, Brun, head of the Republican ballot security program, reported alleged vote-buying in the Fourth Congressional District race between Republican James H. "Jimmy" Wilson of Vivian in Caddo Parish and Democrat Anthony Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr., of Leesville in Vernon Parish. Leach defeated Wilson by 266 disputed votes in that race to succeed the retiring Democrat Joseph David "Joe D." Waggonner, Jr.

In 1979, Brun uncovered a problem with seals on voting machines in Opelousas in St. Landry Parish during the gubernatorial election. The serial numbers on the seals did not correspond with the tallies on the seals when the polls closed the Saturday night of the election, in which the Republican Treen defeated the Democrat Louis Lambert.

The 1987 legislative election

Brun ran for the legislature when his political mentor, State Representative Benjamin F. "Ben" O'Neal, Jr., announced his retirement, effective in 1988. Brun therefore entered the October 1987 jungle primary for O'Neal's District 5 seat in the Louisiana House. He was one of eight candidates, four from each major party. He ran second with 3,542 votes (20 percent) to Democrat Walter F. Clawson, who drew 4,128 ballots (23 percent). The majority actually voted for the combined six other candidates, none of whom exceeded 14 percent of the vote.

In the November 1987 general election, Brun defeated Clawson, 5,547 votes (54 percent) to 4,656 (46 percent). Clawson gained only 500 votes between the primary and the general election, but Brun increased his raw vote by some 2,000 votes. Though his initial election margin was not overwhelming, no candidates opposed Brun when he sought reelection in the primaries of 1991 and 1995.

Brun's legislative record

Representative Brun introduced legislation called the "Justifiable Murder of an AIDS Carrier" bill. The legislation, had it been approved, would have made the killing of an AIDS carrier fall under "justifiable homicide" if a person had to fight off an attacker that he knew was carrying the deadly virus or even believed that the assailant was infected by the virus.

In 1996, as his legislative career was winding down, Brun argued for raising the Louisiana speed limit to 70.

In 1996, Brun was elected to a six-year term as a state district judge, and he was reelected in 2002. He resigned his legislative seat in 1997. He was succeeded by a fellow Republican, Wayne Waddell, who won a general election (often called the "runoff" in Louisiana) contest over another Republican, Judy Boykin, a member of the Caddo Parish School Board. Boykin was a visible leader of the "Religious Right" in Shreveport who was outspoken in support of school prayer and traditional values as well as opposition to abortion, evolution, and homosexual preferences.

Judge Brun and the truck stop

Brun decided in the spring of 2005 that the Caddo Parish Commission, the governing body of the parish, had no grounds to block a permit for the construction of a five-acre truck stop bar and casino on Louisiana Highway 1 South of Shreveport adjacent to the Port of Shreveport-Bossier. When citizen-opponents to the project mobilized, Brun allowed the group to appeal his ruling against them.

The Caddo commission denied a zoning variance for construction of the truck stop after the residents objected. Brun overturned the commission’s decision in a lawsuit quietly filed by the owner of the land at the proposed site. Judge Brun declared that the commission decision was "arbitrary and capricious."

Mike Johnson, the attorney for the citizens objecting to the truck stop, said, "The commission’s finding was legitimate and based directly upon the testimony and evidence presented by the citizens. The commission understood that the proposed operation would be a detriment to the surrounding area and place the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of this community at risk."

Area residents gathered nearly 1,300 signatures to express their concerns about the truck stop. The zoning board of appeals board had approved the project by means of a special use zoning exception for the developer, Bob Horn. The commission the voted 7-5 to deny the zoning exception.

Unbeknown to the residents, a lawsuit was filed thereafter to challenge the commission’s decision. The residents first became aware of the lawsuit after Judge Brun ruled in the case on April 15, 2005. The commission voted not to appeal the ruling.

Opponents contended that a truck stop casino would imperil nearby neighborhoods, businesses, churches, and schools by decreasing property values, increasing noise levels, and placing at risk young drivers and schoolchildren who stand at bus stops and ride bicycles along south Youree Drive.

In 2006, the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that the Caddo Parish Commission was within its rights to override the zoning board decision that would have allowed the truck stop.

Attorney Mike Johnson said that "When lawmakers have to choose between protecting a casino and bar or protecting our children and the community, the latter should be given the priority."

The circuit court hence delivered a stinging rebuke to Judge Brun, who saw the matter as one of a legitimate business seeking to develop five acres.

Judge Brun and the feminists

In 2003, feminists challenged the existence of an all-male grill in the popular Southern Trace Country Club of Shreveport. They argued that the grill is a "public" facility under the law. Judge Brun, however, ruled that the men-only policy in the club's Men's Grille does not violate the state constitution.

The club raised privacy concerns to justify its policy and noted that men have dined in the Men's Grille "attired only in a towel or even naked." The area is located next to the men's locker room. Women could enter the grill only by first passing through the men's locker room.

But the Louisiana Supreme Court said that a "state of undress" was "patently contrary" to clubhouse rules requiring "casual but appropriate" attire in dining areas.

Brun had found in favor of the country club on the grounds that the men-only policy was motivated by economic reasons and was not intended as sexual discrimination, as the feminists had successful maintained.

Judge Brun rules in favor of police

Brun ruled in a 1999 case in which a Shreveport police officer was charged with wrongful homicide and negligence in the shooting of a then 28-year-old African American suspect. Reginald Davis, was shot to death by Officer Kevin Strickland after a struggle. Brun cleared the city of Shreveport and Strickland of any negligence in the case. The officer had testified that a gun was found on Davis and that Davis attempted to use the weapon to shoot Strickland.

Brun's current term as judge expires on the last day of 2008.

References

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=3471

http://www.newschannel6.tv/news/?mode=shownews&id=5372

http://www.enlou.com/officeholders/housedistrict5.htm

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050428/NEWS01/504280341/1002/NEWS

http://www.qrd.org/qrd/usa/louisiana/LEGAL/1995/house.bill.290-action.alert-04.28.95

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3491

http://www.sec.state.la.us/cgibin?rqstyp=COMP2&rqsdta=09

http://www.lsus.edu/library/archives/indexes/times1996.htm#b

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3772

http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10248709

http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=11218709

"Shreveport Times", August 20, 1976

"Shreveport Journal", December 10-11, 1979