Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr.

Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr., (born September 22, 1929) is a prominent Lafayette attorney who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1964 to 1966 and the state Senate from 1966-1980. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in the 1979 jungle primary.

Thereafter, Mouton (pronouned MOO TAHN) became the executive counsel (1980-1983) to newly-elected Governor David C. Treen, the first Louisiana Republican to hold the office since Reconstruction. In 1985, he returned briefly as a special consultant to Governor Edwin Washington Edwards, who had won a third term in the 1983 primary by unseating Treen.

Mouton was born in Lafayette to Mr. and Mrs. Edgar G. Mouton, Sr. He attended Cathedral High School and graduated as class valedictorian in 1947. He received his bachelor's degree from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1951. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane in 1953.

Elections to the state House and Senate

Having served only two years as a representative, Mouton entered a special election for the District 23 Senate seat early in 1966. He was elected and served in the Senate for 14 years. When Mouton became a senator, his state House seat went Republican -- the first time since Reconstruction that a Republican had won a legislative seat in Lafayette Parish. The new lawmaker was Mouton's special friend, Roderick Luke Miller (1924-2005).

In the Louisiana state general election held on February 6, 1968, Mouton was challenged by Miller, who had been a representative for just under two years himself. Mouton easily defeated Miller -- 57.1 -- 42.9 percent. Miller, however, would not give up so easily. In 1972, Miller challenged Mouton for state senate reelection and lost again. Mouton then polled 18,771 votes (62.2 percent) to Miller's 11,395 (37.8 percent).

Miller and Mouton, in their two campaigns, debated "issues" and declined to engage in personal attacks to gain an advantage. Miller depicted himself as one oriented toward business growth, whereas Mouton's philosophy, he claimed, involved the expansion of government. Mouton, however, saw himself as a "people senator" there to lend assistance to those that he could help.

Mouton defended the interests of teachers and state employees. He worked for salary increases, which more likely than not were less than he had desired. He was generally considered a "liberal" senator by Louisiana standards but "moderate" from a national viewpoint. In his third full Senate term, 1976-1980, he was elected President Pro-Tempore. Mouton was hence the first non-lieutenant governor to preside over the state Senate under the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.

The "Cajun" candidate for governor, 1979

In 1979, at the age of 50, Senate President Pro-Tempore Mouton sought to become the "Cajun" candidate to succeed Democrat Edwin Edwards, Louisiana's first governor from what had become known as "Acadiana" in many decades. Mouton's claim as the "Cajun" candidate was strengthened by virtue of his having been the principal author of the legislation which created the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, popularly known as CODOFIL. Mouton had also pushed successfully for adoption of the state constitution, which assures all citizens of their cultural and linguistic heritage.

However, he faced a rival within the "Cajun" ranks, young Secretary of State Paul Hardy (born 1942) who though he has an English name is fluent in French. Mouton and Hardy divided the "Cajun" vote in the primary, and neither secured a general election slot. In fact, Hardy ran fourth, with 227,026 votes (16.6 percent) followed by outgoing House Speaker E.L. "Bubba" Henry (born 1936) of Jonesboro, the seat of Jackson Parish, in north Louisiana. Mouton finished in a disappointing sixth position. Henry received 135,299 votes (9.9 percent) to Mouton's 123,126 (9.1 percent).

In the state Senate election which Mouton forfeited by his gubernatorial run, Democrat Allen Ray Bares, a two-term state representative and a Lafayette attorney, won the right to succeed Mouton by defeating several candidates, including future Lafayette Republican Mayor Dud Lastrapes.

The general election was between the Republican frontrunner Treen (21.8 percent) and then Public Service Commissioner Louis J. Lambert (20.7 percent) of Ascension Parish, near Baton Rouge. Treen emerged as the general election winner by fewer than 10,000 votes. Hardy, Henry, Mouton, and the third-place finisher, outgoing Lieutenant Governor James E. Fitzmorris, Jr., of New Orleans all endorsed Treen over Lambert, who had the support of the traditional Democratic interest groups.

Treen appointed Mouton as his gubernatorial counsel. Mouton succeeded his friend, Judge Edmund Reggie of Crowley in Acadia Parish, who was the counsel under Edwards. Reggie is also the father-in-law of the powerful Democratic U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Mouton's enduring legacy

Mouton is Roman Catholic. He and his wife, Patsy, reside in Lafayette. They have four daughters, sixteen grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. Mouton has been president of the Hub City Kiwanis Club, national vice-president of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a board member of Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Bishop Services Appeal, a board member of Catholic Charities, and a member of the Lafayette Parish Bar Association.

When his friend, former Lafayette Mayor Kenneth Francis "Kenny" Bowen , a Democrat, died of cancer in 2002, Mouton delivered a moving eulogy at the funeral. When his friend Roderick Miller, a Republican, died of cancer early in 2005, Mouton issued a similarly touching tribute in an article published in the "Lafayette Daily Advertiser", his hometown newspaper. The tributes can be accessed under the Wikipedia articles entitled Kenny Bowen and Roderick Miller.

In 2003, Mouton was nominated as a "Living Legend" by the Acadian Museum in Erath. In 2004, Mouton, along with Judge Reggie, was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

References

http://www.cityofwinnfield.com/museum.html

http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2265922_1?noconfirm=0

http://www.acadianmuseum.com/legends.php?viewID=118

http://www.lafayettebar.org/foundation.php