Robert "Bobby" Freeman

Robert Louis "Bobby" Freeman (born April 27, 1934) is a Plaquemine (Iberville Parish) lawyer who was the Democratic lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 1980-1988. He was the Plaquemine city judge from 1990-1996. Earlier, Freeman had been a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1968-1980).

Freeman served as lieutenant governor under, first, Republican Governor David C. Treen and then Treen's Democratic successor (and predecessor), Edwin Washington Edwards. He was defeated for a third term in the 1987 general election by the former Secretary of State and Democrat-turned-Republican Paul Jude Hardy, a Baton Rouge attorney originally from St. Martinville (St. Martin Parish).

Freeman received his bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and his L.L.B. from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1965. He served in the U.S. Army from 1956-1959 and worked for a chemical company from 1960-1961. Early in his career, Freeman practiced law in the Plaquemine firm of Freeman and Pendley. He is a member of the Louisiana and American bar associations. He was chairman of the Plaquemine Planning and Zoning Commission from 1966-1968. Freeman is Roman Catholic.

Quarrels with Governor Treen

Freeman has been a strong supporter of organized labor, which has a marked presence in his former state House district, an area which has not elected a Republican to the legislature since Reconstruction and remains one of the most overwhelmingly Democratic parts of Louisiana. Freeman, considered a liberal Democrat, supported Treen's Democratic opponent, Louis J. Lambert, Jr., then a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission from Ascension Parish near Baton Rouge in the 1979 gubernatorial general election.

Freeman himself defeated a fellow Democrat, James J. "Jim" Donelon of Jefferson Parish in the general election. (Under Louisiana law, two Democrats or two Republican may compete in the "general election.") Another Democratic lieutenant governor candidate, Jesse Knowles, state senator and World War II hero from Lake Charles, endorsed Donelon (who became the state insurance commissioner in 2006) in the second round of balloting. The incumbent in the lieutenant governor's race, James Edward "Jimmy" Fitzmorris, Jr., of New Orleans did not seek a third term but instead ran unsuccessfully for governor. Later, through Treen's influence, Knowles, Donelon, and Fitzmorris all became Republicans.

Freeman quarreled with Treen throughout their simultaneous terms of office. After weeks of noncommunication with Freeman, Treen said on the day prior to the inauguration that he had talked with Freeman and had assured him that Treen had "nothing but goodwill" toward Freeman. Treen's aide and future state Republican chairman, William "Billy" Nungesser, said, quite mistakenly as it turned out, that the two would "get along just fine" after they were able to meet without the presence of the media or their respective party officials. By April 1980, however, Freeman said that he might serve as governor whenever Treen was out of the state. Depending on the urgency of the situation, Freeman said that he might veto legislation if Treen were, for instance, in Detroit attending the Republican National Convention during the week of July 13, 1980.

Freeman's alienation from Treen was compared at the time to that of Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb of California, who had quarreled with Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr. Freeman, like Curb with Brown, would take over as "acting governor" under the Louisiana Constitution whenever Treen left the state. Republicans accused Freeman of having undermined Treen wherever and whenever he could.

The suit "Freeman v. Treen"

In 1983, Freeman sparred with Treen over the appropriations for the office of lieutenant governor. Treen sought to cut all state appropriations and said that Freeman's office would also face a funding cut. Freeman sued, and the case "Freeman v. Treen" was unique in that relatively few lieutenant governors have sued their governor over political disagreements. Freeman had been allocated $411,907 with a staff of eleven employees. After passage of the bill by the Louisiana House, Freeman persuaded the Senate Finance Committee to increase his allocation by a lump-sum amendment in the amount of $133,637, which established a total of $545,544 with fifteen employees. Freeman admitted that the amount was added so as to preclude a gubernatorial line item veto of the additional funds. When informed that the increase was not in proper item form, Treen wrote Freeman to advise him that the lieutenant governor's office could not be wholly exempt from budget cuts. The House refused to concur in the Senate amendment, and the bill was sent to a conference committee composed of three House and three Senate members. At the committee meeting, a compromise amendment, proposed by Treen, which would have added $66,819, or half of Freeman's additional request to the salaries item, was introduced but defeated in a 3-3 split.

Freeman faces Fitzmorris, 1983

Having never been reconciled to Treen's narrow election, Freeman strongly favored the return of Edwin Edwards to the governorship in the 1983 primary, when Edwards handily unseated Treen, whom many voters blamed for a worsening economy in the state. In the same election Freeman himself faced a major opponent in Democrat-turned Republican Jimmy Fitzmorris, who had been in the No. 2 spot during Edwards' first two terms. Fitzmorris had lost the 1979 jungle primary for governor and then endorsed Republican David Treen over Democrat Louis Lambert. Fitzmorris had thereafter become Treen's industrial development director. In the meantime, he switched his party affiliation and was informally paired with Treen in the 1983 primary.

In the October 22, 1983, primary, Freeman led a four-candidate field, but Fitzmorris ran strongly enough to qualify for a general election berth on November 19. Freeman prevailed in the general election, held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day, with 627,224 votes (59.7 percent) to Fitzmorris' 424,091 (40.3 percent). Some 400,000 who had balloted in the Edwards-Treen primary did not participate in the lieutenant governor's general election.

Paul Hardy (R) unseats Freeman, 1987

In 1987, Freeman was challenged by Paul Hardy and the Democrat William Ford Dodd, son of former Lieutenant Governor (1948-1952) William J. "Bill" Dodd (1909-1991). Dodd was eliminated in the primary, and Freeman and Hardy advanced to the general election. Hardy prevailed: 521,992 votes (53 percent) to Freeman's 460,199 (47 percent). Hardy is thus far the only Republican in modern times to have ever been elected lieutenant governor of Louisiana. He served under Democratic Governor (later Republican) Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer, III. Hardy was defeated after a single term as lieutenant governor in the 1991 general election and retired to his law practice.

eeking other offices

Freeman ran unsuccessfully for the Eighth Congressional District seat in the 1988 jungle primary. He finished a weak third with 14,814 votes (11 percent). The district, which was scrapped effective with the 1992 elections because the Louisiana population grew at less than the national average, reelected freshman Republican Clyde C. Holloway of Forest Hill in south Rapides Parish. Holloway defeated the black Democrat Faye Williams in the general election to secure the second of his three terms in the U.S. House. Freeman was particularly disheartened when he failed to carry his own Iberville Parish, where he finished with only 19 percent of the vote.

Freeman bounced back politically in 1990, when he was elected to a single six-year term as the Plaquemine city judge. He unseated the incumbent Judge William C. Dupont, a fellow Democrat, 2,180 votes (56 percent) to 1,705 (44 percent). In 1996, however, Dupont bounced back to defeat Freeman, 1,941 votes (52 percent) to 1,769 (48 percent), for the city judgeship. Freeman's elected political career ended at that point. In 2004, Dupont was elevated by voters to the Eighteenth Judicial District Court.

Robert and Marianne D. Freeman (born 1936) live at 23515 Church Street in Plaquemine. Originally built as the Scratchley family mansion, the Freemans' home is the only one remaining among the buildings which served as a Catholic school and residence for the Sisters Marianites of the Holy Cross from 1859 until 1976. Freeman remains active in his community in promoting tourism, his principal duty when he was lieutenant governor. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Environmental Health Association.

On February 2, 2008, Freeman was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

References

"Shreveport Journal", March 10, 1980

"Shreveport Times", April 6, 1980

1983, Lieutenant Governor's election returns (Baton Rouge: Secretary of State)

https://www.fastcase.com/Yahoo/Start.aspx?C=b2810ece84f8fefbac4a4135a4f59d0636e3b38bf7298e48&D=4cf99cbd3446a115a173dd6fb6588f1d3325637c64bc016b&AffiliateConst=Yahoo

http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=112187

http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=102487

http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/iplaqlock.aspx

www.leha.net/leha/pdf/newsletters/oct_00_newsletter.pdf

http://find.intelius.com/search-summary-out.php?ReportType=1&searchform=name

http://www.sec.state.la.us/cgibin?rqstyp=comh1&rqsdta=25010586

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http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10069024

http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=09219624

"Who's Who in America", 1984