Sen. D. A Butch Gautreaux (D)
District# 21,

• District # 21: House District 0
• Party: Democrat
• Caucus Membership: --
• Occupation: V.P. of Marketing, Marsainin Industrial Contractors, President of Tigator Env., LLC
• Education: Central Catholic High School; Nicholls State University
• Spouse: Marilyn
• Year Elected: 2000
• Last Year Eligible(Term Limit): 2012
• 2007 Election
  Gautreaux dominated his 2007 election challenge, topping local attorney Clayton D. Diaz, a Republican, with 71 percent of the vote. With term limits in full effect, and Gautreaux’s seniority in full bloom, expect continued leadership roles to fall his way over the coming term.
  

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• Economic: District 21 is comprised of five parishes: all of Assumption and St. Mary, the western side of Terrebonne Parish, as well as portions of Lafourche and St. Martin. There is a tremendous amount of sugarcane farming in this area and the oil industry has a strong foothold in the fabrication yards south of Houma and east of Morgan City, which also is a staging area for much of the offshore oil activity. In western St. Mary Parish, huge carbon black plants provide manufacturing employment. The Cypress Bayou Casino on the Chitimacha Indian Reservation at Charenton is a major source of jobs.
• Social: District 21 is a hodgepodge of ethnic, social and economic groups. Residents include Italians, descendents of English and French planter families, rural farm workers and Cajun fishermen.
• Political: The district is generally conservative and pro-business, though there is a strong Democratic influence in the rural areas and among the large black population. Houma, Morgan City and Franklin have significant pockets of Republican voters. Union influence is virtually nonexistent.

• State Sen. Dudley “Butch” Gautreaux, a Democrat, was a small appliance store owner for 30 years and since 2005 has been working with a trucking company in Thibodeaux. In 2007 Gautreaux joined with partners to form an environmental company of which he serves as president. Gautreaux is one of a growing number of conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats. Knowing the needs of his economically struggling district, Gautreaux has earned the reputation as a hard worker, a coalition builder and a strong business vote. Heavily involved in economic development projects for his district, Gautreaux organized a cooperative agreement between Franklin, Baldwin and the Chitimatcha tribe to develop an industrial park along the Cherington Canal.
  He is also not afraid of a fight, introducing bills that would have opened redfish again for commercial harvest and put oil companies on the line – financially – for so-called legacy sites. But Gautreaux’s most significant pieces of legislation in recent years have dealt with the state’s retirement systems and his role as chairman of Senate Retirement Committee.
  As for pet projects, look to those dealing with the Atchafalaya Basin Project. Gautreaux authored a bill to allow for an environmental impact study by the Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate the widening of the Atchafalaya River. West St. Mary has lost relationships with oil and gas industry due to the shallowing of the river and the senator has taken it on as a policy priority.
  Although he introduces his share of legislation, Gautreaux often plays defense against bills that take rights away from citizens. For example, Gautreaux once opposed a bill that would have made commercial fishing for speckled trout illegal. Believing that government should be more responsive, Gautreaux helped derail a bill aimed at creating a new agency in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for registering boats and motors.