Rep. Kleckley, Chuck

House Member

Rep. Kleckley, Chuck (R)
District# 36, Lake Charles

Contact Information

District Office
Legislative Assistant : Ginger Gomez
Email Chuck Kleckley
Phone: (337)475-3016
Fax: (337)475-3018
Address: 130 Jamestown Road
Lake Charles, LA 70605
Map
Capitol House Switch Band: (225) 342-6945
Capitol House Fax: (225)342-8336

Profile

- District #: House District 1
- Party: Republican
- Caucus Membership: Acadiana Delegation, Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation, Louisiana Rural Caucus
- Occupation: Self-employed
- Education: B.S. Finance, McNeese State University
- Spouse: Laurie
- Year Elected: 2005
- Last Year Eligible(Term Limit): 2016
- 2007 Election
  Kleckley goes into his second term unopposed, which is the same way he got into the House in 2003. Dan Flavin, a Lake Charles real estate agency owner, had stepped down and chose not to seek reelection. The seat is considered a Republican-hold.
  Kleckley was an impressive freshman, so expect him to start coming into his own this term. He will also be taking more of a regional approach to lawmaking in coming years, like he did in creating the Interstate 10 Corridor District, which includes portions of Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Acadia, Lafayette, and St. Martin parishes.

District Profile

Registered Voters by Parish: Calcasieu 100.0%
Municipalities/Communities Represented: Carlyss, Lake Charles, Prien, Sulphur
Economic: District 36 is cut from the southwestern corner of Louisiana in Calcasieu Parish. From lower Lake Charles, and then south to the Cameron Parish line, the district stretches all the way west toward the Texas border. It has grown at roughly the statewide average of 4 percent, with the most substantial changes seen in the middle of the district near Prien Lake.
It practically surrounds McNeese State University, which attracts students from all over the region and provides a great number of local jobs. Largely, however, it is packed with so-called bedroom communities that host managerial and professional workers and better-paid blue-collar workers.
The massive petrochemical plants in and around Lake Charles are primarily the driving force for the local economy, providing jobs for professionals, mangers, and blue-collar workers -- both skilled and unskilled.
The Port of Lake Charles, a deepwater port that serves the plants, is another big player.
Interstate 10 provides a major transportation link, moving petrochemical products in and out of the area, as well as gamblers visiting from Texas. Gambling, in the form of riverboat casinos and their new hotels, is an important local tax base.
Unemployment in the parish tripled from 5.3 percent in 2004 to 15.9 percent in November 2005 following Hurricane Rita. Many minimum wage jobs are advertised and remain unfilled even today. Recovery has been slow but steady.

Social: Residents are primarily middle to upper-middle class, with some “silk stocking” neighborhoods.

Political: District 36 is one of the most conservative of the southwestern Louisiana House districts, primarily because of the Lake Charles influence. An organized business community and labor unions both have a strong voter influence.

Biography

- Republican Charles E. "Chuck" Kleckley brings local know-how to the House from his previous service on the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury.
  He is a no-nonsense, pro-business conservative who has consistently supported many LABI initiatives. In fact, the business organization gave him a high 94 percent rating for his votes during the 2007 regular session. He is also largely against taxes.
- Kleckley has an obvious stake in coastal issues and is constantly looking at ways to advance the agenda in Calcasieu Parish on everything from natural resources to conservation. On the horizon, he’s interest in, among other matters, making the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation more responsive and accountable to its constituency.
- He is keeping with a long-standing policy tradition in the district by keeping close tabs on the once-troubled board that manages the Port of Lake Charles. Kleckley most recently passed legislation broadening the operational functions of the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District.
- While he is focused on bring local infrastructure dollars to Lake Charles, Kleckley doesn’t mind taking on statewide issues that border on controversial. He once authored legislation that implemented rate schedules for certain gasoline retailers.