Rep. Monica, Nickie (R)
District# 57, LaPlace

• District # 57: House District 1
• Party: Republican
• Caucus Membership: Acadiana Delegation
  Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation
  Louisiana Rural Caucus
• Occupation: Self employed
• Education: Riverside Academy; International Technical Institute
• Spouse: Dawn
• Year Elected: 2007
• Last Year Eligible(Term Limit): 2020
• 2007 Election
  Monica carried 57 percent of the vote to defeat Garyville attorney Geri Broussard Baloney in the November 2007 general election. He also led the field of six candidates in the October primary.
  

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• Economic: St. John the Baptist Parish and portions of St. James make up House District 57. Located halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the area has built its economy on sugarcane farming and the industrial plants that line the Mississippi River. As a bedroom community to metropolitan New Orleans, the district also contains typical suburban concerns such as sprawl and infrastructure. Traditional farmland has been swallowed up as subdivisions continue to spring up throughout the region, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
• Social: The new faces that came into the area following Hurricane Katrina only added to the traditional hodge-podge atmosphere that has defined the district for generations. Descendants of French Acadians, many of whom settled the region in the 18th century, continue to call the area home, as do commuters to and from the New Orleans area and a significant number of blacks. Income levels are moderate to high, although pockets of poverty do exist in older sections of the district.
• Political: Representing the concerns of a large constituent base – industrial workers, suburbanites and an active black community – is the major difficulty for anyone representing this district. The district is primarily white and Democratic, although pro-business conservatives like Bobby Jindal and Mike Foster traditionally run strong here.

• Nickie Monica was one of six candidates to seek the House District 57 seat vacated by term-limited Rep. Robert Faucheux. Monica, the two-term president of St. John the Baptist Parish was a familiar face in the crowd. He previously served as a term as a parish councilman before becoming parish president in 2000.
• While Monica’s interests are wide and varied, he has had proven successes in the area of insurance laws. He has passed bills addressing the needs of permissive users and adding accountability to the surplus lines broker licensing process and the registration process for security dealers and salesmen.
• Monica, a 20-year employee at Marathon Oil Refinery, one of the district’s largest businesses, proposed rededicating a 16-cent state gasoline tax from the state’s general fund to highway and port construction. On education, Monica supports an expansion of the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS), which provides college scholarships, to pay tuition for graduate school as well. He also advocated testing eighth-graders to determine whether they should attend college or a vocational school once they receive a high school diploma. The test’s results would determine the student’s high school curriculum and whether they take more college preparatory courses or more vocational educational courses.
• Monica received endorsements from the Louisiana Restaurant Association, the Louisiana Chemical Association and LABI.