Rep. Richardson, Clifton R. (R)
District# 65, Baton Rouge

• District # 65: House District 1
• Party: Republican
• Caucus Membership: Capital Region Legislative Delegation
  Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation
  Louisiana Rural Caucus
• Occupation: Owner/Manager, Rebel Electric Company
• Education: Independence High School, Independence, Louisiana
• Spouse: Sylvia
• Year Elected: 2007
• Last Year Eligible(Term Limit): 2020
• 2007 Election
  Lambert was reelected without opposition. In 2003, he won a bitterly-fought race, toppling longtime Rep. Juba Diez, the incumbent.
  Expect Lambert to find a leadership role over the coming term as a leader on both budget and transportation issues.
  
  

• Louisiana Map
• District Map
• Metro Map
• Economic: District 59 is made up of most of Ascension Parish on the east bank of the Mississippi River. This is one of the fastest-growing areas in the state, with Gonzales as the major population center.
  What was once rural farmland has been transformed into suburbia as Baton Rouge residents flee the city for better schools and to escape urban problems. The parish, though, is still populated by working-class residents who have good paying jobs in many of the area’s petrochemical plants and in the construction industry.
  Gonzales has evolved into a major retail center and a large outlet mall just outside the district provides many service jobs for district residents and tax revenues for local governing bodies. The local tax base also is improving, thanks to the steady development of strip malls and “big-box” stores closer to Baton Rouge.
• Social: The district is dominated by blue-collar workers who earn good wages. The flood of suburban development, however, has brought in more middle-class residents who commute to administrative, government and professional jobs in Baton Rouge.
• Political: Labor traditionally has been a strong influence here, but that is changing as more middle-class professionals move into the district. Many are Republicans, or at least more conservative residents. That change can be seen in the performance of conservative candidates like Gov. Mike Foster and Bobby Jindal, who both carried Ascension Parish by wide margins.

• Republican attorney Eddie Lambert is a pro-business lawmaker who votes with LABI a majority of the time. He is also a staunch conservative.
  Lambert has leveraged his post on the House Transportation Committee not only deliver on campaign promises, but also to carve out a niche in the lower chamber. He has largely focused on the needs of his growing district, especially extending and improving the road network. He is also interested in toughening up drunk-driving laws.
• On education, Lambert would like to see a larger spotlight on ninth-grade level improvements and the development of alternative or non-college bound systems to stand in contrast to vo-tech schools and the like.
• On ethics, Lambert favors requiring lawmakers to disclose their personal income, but he believes locally elected officials, such as mayors, should be on the hook as well.
• While he invests a great deal of resources in transportation issues, Lambert has also become a champion for Ascension Parish’s flooding woes and is interested in adding Ascension Parish to the state’s official coastal zone.