caption succeeded birth_place imagesize party office preceded birth_date term_start image article_title term_end name occupation alma_mater
ben bagert garey forster marc morial new orleans , louisiana , u.s. 154 democrat-turned-republican louisiana 98 -lrb- orleans parish -rrb- louisiana state senator from district state 4 -lrb- orleans parish -rrb- representative from district 24 , later district thomas , jr. . a. early , jr. . michael h. o'keefe 10 january 1944 1970 1984 ben bagert jr.jpg ben bagert
 1984 1992 bernard john `` ben '' bagert , jr. . lawyer jesuit new orleans college of law high school loyola university new orleans loyola university
ben bagert

bernard john bagert , jr. -lrb- born january 10 , 1944 -rrb- , known as ben bagert , is an american attorney based in new orleans who was a member of both houses of the louisiana state legislature .
bagert 's peers have consistently voted him as a `` top lawyer '' in the new orleans area in a variety of fields .
he enjoys the highest possible rating conferred by martindale-hubbell for ethical standards and legal ability .
as a legislator , he was known as a politician who did not follow structured party dogma .
a cultural and economic conservative with a pro-environment orientation , he was the first louisiana legislator to warn of `` louisiana 's tragic loss of wetland habitat '' .
he consistently opposed taxes and the expansion of government programs and enacted bills to reform the `` welfare laws '' then in effect .
bagert , who maintained an active litigation law practice while the legislature was not in session , authored louisiana code of evidence in 1988 , senate bill 155 which became act 515 of 1988 .
in 1990 , bagert mounted a republican challenge to entrenched incumbent democratic u.s. senator j. bennett johnston , jr. , of shreveport .
the controversial former ku klux klansman , david duke , also entered the race as a republican .
although duke was opposed by the louisiana republican party , he gathered immense media attention and significant support from traditionally democratic and union voters , which made him a serious candidate .
at the time , republican and democratic candidates for congress ran simultaneously in louisiana 's nonpartisan blanket primary .
as the election drew near , it became apparent to bagert that he would run third and that duke might defeat johnston in the anticipated runoff election .
asserting that the election of duke would set back emerging conservative principles for many years , bagert withdrew from the race two days before the election to make it less likely that duke would enter a runoff election .
in 1991 , bagert did not seek reelection to the louisiana state senate and instead ran as the republican choice for attorney general in an unsuccessful bid to succeed the retiring william j. `` billy '' guste jr. also of new orleans .
oddly david duke was again at the top of the republican ticket in the race for governor that year against edwin edwards .
he returned full-time to his successful law practice .
he has been elected several times to republican party office and the republican state central committee and has been a delegate to the national republican convention .
bagert was the lawyer for robert dole and elizabeth dole in each of their unsuccessful presidential campaigns .
