Chuck Kleckley

Charles Edward "Chuck" Kleckley (born December 1959) is a businessman in Lake Charles, Louisiana, who is the Republican departing Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Since 2005, he has represented State House District 36 in southwestern Calcasieu Parish. Term-limited in the primary election held on October 24, 2015, he will be succeeded in the House by a fellow Republican, Mark Abraham.

Background

Kleckley received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from McNeese State University in Lake Charles. District 36 practically surrounds McNeese, which attracts students regionally and provides local jobs. The district contains bedroom communities, where reside managerial and professional workers as well as higher-paid blue-collar personnel.^[1]

Kleckley previously served on the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body. He was unopposed in a special election in 2005 to succeed Republican Dan Flavin, a real estate agency owner who resigned early in his fifth term. Kleckley was also reelected without opposition in 2007 and 2011 to his first and second full terms.^[1]

Legislative career

In 2007, Representative Kleckley received a 94 percent rating from the business interest group, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.^[1] In 2008, Kleckley voted against a controversial legislative pay raise ultimately vetoed by Governor Bobby Jindal.^[2]

On October 25, 2011, Governor Jindal endorsed Kleckley as his choice to succeed the term-limited Jim Tucker as House Speaker.^[3] Others who had announced for the position soon withdrew, including Republican Representatives Joel Robideaux of Lafayette and Erich Ponti and Hunter Greene, both of Baton Rouge.^[4] The House of Representatives historically handily confirms the governor's choice as the Speaker, and Robideaux soon left the competition.

Kleckley has shown an interest in coastal issues ranging from natural resources to conservation, having monitored the formerly troubled board that manages the Port of Lake Charles. He also worked to procure the passage of legislation which expanded the functions of the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District.

In 2012, Kleckley worked with House Republicans and Governor Jindal to pass a monumental education reform package that promoted parental choice and the ability for a child to escape a failing school district. The bold reforms also added strict requirements for teacher tenure evaluations. During the same legislative session, under Kleckley's leadership, the House passed Constitutional Amendment #2 to the Louisiana State Constitution. It is a law that labels the right to bear arms as a "fundamental right" and subject to "strict scrutiny." It provides the strongest protection of the right to keep and bear arms of any jurisdiction in the United States.^[1][5]

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