Dale Sittig

Clifton Dale Sittig (born July 26, 1940) is the director of the Louisiana Offshore Terminal Authority, who previously served from 1995-2008 as a Democratic member of his state’s Public Service Commission and from 1983-1995 as a state representative from Eunice in St. Landry Parish in south Louisiana.

Sittig graduated in 1959 from Eunice High School.^[1] He was elected to the House in a special election in 1983 created by the death of incumbent Democratic Representative Louis Dischler, Jr. (1927–1983).^[2] Sittig was elected to full terms thereafter in 1983, 1987, and 1991, having hence served from 1983-1995. In the fall of 1992, Sittig challenged fellow Democratic Public Safety Commissioner Thomas E. "Tommy" Powell, Sr. (1924–2005),^[2] of Eunice in the District IV race, but he but lost by 354 votes out of some 283,000 cast. Powell received 141,894 (50.06 percent) to Sittig’s 141,540 (49.94 percent).^[3] Powell, a Eunice petroleum dealer allied with the late U.S. Senator Russell B. Long,^[4] was one of the original PSC members elected when the membership was enlarged in 1975 from three to five members.

Powell resigned from the commission midway in his last term, and Sittig won the 1995 special election to succeed him. In that contest, Sittig defeated State Senator Joe McPherson of Rapides Parish in central Louisiana. Sittig led with 141,473 votes (52.8 percent) to McPherson’s 126,452 (47.2 percent).^[5] In making the PSC race, McPherson forfeited his Senate seat, but he reclaimed it in the 1999 election by defeating Republican State Representative Randy Wiggins of Rapides Parish. When Sittig joined the PSC, his House seat went Republican, with the election of Gregory L. Fruge, also of Eunice.^[6]

In his 1998 race for a full six-year term, Sittig easily defeated the Republican candidate, Michael J. Muller, 92, 344 (77 percent) to 27,638 (23 percent).^[7] In 2004, Sittig was unopposed for the second term on the PSC which he did not complete.

During his PSC tenure, Sittig used his influence to obtain lighting for the Louisiana State University at Eunice baseball field known as Bengal Stadium. Beginning in 2007, LSUE teams could play at night for the first time since the establishment of the program.^[8] He quarreled openly with a colleague, his fellow Democrat Foster L. Campbell, Jr., of Bossier Parish over certain commission policies and procedures, particularly in reference to the Entergy Company. Campbell claimed that Sittig was more supportive of "special interests", rather than the "people's interest".^[9]

Sittig was appointed to the offshore authority position by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, who had defeated Campbell in the 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary. On September 15, 2008, Sittig formally left the PSC and was replaced for several months by Republican consultant Pat Manuel of Eunice, the interim Jindal appointee.who was recommended by Sittig. Manuel was not a candidate for the seat in the 2009 special election.^[10] Then in April 2009, Republican Clyde C. Holloway of Forest Hill in Rapides Parish assumed the seat for the term expiring on December 31, 2010. Holloway had been scheduled to meet Joe McPherson in a special election runoff, but McPherson withdrew from the contest even though he trailed Holloway by less than 1 percent of the vote in the initial tally. A third candidate, Gil Pinac of Crowley, the seat of Acadia Parish, held the remaining critical ballots, and Pinac, after his elimination, threw his support to fellow Republican Holloway.^[11]

During the administration of Republican Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., the LOOP position had been held for the full eight years by a former Republican state representative, Terry W. Gee of Jefferson Parish.

Sittig was formerly associated with Soileau Industries of Ville Platte, the seat of Evangeline Parish.^[12] In his new position, Sittig maintains his office in Lafayette and commutes from Eunice. His pay increased from $45,000 as a PSC member to $101,000 as offshore authority director.^[13]

Sittig is married to the former Celine Evelyn Broussard (born October 31, 1943). The couple has three sons, Mitchell D. Sittig (born 1964) and Kurt K. Sittig (born 1965), Neil Sittig, and one daughter Celeste Sittig Broussard.

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