Hunter Greene

Hunter Vann Greene (born July 1, 1966) is an attorney and family court judge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 66 in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Greene resigned from the House late in 2014 upon his election to a family court judgeship for East Baton Rouge Parish. Darrell Ourso, a financial advisor and a former member of the Baton Rouge Metro Council, defeated fellow Republican Buddy Amoroso by seventy-two votes for the right to succeed Greene. Amoroso is a sitting member of the Metro Council and a favorite of the Tea Party movement.^[1]

Background

Greene was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, to a Southern Baptist couple, Herbert Vann Greene (1938–2010), a native of Bernice in Union Parish, and the former Edna Jan Barnette (1940-2013), originally from Cotton Valley in Webster Parish. The senior Greene was a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and a probation officer in Caddo Parish before he entered the business sector. Jan Greene graduated from Cotton Valley High School and received her bachelor's degree in education from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. She taught at four schools in Shreveport before she retired in 1998 as assistant principal for instruction at Linwood Middle School in Cedar Grove. Herbert and Edna Greene are interred at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Keithville.^[2]

Hunter Greene has a sister, Kelly Greene-Byram, whose husband — also named Kelly, reside in Shreveport as well as a brother, Jade Greene, and wife, Joni, of Lebanon, Tennessee.^[3]

Greene graduated in 1984 from Southwood High School in Shreveport. In 1989, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1994, Greene, who is white, received his Juris Doctor from historically black Southern University Law School, also in Baton Rouge.^[4] Greene's legal practice in Baton Rouge specializes in family law.

Greene and his wife, the former Emily Aaron, originally from Natchitoches, have three children: Ashley, Matthew, and Lauren Greene, all of whom attended local Roman Catholic schools. Hunter and Emily Greene are eucharistic ministers at the St. Thomas More Catholic Church.^[5]

Greene is a tennis player and golfer and formerly coached basketball for St. Thomas More Church and the YMCA.^[5]

Legislative service

Previous to his service as a legislator, Greene was a member of the legal team of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, Dan Kyle.^[6]He was thereafter as a state representative the chairman of Legislative Audit Advisory Council, a joint legislative committee with oversight of the Office of Legislative Auditor.^[7]

In 2005, Greene won a special election to the House by defeating a fellow Republican, Sean Riecke, 2,951 (53.5 percent) to 2,565 (46.5 percent).^[8] The vacancy occurred when the Republican Representative Mike Futrell resigned to become state director for U.S. Senator David Vitter, and later the chief administrative officer of East Baton Rouge Parish.^[9]

Greene's former District 66 covers a large swath of Baton Rouge between downtown and mid-city. It includes the commercial and retail corridor along Florida Boulevard and reaches Jones Creek Road and Coursey Boulevard, a major growth area. Cortana Mall is located in the district as is Bon Carre’, a technology center. Greene was unopposed for his first full term in the 2007 primary.

Greene was the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a member of the Budget Committee.^[4] As a legislator, he sat on the House committees on Judiciary, Governmental Affairs, and Transportation, Highways and Public Works. As a freshman lawmaker, Greene authored a state bill which defines specific ways to convict sexual predators on the Internet. In 2006, he sponsored a constitutional amendment to strengthen the qualifications needed for judges to run for office. He authored legislation to eliminate the gift tax and repeal the inheritance tax. He supported repeal of the controversial Stelly Plan, named for former Representative Vic Stelly, which traded an increase in property taxes in exchange for a reduction in the state sales tax. Greene proposed a state income tax deduction for private school tuition, but the plan was vetoed by former Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.

In the spring of 2011, Greene ran unsuccessfully for a family court judgeship vacancy in East Baton Rouge Parish. Another Republican, Charlene Charlet Day (born 1960), a former teacher who practices law in Zachary and resides in Central, Louisiana, narrowly outpolled Greene, 5,617 (50.7 percent) to 5,462 (49.3 percent).^[10]

On October 25, 2011, Governor Bobby Jindal endorsed Chuck Kleckley of Lake Charles as his choice to succeed the term-limited Jim Tucker as the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives.^[11] Greene and fellow Baton Rouge Representative Erich Ponti and Republican Representative Joel Robideaux of Lafayette and the Democrat Jeff Arnold of New Orleans had also sought support for the presiding officer's position.^[12] The House confirmed Kleckley as the new Speaker.

After the defeat for the judgeship, Greene reaffirmed his commitment to remain in the state House and run for Speaker in 2016.^[12]However, he was again running for a family court judgeship in 2014 and was successful. This time he polled 30,203 votes (67.7 percent) to 14,402 (32.3 percent) to unseat long-term Judge Annette Mary Lassalle (born January 1952) of Baton Rouge.^[13]Rumors surfaced that Lasalle would retire, and Greene entered the race to succeed her. Then she filed for another term; the situation created strain in their past cordial relationship.^[14]

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