Larry S. Bankston
Larry Stephen Bankston Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Louisiana State Senator for District 15 (East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana parishes) | |
| In office 1988–1996 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas H. Hudson |
| Succeeded by | Wilson Fields |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 22, 1951 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Jane Vance Bankston, now Jane Smith (2) Lynn Naebers Krielow Bankston |
| Children | From first marriage: Larry Stephen Bankston Jr. Lauren Bankston Petty Benjamin V. Bankston Hunter W. Bankston Stepchildren: Kendall J. Krielow Ashlyn C. Krielow |
| Alma mater | Broadmoor Senior High School Loyola University New Orleans Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Larry Stephen Bankston, Sr. (born January 22, 1951),[1] is an attorney from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served from 1988 to 1996 as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from the southeastern District 15 (East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana parishes).[2]
Background
Bankston is the son of the late long-term Louisiana Democratic Party chairman Jesse Bankston and the former Ruth Paine (1918–1997). Ruth Bankston was a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish Democratic Executive Committee and was a delegate to two national party conventions. Larry Bankston has a sister, Shirley B. Newsham, and two brothers, Dale Leon Bankston and Jesse Bankston, Jr.,[3] an assistant district attorney in East Baton Rouge Parish.[4]
Bankston graduated from
From his first marriage to Jane Vance (now Mrs. Jane Smith), Bankston has four children: Dr. Larry "Chip" Bankston, Jr., Laura Bankston Petty, Benjamin V. Bankston, and Hunter W. Bankston. From his second marriage to the former Lynn Naebers Krielow, Bankston has two stepchildren, Kendall J. Krielow and Ashlyn C. Krielow.
Political career
From 1978-88, Bankston was a staff attorney for the office of the
Bankston was first elected to the Senate in the 1987 general election in a narrow outcome with the Republican businessman Jay Dardenne, since Louisiana's Commissioner of Administration under Governor John Bel Edwards. Bankston prevailed by 287 votes, 12,619 (50.6 percent) to 12,332 (49.4 percent).[9]
The seat was vacated by Democrat Thomas H. Hudson, a Baton Rouge lawyer who was President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the second-ranking leadership position, during his third term (1984–88). Bankston was reelected in 1991 under revised district boundaries in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 51.2 percent of the vote over four fellow Democratic candidates.[10]
Bankston compiled a largely progressive voting record in the Senate, siding almost always with the positions of
Bankston did not seek a third term in the 1995 primary, and the seat was won by Democrat Wilson Fields, brother of then-U.S. Representative Cleo Fields, an African American who ran for governor in 1995 but was defeated by Mike Foster.[12]
Federal racketeering conviction
In 1994, Bankston, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, met in his law office with Fred Goodson, the owner of a video poker truck stop in Slidell in St. Tammany Parish. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bankston and Goodson, a close friend of Bankston's colleague, Gerry Hinton, discussed a plan to manipulate the legislative process so as to protect the interests of the video poker companies. In return, the key lawmakers would net clandestine financial interests in the video poker truck stops.[13]
The late C. B. Forgotston, an attorney, government watchdog, and an opponent of gambling, then from New Orleans who relocated to Hammond, referred to the Bankston case, accordingly: "It's one of the things we were worried about in the beginning: that it [gambling] would totally corrupt our political system. ... People would just laugh and say our system is already corrupt. But you've never seen anything like this."[13]
On October 4, 1996, Bankston was indicted on five counts of
Bankston was released from the
References
- ^ a b c d "Supreme Court of Louisiana, No. 01-B-2780 In Re: Larry S. Bankston, Attorney Disciplinary Proceedings" (PDF). lasc.org. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ "Membership of the Louisiana State Senate, 1880-2011" (PDF). senate.la.gov. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. legacy.com. November 28, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ "Federal Case of LSU Bomb Threat Dismissed, November 14, 2012". justice.gov. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "Senator Larry S. Bankston". senate.legis.state.la.us. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ "Dr. Larry S. "Chip" Bankston". brortho.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "Jennifer and Graham Bankston". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, December 22, 2007. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "Jennifer and Graham Bankston". legacy.com. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "Louisiana general election returns". staticresults.sos.la.gov. November 21, 1987. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ "Louisiana primary election returns". staticresults.sos.la.gov. October 19, 1991. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ Minden Press-Herald, October 13, 1995, p. 9A.
- ^ "Louisiana primary election returns". staticresults.sos.la.gov. October 21, 1995. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ a b Nossiter, Adam (23 August 1995). "Adam Nossiter, "Gamblers Bought Off Louisiana Legislators, Affidavits Say", August 23, 1995". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ a b "ES&S, Diebold lobbyists, July 21, 2005". bbvforums.org. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ a b "Bankston, Larry S.: Readmission/Reinstatement". ladb.org. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "Larry S. Bankston". bop.gov. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
