Buddy Leach

Early life, education and career

Leach was born in Leesville in Vernon Parish in western Louisiana. He graduated from Leesville High School. In 1951, Leach entered Louisiana State University, from which he earned his Bachelor of Science. In 1954, Leach was diagnosed with polio. He suffered from temporary paralysis but eventually recovered from the disease. After attending college, Leach served in the United States Army from 1956 to 1959. In 1963, he obtained his Juris Doctorate from the Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge. In 1964, he was admitted to the Louisiana State Bar Association and began a law practice career in Leesville.

After the death of his father, Anthony Leach, Sr., "Buddy" Leach began running the family plumbing business. Leach then sold the business after finding new jobs for all of the employees. He later became president and CEO of Sweet Lake Land and Oil Company and North American Land Company in Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana.

State and U.S. House of Representatives

In 1968, Leach was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. In his first term, he served in a two-member district with fellow Democrat E. Holman Jones of Oakdale, Allen Parish. Leach was reelected in 1972 and 1976. In 1979, he gave up his seat to run for U.S. Representative]]. In 1980, he was unseated by fellow Democrat, later Republican, Buddy Roemer of Bossier Parish. In 1983, Leach sought to regain his former state legislative seat.

He unseated the incumbent Democrat, William H. West. In his last term as a state legislator, Leach served on the House Ways and Means Committee. In this capacity, he recommended that a tax be placed on foreign oil processed within the state.

Campaign for Governor

In 2003, Leach launched his gubernatorial campaign and hoped to gain a runoff berth in a crowded field. He campaigned on fundamentally changing the way state government operates. He suggested that the state use a "brillo pad" to "scrub the budget." Having been diagnosed with polio at a young age, the topic of health care in Louisiana was one of his main priorities. Many young voters were attracted to his campaign's message. He had teams of volunteers set up in Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. Many other candidates were in the race, including Democrats Kathleen Blanco, the lieutenant governor, and Richard Ieyoub, the outgoing state attorney general. Republicans ran Bobby Jindal as an alternative choice for voters. In the end, Leach came in fourth place behind Richard Ieyoub, Kathleen Blanco, and Bobby Jindal, respectively. Kathleen Blanco went on to win the general election over Republican Jindal, who then won the position in 2007.

Chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party

In 2010, Leach was elected chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party in a special election.

During his tenure as chairman, the party struggled to field candidates for statewide offices, an anomaly from when Leach first entered politics in the then overwhelmingly Democratic state. The party was unable to find a well-funded candidate to run in 2011 against Governor Bobby Jindal. For the first time since Reconstruction, Democrats lost both houses of the state legislature to Republicans. On April 28, 2012, Leach lost his reelection bid as state party chair to State Senator Karen Carter Peterson of New Orleans.

Family

Leach's elder daughter, Mary Leach Werner (born January 1968), also holds political aspirations. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 2016 for the seat held by the late Clyde C. Holloway, also like her father a former U.S. representative but in Holloway's case, Louisiana's 8th congressional district, since disbanded.. Victory instead went to the former Louisiana Republican Party state chairman Mike Francis of Lafayette.