Role Attorney Occupation Attorney Spouse Tanja Dee Vanhook Foil | Religion Presbyterian Name Franklin Foil | |
Born October 31, 1964 (age 60) Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, USA ( 1964-10-31 ) Children Kathleen, Grace, and Andy Foil Alma mater Louisiana State UniversityLoyola University New Orleans | ||
Franklin Johnson Foil (born October 31, 1964) is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 70, which includes a portion of Baton Rouge. In 2008, he succeeded term-limited Republican Representative Carl Crane, the former chairman of the House Education Committee. To win the seat, Foil defeated fellow Republican attorney Pat Culbertson.
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Early life
Foil was born and reared in Baton Rouge, as one of two sons of Frank Foil and the former Judith Johnson. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and in 1991 received his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University Law School in New Orleans. He is also a U.S. Navy veteran, a captain in the Navy Reserve Judge Advocate General's Corps, and has served as Judge Pro Tempore for the Baton Rouge City Court.
Family
Foil is married to the former Tanja Dee Van Hook (born March 10, 1967), and the couple has three children: Kathleen, Grace, and Andy. The family attends First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge where Foil has been a member since 1977. Tanja has a B.A. degree in journalism from LSU. She currently serves on the boards of Families Helping Families of Greater Baton Rouge and the Inner Wheel Club. She is a Sustaining member of the Junior League of Baton Rouge.
Election history
In his first bid for political office, Foil defeated Metro Councilman Pat Culbertson in the general election held on November 17, 2007: 5,399 (53 percent) to 4,809 (47 percent) in a small-turnout election. Culbertson had nearly won the seat outright in the October 20 primary, with 49 percent to 40 percent for Foil. A third Republican candidate, self-styled "Reagan conservative" Aidan Reynolds, also an attorney, drew only 11 percent of the vote. Culbertson was the target of negative mail-outs and television advertisements funded by Lane Grigsby, a Baton Rouge contractor; the ads worked to Foil's advantage.
Foil was easily reelected in the primary election held on October 22, 2011. He defeated the Independent Greg Baldwin, 6,947 votes (77.4 percent) to 2,033 (22.6 percent). He won again in 2015 by a similar margin, 8,401 votes (74.4 percent) to 2,891 (25.6 percent) for the Democratic candidate, Shamaka Schumake.
Legislation
In the 2015 Louisiana legislative session, Foil co-authored HB 523, a bill to bring some funding out from the protections of the Louisiana constitution.