Jim Donelon

Early years

Donelon was born in New Orleans, the son of James Donelon, II (1911-1996), who is interred there at Greenwood Cemetery. He graduated from the Roman Catholic Jesuit High School, the University of New Orleans, and the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. In 1986, Donelon was the first recipient of the Homer L. Hitt "Distinguished Alumnus of the Year" award from the University of New Orleans, named for the first executive of the university.

Winning and losing

In 1975, Donelon ran successfully for Chairman of the Jefferson Parish Council, a large suburban parish outside New Orleans. He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, and 1999. He resigned midway through his fifth full term to join Wooley's staff.

In 1979, Donelon, as a Democrat, passed up a reelection bid to the Jefferson Parish Council to make an unsuccessful race for lieutenant governor against the Democrat Bobby Freeman of Plaquemine in Iberville Parish. Donelon was considered the "conservative" in that race to the "liberal" Freeman. Most of the supporters of David C. Treen, the narrow winner of the gubernatorial election that year, are believed to have backed Donelon, and most of the backers of Democrat Louis Lambert went with Freeman. There was also a Republican in the race, Russel C. "Russ" Kiger, II, then a field representative of the National Cash Register Company based in Baton Rouge. Kiger said that his views parallelled those of Treen and claimed that his non-political technical background would have benefited state government. Yet, Kiger polled only 46,847 votes in the primary, fewer than half of the registered Republicans then on the Louisiana voter rolls, and was hence eliminated from the Donelon-Freeman general election. Jesse Monroe Knowles, a state senator and decorated World War II veteran from Lake Charles, was yet another candidate in the lieutenant governor's contest. Early in 1980, both Donelon and Knowles switched to Republican affiliation.

1980 U.S. House campaign

On February 20, 1980, he switched to Republican affiliation to run for the Third Congressional District seat vacated when David Treen became governor. Treen urged the party to coalesce behind Donelon even though there were other longer-tenured Republicans who were interested in making the race. Donelon attracted three Democratic opponents in the special election. The strongest was state Representative Billy Tauzin, then of Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish, who was the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Also in the race was Democratic state Senator Anthony Guarisco, Jr., of Morgan City in St. Mary Parish, considered a "fiscal conservative" but a "social liberal", who was a strong proponent of the never ratified Equal Rights Amendment. Robert "Bob" Namer, who criticized the other three candidates for excessive campaign spending, ran as a Democrat but later switched to the GOP.

Tauzin filed with the Federal Election Commission a complaint which charged that Donelon's campaign donations were tainted. He cited Donelon's series of letters of credit with no interest required through the Jefferson Bank and Trust Company. Such loans violated federal election law, Tauzin noted. Donelon in turn claimed that the first Mrs. Tauzin obtained a $60,000 loan for her husband's campaign and criticized Tauzin for making "a friviolous charge . . . in the waning days of the campaign."

Former Governor Edwin Washington Edwards had initially told Donelon, who had been an Edwards aide prior to 1975, that Edwards would not become involved in the campaign. When Treen began to campaign for Donelon, Edwards endorsed Tauzin, a former floor leader for Edwards. Donelon entered the first round of balloting as a slight favorite in that he had won some 57 percent of the vote in the parishes which then comprised the Third District in the lieutenant governor's race against Bobby Freeman just seven months earlier. Guarisco, who was endorsed by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which had supported Treen for governor in 1979, said that he did not want the support of either Edwards or Treen because he was "independent of all that." Tauzin was also endorsed by Lieutenant Governor Freeman, United States Senator Russell B. Long and Congressman John Breaux, whom Donelon would oppose eighteen years later in a Senate race.

Donelon led in the first balloting with 37,191 votes (45.1 percent), but he had peaked and could not sufficiently broaden his appeal into the special election runoff. Tauzin followed with 35,384 ballots (42.9 percent); Guarisco had 8,827 (10.7 percent), and Namer 1,067 (1.3 percent). Donelon won his own Jefferson Parish with 67.4 percent and eked out a bare 50.5 percent in often Republican-leaning Iberia Parish at the western end of the district. In the other French parishes, Donelon fared poorly, taking just 14.9 percent in Tauzin's home base of Lafourche, 33.5 percent in Terrebonne Parish (Houma), 27.3 percent in St. Mary Parish, 30.2 percent in the two St. Martin Parish precincts in the district, and 38.7 percent in St. Charles Parish. Some 60 percent of Donelon's vote came from his own Jefferson Parish.

The Republican National Committee joined the National Republican Congressional Committee to raise money nationwide for Donelon. RNC Chairman William "Bill" Brock of Tennessee and congressional chairman Congressman Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan, said that funds were need to purchase media and newspaper advertising to reach undecided voters and to conduct a massive "get-out-the-vote" drive. Brock and Vander Jagt said that the Louisiana special election was "[a]n opportunity to hold this congressional seat. Donelon is an outstanding Republican and former Jefferson Parish president. His Democratic opponent [future Republican Tauzin] is pro-big labor and a big spender. Democrats and labor bosses will go all out with massive campaign blitz to win control of this district. Republican leaders in Louisiana join us in urgently requesting your immediate action to stop them ...".

The Republican effort to elect Donelon to hold the Treen seat fell short. Tauzin prevailed with 62,108 votes (53.1 percent) to Donelon's 54,815 ballots (46.9 percent). Donelon's 2/3 majority in Jefferson Parish was insufficient to offset huge Tauzin majorities in Lafourche, St. Charles, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Terrebonne parishes. In Iberia Parish, the two split the vote, with Tauzin securing 50.1 percent. The turnout in the May 17 special election runoff was 116,923, compared to 82,462 in the April 19 first round of balloting. The greater participation occurred despite flooding that inundated much of south Louisiana the previous day. Donelon announced after his defeat that he would not challenge Tauzin for a full term later in the year. Tauzin became unbeatable in the district. Even when he switched parties, he was then untouchable by a Democratic opponent.

Election to legislature, 1982

In a special election in 1982, Donelon won the seat vacated by the resignation of Representative Charles Grisbaum, Jr., a Republican. Grisbaum, who became a judge on the new Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Gretna, the seat of Jefferson Parish, also ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1974 against Republican Representative Treen. Grisbaum became a friend of Treen's during that campaign, and, in 1977, he switched parties while continuing his legislative service from Jefferson Parish. Grisbaum by 1980 had become one of Treen's point men in the legislature.

Donelon, who followed in Grisbaum's path, also has ties to Treen. It was then newly inaugurated Governor Treen in 1980, who proposed that Republicans unite behind Donelon for the special election to choose Treen's congressional successor. In 1996–1997, the Christian Coalition gave him an overall 80 percent rating for that legislative session.

After he won repeated legislative reelection in Jefferson Parish, Donelon became his party's "sacrificial lamb" in 1998 against popular Democratic U. S. Senator John Breaux of Crowley in Acadia Parish, who was seeking his third and, as it turned out, final term as senator. Donelon stepped up to run when other candidates deferred to the inevitability of Breaux's reelection. The race was not close. Breaux won the nonpartisan blanket primary, often called the jungle primary, outright with 620,504 votes (64 percent). Donelon trailed with 306,616 (32 percent). The remaining 4 percent was shared by a half-dozen minor candidates, including L.D. Knox of Winnsboro, who legally changed his name to "None of the Above" Knox to stress the need for greater candidate choice to reject all declared candidates.

Donelon held the legislative seat, District 98, for nineteen years until his resignation on June 30, 2001. As he took the position in the Department of Insurance, Donelon was succeeded by a fellow Republican, Tom Capella. Before he left the legislature, Donelon ran in a special judicial election on March 27, 1999. He was defeated by Republican Ronald Bodenheimer, who polled 8,981 votes (55 percent) to Donelon's 7,300 (45 percent). In that race Donelon unsuccessfully used the slogan "Who Better to Interpret the Laws Than the Person Who Wrote Them". Bodenheimer, a former prosecutor, went to prison on conviction of having conspired to plant the prescription painkiller OxyContin in the automobile of an FBI informant who frequently complained about drug trafficking and zoning violations at the judge's marina.

In 1993, Donelon, along with fellow lawmakers Kernan "Skip" Hand, Ken Hollis, and Steve Theriot, all of the New Orleans suburbs, admitted to having given Tulane University scholarships to their children. Legislators are allowed under an 1884 law to designate one Tulane scholarship recipient per year, but the practice of giving such awards, totaling $17,000 in 1993 dollars, to family members had been previously unknown.

In the spring of 1999, Donelon lost still another race to a fellow Republican for a state judgeship in Jefferson Parish.

As Insurance commissioner

Donelon served in the Louisiana State House while he maintained his private law practice. In the legislature, he was chairman of the Committee on Insurance and Co-Chairman of the Republican legislative delegation. He was sworn in as insurance commissioner in February 2006.

On June 5, 2006, Commissioner Donelon issued Advisory Letter 06-04 to the approximately one hundred companies with homeowners insurance policies in Louisiana. The letter requests their cooperation in extending from one to two years the prescriptive period for policyholders with Hurricane Katrina and/or Rita claims to file no later than August 1, 2006. In most cases, a Louisiana policyholder's right to file suit on a homeowners insurance claim is limited to twelve months. Donelon said:

Given the unprecedented number of claims following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, one year is simply not going to be enough time for many policyholders and insurance companies to work out a settlement that is in the best interest of both. ...

Wooley said that he had planned to resign prior to the hurricanes, "[but] when Katrina hit, we decided we had to try to get through at least the crisis part of it". Wooley said that he had accomplished most of his goals as commissioner prior to the hurricane, the most important of which was restoring the public image of the Department of Insurance.

Wooley joined the department in 1999 as then-Commissioner James H. "Jim" Brown's chief deputy. In the fall of 2000, Brown, a Democrat, was convicted of lying to an FBI agent, and Wooley moved up to the commissioner's position. Wooley was the first commissioner to leave office without a streak of scandal. His predecessors went to prison. Brown served a six-month sentence in the facility in Oakdale in Allen Parish. Democrat Douglas D. "Doug" Green of Baton Rouge received twenty-five years for his part in the Champion Insurance scandal of the late 1980s but served only eleven years. Sherman A. Bernard, who is also remembered for having opposed the Democratic nomination of Senator Russell Long in 1974, served time for extorting bribes from insurance companies doing business with the state.

Commissioner Donelon clashed with former Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot, one of Donelon's former legislative colleagues who had also obtained Tulane scholarships for a family member. As part of an investigation, Theriot demanded department records from Donelon regarding the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Theriot's probe led to the indictment of the corporation's former president, Terry Lisotta. Ultimately, Theriot had to obtain a court order to inspect the records, which Donelon originally said were off limits.

September 30, 2006, special election

In the special election, Donelon faced a fellow Democrat-turned-Republican in state Senator James David Cain of Dry Creek. Cain questioned Donelon's commitment to the Republican Party because of Donelon's acceptance of the staff appointment from the Democrat Wooley. Yet, Donelon has been a registered Republican for twenty years longer than has Cain. Cain's opponents say that he violated Ronald W. Reagan's "Eleventh Commandment": "Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican." Cain's state Senate term expired on January 14, 2008.

Cain attempted to taint Donelon into a "guilt by association" with the legal problems that past Louisiana insurance commissioners have endured. Donelon fired back. The Internet site bayoubuzz.com reported that Donelon courted local insurance agencies. He, like Wooley and Wooley’s former boss, Jim Brown, built a strong popularity with the industry's rank and file. Bayoubuzz.com also obtained a memo that seems to outline an aggressive strategy to appeal to frustrated homeowners still awaiting their benefits from Katrina and Rita damage. Donelon also pledged to continue Wooley's work at improving the image of the agency.

In his term as chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, Cain criticized many of the policies of the Wooley administration, which Donelon has continued. Cain decried as "too little, too late" investigations by the Department of Insurance conducted against companies that tried to avoid reimbursing customers. He also attacked Donelon in the post-storm era, most notably over the continued operations of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.

2011 re-election

Donelon was challenged for his second full term as commissioner in the primary held on October 22, 2011, by public-interest attorney Donald C. Hodge, a Democrat. During the campaign, questions arose about the ethics of the Department of Insurance, the high cost of insurance rates, and the amount of funds that Donelon received from insurance companies. Donelon, however, handily prevailed with 651,285 votes (67.5 percent) to Hodge's 313,931 (32.5 percent).

2015 campaign

Donelon defeated opposition in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015, from Democrat, Charlotte McDaniel McGehee, an attorney in Baton Rouge who carried the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party, and a fellow Republican, Matt David Parker (born September 1957), a veteran of the United States Air Force and an automobile body shop owner in his native Monroe in Ouachita Parish. Parker claimed that Donelon had failed to keep down insurance rates in the state, with homeowners rates in Louisiana nearly double the national average and premiums up 36 percent since 2006. A second Democrat also ran for the position, Donald Hodge, Jr., of Baton Rouge.

Donelon led the four candidate field with 561,382 votes (53.5 percent) to McGehee's 199,371 (19 percent), Parker's 147,481 (14.1 percent), and Hodge's 140,491 (13.4 percent).

Family

A Roman Catholic, Donelon is married to the former Merilynn Boudreaux. They reside in Jefferson Parish and are the parents of four daughters and, to date, the grandparents of five granddaughters and one grandson.

Military service

Donelon retired after thirty-three years of service as State Judge Advocate for the Louisiana Army National Guard. He held the rank of colonel and received the prestigious Legion of Merit medal.