Ken Hollis

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Ken Hollis
Louisiana State Senate District 9 (Jefferson Parish)
In office 1982 – January 14, 2008
Preceded by	M. Joseph Tiemann
Succeeded by	Stephen Joseph "Steve" Scalise
Jefferson Parish Council
In office 1980 – 1982

Born	March 14, 1942 (1942-03-14) (age 66)
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Barbara Jones Hollis
Children	Mike Hollis Paul Hollis of Mandeville
Occupation	Insurance executive
Religion	Presbyterian
(1) Hollis, as a Louisiana lawmaker, was a generally fiscal conservative Republican who also supported gay rights. (2) Hollis was term-limited as a [[Louisiana State Legislature}state senator]], but a son, Paul Hollis, is running for the United States Senate in 2008.

Jesse Kendrick "Ken" Hollis (born March 13, 1942) is a former Republican Party (GOP) member of the Louisiana State Senate from Metairie in Jefferson Parish in the New Orleans suburbs. He served from 1982, when he won a special election to fill an unexpired term, until he was term-limited, effective January 14, 2008.

In 2003, Hollis launched an exploratory campaign for governor but never filed his papers even though he claimed that his early polling was encouraging. He instead endorsed intraparty rival Hunt Downer of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana. Downer finished in sixth place in the jungle primary, and the office ultimately went to the Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette. Because he did not run for governor, Hollis was able to secure his sixth full term in the state Senate District 9.

As his Senate successor, Hollis endorsed Republican State Representative Steve Scalise, a conservative who won the seat in the primary held on October 20, 2007.

1 Early years, education, military
2 Legislative activities
3 Supporting gay rights
4 Paul Hollis for U.S. Senate
5 Notes
6 References

[edit] Early years, education, military

Hollis was born and reared in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana. He graduated in 1960 from Bolton High School. One of his classmates was former Mayor Edward G. "Ned" Randolph, Jr., who served in the state Senate from 1976-1984. Their tenures hence coincided only in the short session to which Hollis was elected in 1982. Hollis thereafter received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana.

Hollis was a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1967-1974.

A Presbyterian, Hollis is a board member of United Christian Charities. He is married to the former Barbara Jones.

After graduation from Louisiana Tech, Hollis entered the insurance business as MassMutual's regional group manager, a position that he retained until 1981. Hollis then served as MassMutual's general agent for the State of Louisiana until he retired from that position in January 1998. He is since the president and chief executive officer of Hollis Companies which specialize in employee benefits consulting.

Prior to his Senate tenure, he was an elected member of the Jefferson Parish governing council from 1980-1982.

[edit] Legislative activities

In his last Senate term, Hollis is chairman of the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee and a member of the Judiciary "B" and Retirement committees

Hollis was unopposed in his bids for re-election in 1983, 1987, 1991 and 1999. In 1995, he defeated fellow Republican Greg Reinhard in the primary, 29,240 (80 percent) to 7,361 (20 percent). In 2003, Hollis defeated fellow Republican Polly Thomas in the primary, 19,570 (61 percent) to 12,504 (39 percent).

In the Senate, Hollis supported Planned Parenthood of America and one of its opposite interest groups, the Louisiana Family Forum, each approximately 33 percent of the time. Two other rival interest groups, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the AFL-CIO each graded Hollis between 70 and 80 percent in his last legislative years. The Christian Coalition rated him 55 percent. The Louisiana Association of Educators rated him from 40 to 90 percent, depending on the year.

Hollis was named "Senator of the Year for Jefferson Parish" in 1985, 1987, and 1993 by the interest group, the Alliance for Good Government. He was designated as "Man of the Year" in 1984 by the New Orleans chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. He is a past president of the Louisiana State Employees' Group Benefits Program.

[edit] Supporting gay rights

In 2001, Hollis acknowledged that his son, Mike Hollis is homosexual. He introduced a bill to prohibit all but the smallest businesses in Louisiana from discriminating against employees because of sexual preference.

"This was a real gut issue for me. I realized this is probably not the smartest position, politically, to take. It would have been easy for me to be somewhere else. But I just reached down deep. I voted for it. I did the right thing, and I have had a calm feeling since," Hollis told the national homosexual publication The Advocate in its June 19, 2001 issue. Mike Hollis is also a Louisiana Tech graduate and at the time was a Tech administrator who feared that he could be fired from his job. He since left the university and works for his father's company.

The Senate committee voted 3-2 to send the bill to the full chamber, where it was defeated. The bill made Hollis a rare Republican favorite among the interest group the Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians, Inc.

[edit] Paul Hollis for U.S. Senate

Meanwhile, another Hollis son, Paul Hollis of Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish, is a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 2008. He will challenge State Treasurer John N. Kennedy, a recent convert from the Democratic Party, in the GOP primary. The seat is held by Democrat Mary Landrieu, who is seeking her third term. Paul Hollis is a collector of rare coins, having begun with Blanchard and Company of New Orleans, one of the nation's largest rare coin firms. He formerly hosted "The Coin Vault," a nationally televised program that reached 60 million homes on the Shop at Home television network. He eventually started his own coin firm and specializes ancient coins that circulated during the lifetime of Jesus Christ. Hollis is considered both a fiscal and social conservative and will run to Kennedy's right on the issues. He will focus on his lifelong history in the Republican Party in contrast to Kennedy's conversion in 2007. Hollis is expected to invest his own funds in the in the campaign and draw support from his contacts across the state and the nation.^[1]