State filings recalled by pair

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Apr 30, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:10 a.m.

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For two of the candidates in Saturday’s congressional election, the legislative process is familiar.

Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux started his eight years as a state representative at the same time Republican candidate Woody Jenkins was finishing his 28-year stay in the Louisiana House of Representatives.

The two are among five candidates running for the 6th U.S. Congressional District seat in a general election Saturday.

Jenkins, who had just cut a radio advertisement on the issue minutes before, said Tuesday his proudest political moment was drafting the 1974 state constitution’s Declaration of Rights — similar to the federal Bill of Rights — on a $15 typewriter a teacher bought for him in high school.

“That old typewriter and the Declaration of Rights say a lot about where I’ve come from and what I believe in,” Jenkins said.

Legislative records show Jenkins sponsored or co-sponsored at least 550 House bills, and was a co-sponsor to 103 Senate bills.

Jenkins admits that some of the bills he pushed were bigger issues then than they are now. But other measures, such as requiring a fiscal note for every legislative bill, are still significant parts of the political process, he said.

During Cazayoux’s eight years as a representative, he has sponsored or co-sponsored at least 117 bills, according to public records.

Many of the bills from Cazayoux, a former assistant district attorney, involved criminal matters, particularly with regard to sexual predators.

Cazayoux said it was from his experience prosecuting cases that he realized the impact sex crimes can have on victims and their families.

Last year, Cazayoux was able to make solicitation of a minor via the Internet a crime and provide penalties for the act. In 2006, Cazayoux was able to pass a bill to create the Sexual Predator Apprehension Team, a taskforce meant to better monitor the registration and location of sex offenders.

“It’s hard to keep track of these sexual predators,” Cazayoux said. “I had to do what I could to lessen the opportunity to prey on these innocent victims.”

During his time in office, Jenkins pushed many crime-related measures. He publicly touts authoring the “shoot the burglar bill,” which allows residents to shoot an intruder in their home regardless of whether the intruder is armed.