Mike Cross (Louisiana politician)
Encyclopedia
Michael Aduron Cross, known as Mike Cross (born September 8, 1944) is an American business
man who served from 1981 to 1996 as a Democratic
member of the Louisiana State Senate
from District 13 (East Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, and Livingston
parishes) in Greater Baton Rouge
, Louisiana
. Prior to his legislative service, Cross was from 1976 to 1981 the mayor
of Baker
in suburban East Baton Rouge Parish. Currently Cross is a lobbyist for CLECO Electric, and the Louisiana Municipal Association.
Cross won a special election
in 1981 upon the removal from office of state Senator Gaston Gerald
of Greenwell Springs, who was convicted of extortion
of $25,000 from a contractor. Gerald, in his third consecutive Senate term, continued to draw legislative pay when he was imprisoned in a federal installation in Texas
. The Senate finally voted 33-3 to expel Gerald. Cross held the seat for fifteen years until his defeat in 1995 by the Republican
Mike Branch
, then of Livingston Parish
.
Cross was the author of the strongly worded anti-abortion
bill vetoed in 1990 by then Governor Buddy Roemer
because it provided for penalties without regard to impregnation by rape
or incest
. The state House overrode Roemer's veto, but the state Senate fell three votes short of the required two-thirds majority to enact the measure over Roemer's objection.
In 1990, Cross authored a revised anti-narcotics law to add anabolic steroid
s to a list of illegal substances. State legislators did not specify penalties for possessing the drugs covered by the law, including opium
, methamphetamine
, morphine
, and codeine
. Cross described the failure to include penalties to be an "editing mistake" that the legislature could quickly correct. Police enforced the law pending the clarification on the premise that penalties were implied in the wording.
Cross won outright in the nonpartisan blanket primary held in the fall of 1987. He drew 59 percent of the ballots over another Democrat and two Republican challengers. In 1991, Cross was forced into a general election
runoff with fellow Democrat, Norman E. "Pete" Heine
, Cross' predecessor and successor as mayor of Baker. Cross led with 19,650 votes (45 percent) to Heine's 13,808. (31.8 percent). Two other Democratic candidates shared the remaining 23 percent. In the second round of balloting, Cross prevailed, 28,234 votes (57.8 percent) to Heine's 20,813 (42.4 percent). Cross was elected mayor of Baker in 1976, when Heine vacated the position to run unsuccessfully against Baton Rouge Mayor-President W.W. Dumas. Cross won again as mayor of Baker in 1980 but stepped down the next year to enter the state Senate. Heine then succeeded him as mayor and served until 1992. On October 1, 1988, Cross ran third in a race for the mayor-presidency of East Baton Rouge Parish. Tom Ed McHugh
won the position in a general election runoff against Dumas, who was attempting a comeback for a fifth term at the age of seventy-two.
Cross' defeat in 1995 by the Republican Mike Branch is believed to have been a result of his refusal to switch to the republican party. In the primary election held on October 21, 1995, Branch polled 23,002 votes (53.5 percent) to Cross' 20,002 (46.5 percent), an exact 3,000-vote margin. Branch's victory was dependent on a 4,000-vote plurality in East Baton Rouge, as he trailed in East Feliciana and Livingston parishes. Branch was the first Republican to hold the District 13 seat but he left the Senate, and eventually the state, after a single term.
Cross is the son of Audron B. Cross (born ca. 1921) and the former Lulalee McCulloch. He has four sons, Shane Michael Cross (born c. 1969) and Clifton Lance Cross (born c. 1972), Ryan Michael Cross (born c. 1992), and Matthew Aaron Cross (born c.2000). He also has two daughters, Lauren Adrianne Cross (born c. 1994), and Christen Joanna Cross (born c. 1997). He is married to his wife of 18 years Kristie Cross. He graduated in 1962 from Baker High School and attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
, then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He is a marketing consultant and still resides in the city Baker of which he grew up.
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
man who served from 1981 to 1996 as a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
member of the Louisiana State Senate
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
from District 13 (East Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, and Livingston
Livingston Parish, Louisiana
Livingston Parish Is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its parish seat is Livingston. As of 2010, its population was 128,026....
parishes) in Greater Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Prior to his legislative service, Cross was from 1976 to 1981 the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Baker
Baker, Louisiana
Baker is a city in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,793 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Baker is located at...
in suburban East Baton Rouge Parish. Currently Cross is a lobbyist for CLECO Electric, and the Louisiana Municipal Association.
Cross won a special election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in 1981 upon the removal from office of state Senator Gaston Gerald
Gaston Gerald
Gaston Gerald is a former American politician from Greenwell Springs in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, who was imprisoned in the early 1980s for extortion of a bribe from a Baton Rouge contractor....
of Greenwell Springs, who was convicted of extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
of $25,000 from a contractor. Gerald, in his third consecutive Senate term, continued to draw legislative pay when he was imprisoned in a federal installation in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The Senate finally voted 33-3 to expel Gerald. Cross held the seat for fifteen years until his defeat in 1995 by the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Mike Branch
Mike Branch (Louisiana politician)
Michael Franklin Branch, known as Mike Branch , served from 1996 to 2000 as the Louisiana State Senator from District 13 Michael Franklin Branch, known as Mike Branch (born 1968), served from 1996 to 2000 as the Louisiana State Senator from District 13 Michael Franklin Branch, known as Mike Branch...
, then of Livingston Parish
Livingston Parish, Louisiana
Livingston Parish Is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its parish seat is Livingston. As of 2010, its population was 128,026....
.
Cross was the author of the strongly worded anti-abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
bill vetoed in 1990 by then Governor Buddy Roemer
Buddy Roemer
Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III is an American politician who served as the 52nd Governor of Louisiana, from 1988 to 1992. He was elected as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party on March 11, 1991...
because it provided for penalties without regard to impregnation by rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
or incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
. The state House overrode Roemer's veto, but the state Senate fell three votes short of the required two-thirds majority to enact the measure over Roemer's objection.
In 1990, Cross authored a revised anti-narcotics law to add anabolic steroid
Anabolic steroid
Anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids or colloquially simply as "steroids", are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue ,...
s to a list of illegal substances. State legislators did not specify penalties for possessing the drugs covered by the law, including opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
, morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
, and codeine
Codeine
Codeine or 3-methylmorphine is an opiate used for its analgesic, antitussive, and antidiarrheal properties...
. Cross described the failure to include penalties to be an "editing mistake" that the legislature could quickly correct. Police enforced the law pending the clarification on the premise that penalties were implied in the wording.
Cross won outright in the nonpartisan blanket primary held in the fall of 1987. He drew 59 percent of the ballots over another Democrat and two Republican challengers. In 1991, Cross was forced into a general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
runoff with fellow Democrat, Norman E. "Pete" Heine
Pete Heine
Norman E. Heine, known as Pete Heine , is a former Democratic mayor of the East Baton Rouge Parish city of Baker, located east of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, having served from 1964–1976 and again from 1981-1992...
, Cross' predecessor and successor as mayor of Baker. Cross led with 19,650 votes (45 percent) to Heine's 13,808. (31.8 percent). Two other Democratic candidates shared the remaining 23 percent. In the second round of balloting, Cross prevailed, 28,234 votes (57.8 percent) to Heine's 20,813 (42.4 percent). Cross was elected mayor of Baker in 1976, when Heine vacated the position to run unsuccessfully against Baton Rouge Mayor-President W.W. Dumas. Cross won again as mayor of Baker in 1980 but stepped down the next year to enter the state Senate. Heine then succeeded him as mayor and served until 1992. On October 1, 1988, Cross ran third in a race for the mayor-presidency of East Baton Rouge Parish. Tom Ed McHugh
Tom Ed McHugh
Thomas Edward McHugh, known as Tom Ed McHugh , has since 2001 been the executive director of the Louisiana Municipal Association. McHugh is a former Mayor-President, a combined municipal-parish position, of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. A resident of Zachary in East Baton Rouge Parish, McHugh...
won the position in a general election runoff against Dumas, who was attempting a comeback for a fifth term at the age of seventy-two.
Cross' defeat in 1995 by the Republican Mike Branch is believed to have been a result of his refusal to switch to the republican party. In the primary election held on October 21, 1995, Branch polled 23,002 votes (53.5 percent) to Cross' 20,002 (46.5 percent), an exact 3,000-vote margin. Branch's victory was dependent on a 4,000-vote plurality in East Baton Rouge, as he trailed in East Feliciana and Livingston parishes. Branch was the first Republican to hold the District 13 seat but he left the Senate, and eventually the state, after a single term.
Cross is the son of Audron B. Cross (born ca. 1921) and the former Lulalee McCulloch. He has four sons, Shane Michael Cross (born c. 1969) and Clifton Lance Cross (born c. 1972), Ryan Michael Cross (born c. 1992), and Matthew Aaron Cross (born c.2000). He also has two daughters, Lauren Adrianne Cross (born c. 1994), and Christen Joanna Cross (born c. 1997). He is married to his wife of 18 years Kristie Cross. He graduated in 1962 from Baker High School and attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana...
, then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He is a marketing consultant and still resides in the city Baker of which he grew up.