Tommy Armstrong (Louisiana politician)
Encyclopedia
Tommy Gene Armstrong is a business
man from Shreveport
, Louisiana
, who served as a Republican
member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
from 1991-1992. He filled the unexpired term of the Democrat
, Robert P. "Bobby" Waddell, who resigned to become a state district court judge
. Armstrong was elected to the House from District 4 on February 23, 1991, with 50.5 percent of the vote over two Democratic opponents, Forrest A. Davis and Stephen B. Carter.
. He did not pursue a full term in 1991 because, under the 1990 census, District 4 became majority African American
and heavily Democratic. Instead, Armstrong contested the Louisiana State Senate
District 38 seat vacated by the three-term Democratic incumbent
, Richard G. Neeson
, also of Shreveport. Armstrong's principal rival was Ron Bean
, a more liberal Republican who had narrowly lost to Neeson in the 1987 election and had once been a pilot for U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. Armstrong led in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 19, 1991, with 13,354 votes (40 percent). Bean trailed with 8,866 votes (26 percent). Ken Wright, another Republican candidate, trailed with 6,088 votes (18 percent). Democrat Bobby Bruce Shofner (born 1948) finished last with 5,494 votes (15 percent). In the general election
, popularly termed the runoff in Louisiana, Bean narrowly defeated Armstrong, 20,474 (51 percent) to 19,720 (49 percent).
Bean held the District 38 Senate seat until retiring because of health problems in 2004.
Armstrong is known for his opposition to gambling
. In 1996, he joined several Baptist
ministers in appearing before the Caddo Parish Commission, on which he had previously served as a member and president, to oppose video poker
at a truck stop
near Keithville
, where Armstrong then resided. Armstrong cited a number of publications which link corruption
to the licensing of video-poker installations. He opposed a request from Carl J. King and wife to build the video poker outlet within a forbidden B-2 zone. Such a permit would, he told commissioners, constitute "spot zoning. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the commission's decision to deny the needed permit to the Kings.
, another Republican member. The Caddo Parish Commission was formerly the 20-member Caddo Police Jury, on which Armstrong also served from Ward 19 from 1976-1984. In his last election to the commission in 1987, Armstrong prevailed with 4,883 votes (59.5 percent), having won outright over a fellow Republican and a Democratic candidate.
When Armstrong resigned from the Caddo Parish Commission on February 27, 1991, to become state representative, the commissioners named his wife, the former Kathryn Mulina, known as Ginger Armstrong (born ca. 1940), to fill the remaining months of the term. Ginger Armstrong is an elected Republican member of the Caddo Parish School Board.
held in New Orleans
to nominate the Bush/Quayle
ticket.
In 1995, Armstrong ran again for the House in District 7, which includes parts of south Caddo and northern De Soto
parishes. Armstrong polled 5,477 votes (45.3 percent) and was forced into a general election contest with the Democrat Beverly G. Bruce of Mansfield
, who received 5,559 (46 percent). A third candidate, Lance Britton, also of Mansfield, held the remaining 1,061 votes (8.8 percent). In the general election, Bruce prevailed, 7,027 (53 percent) to Armstrong's 6,235 (47 percent).
in Natchitoches
. In 2001, Armstrong was listed in the NSU alumni magazine as an employee of the Department of Risk Management for the Caddo Parish School Board. Mrs. Armstrong, a 1962 NSU graduate, retired from public school teaching in 1998. The Armstrongs reside at 9800 Chase Way in Shreveport. Their three children include a daughter, Genevieve Armstrong (born 1970), and a son, Thomas Marcus Armstrong (born ca. 1978).
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 from Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, 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...
, who served as a 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...
member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
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 1991-1992. He filled the unexpired term of the Democrat
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...
, Robert P. "Bobby" Waddell, who resigned to become a state district court judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
. Armstrong was elected to the House from District 4 on February 23, 1991, with 50.5 percent of the vote over two Democratic opponents, Forrest A. Davis and Stephen B. Carter.
State senate race
When Armstrong won the District 4 House seat, the lines were under the 1980 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
. He did not pursue a full term in 1991 because, under the 1990 census, District 4 became majority African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and heavily Democratic. Instead, Armstrong contested 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...
District 38 seat vacated by the three-term Democratic incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
, Richard G. Neeson
Richard G. Neeson
Richard Grady Neeson is a former Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate who from 1980 to 1992 represented District 38 in Caddo and DeSoto parishes....
, also of Shreveport. Armstrong's principal rival was Ron Bean
Ron Bean
Ronald Clarence Bean, known as Ron Bean , was a Republican state senator from Shreveport, Louisiana, between 1992 and 2004, who was hailed by his peers for nonpartisanship. Moreover, he was a United States Army soldier with service in South Korea and Vietnam and a pilot decorated for heroism...
, a more liberal Republican who had narrowly lost to Neeson in the 1987 election and had once been a pilot for U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. Armstrong led in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 19, 1991, with 13,354 votes (40 percent). Bean trailed with 8,866 votes (26 percent). Ken Wright, another Republican candidate, trailed with 6,088 votes (18 percent). Democrat Bobby Bruce Shofner (born 1948) finished last with 5,494 votes (15 percent). In the 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...
, popularly termed the runoff in Louisiana, Bean narrowly defeated Armstrong, 20,474 (51 percent) to 19,720 (49 percent).
Bean held the District 38 Senate seat until retiring because of health problems in 2004.
Armstrong is known for his opposition to gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
. In 1996, he joined several Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
ministers in appearing before the Caddo Parish Commission, on which he had previously served as a member and president, to oppose video poker
Video poker
Video poker is a casino game based on five-card draw poker. It is played on a computerized console similar in size to a slot machine.-History:...
at a truck stop
Truck stop
A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers...
near Keithville
Keithville, Louisiana
Keithville is an unincorporated community in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies to the south of Shreveport along U.S. Route 171. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 71047. Along with a large elementary and middle school, Keithville has several...
, where Armstrong then resided. Armstrong cited a number of publications which link corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
to the licensing of video-poker installations. He opposed a request from Carl J. King and wife to build the video poker outlet within a forbidden B-2 zone. Such a permit would, he told commissioners, constitute "spot zoning. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the commission's decision to deny the needed permit to the Kings.
Caddo Parish commissioner
Prior to his legislative year, Armstrong had held the District 11 seat on the 12-member Caddo Parish Commission, the parish governing board, since the formation of the commission on December 10, 1984. From 1987-1989, Armstrong was the commission president. He was succeeded in the presidential slot by Lloyd E. LenardLloyd E. Lenard
Lloyd Edgar Lenard was an American businessman from Shreveport, and a former Caddo Parish commissioner, author, United States Navy officer, civic leader, and a pioneer in the establishment of the two-party system in his native Louisiana.-Family, education, military:Lenard was born to James Lenard...
, another Republican member. The Caddo Parish Commission was formerly the 20-member Caddo Police Jury, on which Armstrong also served from Ward 19 from 1976-1984. In his last election to the commission in 1987, Armstrong prevailed with 4,883 votes (59.5 percent), having won outright over a fellow Republican and a Democratic candidate.
When Armstrong resigned from the Caddo Parish Commission on February 27, 1991, to become state representative, the commissioners named his wife, the former Kathryn Mulina, known as Ginger Armstrong (born ca. 1940), to fill the remaining months of the term. Ginger Armstrong is an elected Republican member of the Caddo Parish School Board.
Other political matters
In 1988, Armstrong, as a resident of Keithville, was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention1988 Republican National Convention
The 1988 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana from August 15 to August 18, 1988. It was the second time that a major party held its conclave in one of the five states known as the Deep South, coming on the...
held in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
to nominate the Bush/Quayle
Dan Quayle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush . He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana....
ticket.
In 1995, Armstrong ran again for the House in District 7, which includes parts of south Caddo and northern De Soto
De Soto Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 26,656 people, 9,691 households, and 6,967 families residing in the parish. The population density was 29 people per square mile . There were 11,204 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
parishes. Armstrong polled 5,477 votes (45.3 percent) and was forced into a general election contest with the Democrat Beverly G. Bruce of Mansfield
Mansfield, Louisiana
Mansfield is a city in and the parish seat of DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,001 at the 2010 census. Mansfield is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, who received 5,559 (46 percent). A third candidate, Lance Britton, also of Mansfield, held the remaining 1,061 votes (8.8 percent). In the general election, Bruce prevailed, 7,027 (53 percent) to Armstrong's 6,235 (47 percent).
Family and business
Armstrong and his wife own and operate Armstrong Properties of Louisiana. He is a 1967 graduate of Northwestern State UniversityNorthwestern State University
Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
in Natchitoches
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
. In 2001, Armstrong was listed in the NSU alumni magazine as an employee of the Department of Risk Management for the Caddo Parish School Board. Mrs. Armstrong, a 1962 NSU graduate, retired from public school teaching in 1998. The Armstrongs reside at 9800 Chase Way in Shreveport. Their three children include a daughter, Genevieve Armstrong (born 1970), and a son, Thomas Marcus Armstrong (born ca. 1978).