With eight candidates in the race to fill the open seat for U.S. Congress in Louisiana’s Fourth District and our country in such a mess, it is important for voters to clearly understand the records, positions and political philosophies of each candidate. As we have seen time and time again to the detriment of our nation and state, too often skilled rhetoric counts for more than a solid record.

In the Fourth District, however, one familiar name easily stands out as the choice of those who demand results over rhetoric: State Rep. Mike Johnson.  As a full-spectrum conservative well known for his two-decade career fighting successfully for the Constitution, religious freedom, pro-life causes, gun rights, conservative economic principles and limited government, Johnson is leading in the polls because he is a perfect match for the Fourth District—which is one of the most conservative in America.

By contrast, it turns out that other candidates running in the race as “Republicans” are little more than Republicans of convenience.  Trey Baucum and Oliver Jenkins are two politicians who have shown they clearly do not reflect the traditional small-government, pro-family values of the Fourth District.

Take Trey Baucum, who went so far as to declare that he would NOT support traditional marriage.  At the big Fourth Congressional debate on August 19, Baucum stunned the audience when he admitted he could not support the plank of the Republican Platform which proclaims: “Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society.”  See the video of the debate here.

The Republican Platform rightfully condemns the Supreme Court for its “lawless” same-sex marriage decision, in which “five unelected lawyers robbed 320 million Americans of their legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman”: “We  also  condemn  the  Supreme  Court’s  lawless  ruling  in  Obergefell  v.  Hodges,  which  in  the  words  of  the  late  Justice  Antonin  Scalia,  was  a  ‘judicial  Putsch’  —  full  of  ‘silly  extravagances’  —  that  reduced  ‘the  disciplined  legal  reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph  Storey  to  the  mystical  aphorisms of a fortune cookie.’”

But that was all too much for Baucum who, citing his Catholic faith, refused to endorse this plank in the platform and went so far as to say “it doesn’t seem very Christian to me.”

The Fourth District deserves better than Trey Baucum.

Oliver Jenkins is clearly just as liberal as Baucum.  Jenkins presided over a city council in Shreveport distinguished by the highest taxes in Louisiana, in part because of silly notions such as the “mall tax,” which Jenkins supported.  And since the Jenkins apparently didn’t think the fine folks in Shreveport were paying enough in taxes, the same year Jenkins supported the mall tax he voted to increase water rates by 13% and sewer rates by 55% calling it “the best plan that’s been put in front of us….”

As if it’s not bad enough that Jenkins is more of a tax-and-spend liberal than a fiscal conservative,  he supports a radical LGBT  social agenda as well.  Jenkins authored the ACLU-backed Shreveport sexual orientation/gender identity “nondiscrimination” ordinance that can be used to force small business owners to violate their religious beliefs.  As one political analyst put it here at The Hayride, Jenkins’ ordinance means

[T]hat government has the power, for example, to coerce employment in a child care center of someone, as long as he shows he is capable of the job, who openly advertises his membership in the North American Man/Boy Love Association, whose unorthodox sexual orientation is protected under the ordinance. Perhaps less dramatically, it could compel home health agencies to send males who feel their gender identity is female to female clients, disregarding entirely their clients’ sensibilities.

(See Jeff Sadow’s complete article here.)  Jenkins didn’t merely support this nonsense; he authored it.

Some of the area’s most prominent gay activists (including the two married men who brought the lawsuit that struck down traditional marriage in Louisiana), who were all set to host a fundraiser for Jenkins, praised Jenkins’ “strong support of the bipartisan Shreveport Fairness Ordinance.”

The Fourth District deserves better than Oliver Jenkins, also.

With the foundations of this country under assault as they are and the stakes are so high, voters cannot take a chance this fall on the rhetoric of liberal Republican politicians. The reason Mike Johnson is ahead in the polls is the same reason he is winning the candidates’ debates by a landslide (See Bossier Press-Tribune story):  His unmatched record as a proven conservative champion is undisputed—and it is exactly what we need in Washington right now.

It has long been acknowledged there are three essential legs to the conservative ideological stool: social conservativism, fiscal conservativism, and national defense conservativism. Mike Johnson has a proven record in all three areas. No other candidates does. Johnson is not just talking about all these issues—he’s actually defended and advanced them.  His record speaks for itself.

When some of those folks who were to host that fundraiser for Jenkins sued to dismantle Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage, Louisiana turned to Mike Johnson to represent it.  When Kentucky tried to discriminate against a theme park simply because the theme park wanted to build a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark, Mike Johnson stood up for the First Amendment.  When Louisiana needed to fight for the rights of the unborn and against the abortion industry, it called Mike Johnson.

Conservatives from business, pro-family, and gun-rights organizations have long appreciated Johnson’s work. He’s been named an “MVP for Business” by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, and a “Business Champion” by the Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce for fighting against tax increases and bureaucratic regulations on our families and small businesses. He’s received the “Family, Faith and Freedom” Award from the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., and has a perfect 100% voting record with Louisiana Right to Life and Louisiana Family Forum. He is endorsed by Gun Owners of America and is “A” rated by the NRA, the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association, and national security advocates.

Throughout this fateful campaign season, Johnson has reminded audiences that “record matters more than rhetoric.”  He is exactly right.  Thankfully, the voters of the Fourth Congressional District understand that the best indication of how a man will lead in Washington is not what he says on the campaign trail, but what he has actually done in the many years leading up to his election.  With Johnson in Congress, we know for certain our common sense, conservative values will be advanced again in the nation’s capital.  And it’s not a moment too soon.

There’s no doubt about it: if you want the conservative in the Fourth District, Mike Johnson is your man.

-JKG-