Bryan Wagner likes to tell the story of the first time he walked into Dave Treen's house.
There was barely a stick of furniture.
It was the end of the 1960s, and Treen had just run a quixotic race as the GOP candidate against Democratic Majority Whip Congressman Hale Boggs at a time when the common joke was that there were so few Republicans in Louisiana that the entire party could caucus in a telephone booth.
"Dave, where's your furniture?" Wagner asked.
Responding somewhat sheepishly, Treen replied, "We spent all of our money on the race."
"That was just Dave Treen," Wagner told The Louisiana Weekly in an interview. "He would never take a dime improperly or even with the hint of impropriety, yet he spent every dollar he had to build the Republican Party in this state."
Without Dave Treen, the GOP might never have gotten off the ground and to the verge of the majority status it now enjoys, a sentiment most Republicans, like Wagner later elected as Orleans' first GOP Councilman, believe as gospel. Without Treen's election to Congress during the Ford Administration, after multiple tries, and his subsequent capture of the Governor's Mansion half a decade later, the Republican Party might have emerged far more slowly. Some go so far as to believe that without Treen, Louisiana's unique political dynamics might have kept it a one party state similar to West Virginia, only voting GOP in Presidential elections.
Regardless, Dave Treen captured a sentiment of reform that promised to transform the factional politics of the Long Era into something more akin to the normal bipartisan discourse found in other US States. CurrentState Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere noted, "He fought the political establishment during the 1960's and 70's when it was very difficult to elect a Republican in our state and his career in political office was marked with integrity and fiscal discipline.. It is important for younger voters to understand that Louisiana 's commitment to high ethical standards and the existence of a viable two-party system in our state are relatively new developments. Just a quarter century ago, neither existed in a significant way. Dave Treen laid the foundation to change all of that, and for that, millions of Louisiana citizens owe him a profound debt of gratitude."
Dave Treen joined the GOP where there were only 10,000 registered Republicans in the State of Louisiana. Yet, with only $11,000 for his 1962 bid against Hale Boggs, Treen polled 27,791 votes (32.8 percent) to Boggs' 57,395 (67.2 percent). As one historian noted, "His 33 percent in 1962 was some 10 percentage points higher than the 1960 Republican candidate, Elliot Ross Buckley, then of New Orleans and a cousin of the author William F. Buckley, Jr., had polled in is race against Boggs. Treen would challenge Boggs again in 1964, improving 62,881 (45 percent) to Boggs' 77,009 (55 percent). Treen probably would have done even better, and possibly even defeated Boggs, had it not been for Lyndon Johnson narrowly carrying New Orleans."
On his third try in 1968, Treen almost defeated Boggs, receiving 77,633 votes (48.8 percent) to Boggs' 81,537 ballots (51.2 percent). Treen would earn 42% of the vote in the 1971 Governor's race, and ultimately be elected to Congress in 1972 from the Third Congressional District defeating Democrat J. Louis Watkins, Jr., of Houma 71,090 (54 percent) to 60,521 (46 percent), and in 1981 to the Governorship, defeating PSC Commissioner Louis Lambert narrowly 50.3%-49.7%
Treen would only serve one term, but Democrat Jim Brown, who was elected Secretary of State during Treen Administration, speculated, "Dave Treen was a very popular governor. He probably would have won a second term if he had run against anyone but Edwin Edwards. People forget this now, but Edwards left office as the most popular governor in the 20th Century."
In fact, Brown explained, Edwards maintained a "government in waiting" of the type which no other governor in Louisiana history had to contend, not, at least, the way Treen did in his four years in Baton Rouge. "Edwards rented a building on Airline Hwy. between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and had a staff of cooks, who fed legislators every day. He kept his hand on the pulse. Dave had to fight against that."
And, from Brown's perspective, Treen prevailed in his policies more often than not better than just about anyone could have--given the political power Edwards retained in Baton Rouge. "He never gave up. Dave Treen fought for what he believed--in and out of office--his entire life. I think history will remember Dave as one of the best governor's in the state's history, despite the political liabilities he had."
"What's not often remembered is that Dave Treen was not about ideology. He was about the nuts and bolts of government. What worked. He had a vision of government that was small and effective. If Dave Treen were in Washington today, he would be speaking out against huge government bailouts of industry or buying chicken plants as we seem to do in Louisiana today. Dave was about small and effective government."
It was a sentiment he used to remind the author of each day on the radio. The former Governor and I co-hosted a statewide program, but it was far from the fire-breathing conservative talk so commonly held. Treen talked about job opportunities, competitiveness, and environmental quality. He very rarely had a bad word to say about any politician, Republican or Democrat. And, he embraced positions from which many politicians of both parties ran.
In his later years, Treen championed an oil transfer tax, similar to an oil processing tax, that would raise enough money to repair Louisiana's coastlines and eliminate the state's high taxes on business and on retirees. Long before Katrina and the discussion of coastal wetlands protection was in vogue, Treen spoke on the dire necessity to restore wetlands and protect against on coming hurricanes. He also noted that other states had attracted corporations and retirees thanks to low tax regimes. Louisiana lacking a statewide property tax, was limited conventionally from drastically lowering income taxes as it would have to compete with those other states like Florida, Texas, or Arizona, so he proposed a limited tax on the oil pumped through Louisiana to fund wetlands protection and cut other taxes.
The oil and gas lobby heavily resisted the idea, while many politicians scoffed at the idea that wetlands protection was so immediately critical--at least until after Katrina. He maintained his belief that the state had to fund its own protection, for its own survival, until the day he died.
Treen also firmly believed that the Republican Party had to remain the Party of Lincoln. As Governor, he appointed more African-Americans to state positions than any governor before him, and out of office, spent a good bit of his time helping juvenile recidivists from going through the revolving prison door. State Senator Ed Murray remembered, "It was our goal as public servants to better the lives of Louisianans. Governor Treen recently played a significant role in Project Return, a program that helps former offenders in breaking the cycle of drugs, criminal behavior, and violence."
And no Republican was as frequent a critic and opponent of David Duke as Dave Treen. Much of the Governor's later career was marked by attempts to stop Duke from getting into office, both as a State legislator and as a Congressional candidate. He actually endorsed Edwin Edwards, his old rival, over Duke for Governor in 1991.
In fact, part of Dave Treen's motivation for running for Congress in 1999 upon the retirement of Bob Livingston was motivated in stopping Duke, the Governor later reflected to the author. He also saw the state losing influence in Washington, and that the legislative seniority he had acquired in the 70s would allow him a committee assignment that would insure the state a voice on Capitol Hill.
He lost narrowly to State Representative David Vitter by just over 1,800 votes. There were many reasons, including the fact that David Duke, who came in third in the open primary, "endorsed" Dave Treen in a mailer to the African-American community in the runoff, a move that political pundits speculated was Duke's revenge for Treen's long opposition to the former KKK Grand Wizard. Nevertheless, mailers went out from the Vitter campaign highlighting the "Duke endorsement" in the Black precincts, while simultaneously, equally glossy fliers were sent to White voters highlighting Treen's past sympathy for affirmative action programs.
Regardless, Treen refused to go negative against Vitter, even when he had the opportunity. The Governor's friend and supporter Vincent Bruno described Treen as, "a true gentleman" upon learning of his death, and recollected that during the campaign, he had brought Treen recorded evidence that Vitter had conducted an on-going tryst with French Quarter prostitute Wendy Cortez (nee' Yow Ellis) while serving in the legislature.
The information, if released by the Treen campaign would have insured the former Governor's return to Capitol Hill. But, Bruno explained, "Dave refused to use it. He told us, 'Get out of my office. I'm not going to do that to his [Vitter's] family.'"
And to the day he died, he would never comment publicly on the matter, not even after the author of this column broke the Vitter/Cortez story several years later.
Treen would flirt with standing for public office several times more, only to demur. Besides time with his family, he spent much of his later years doing what he had always done, attempting to expand interest in the Republican Party, though he did surprise many with his endorsement of Senator Mary Landrieu in 2008.
Family and friends reportedly had seen a renewed vitality in recent months, and consequently were surprised by Treen's quick deterioration on October 29, 2009. A crusting in the Governor's lungs, a condition thought treated relapsed, and ultimately caused his death.
Governor Jindal announced hours after the event that Dave Treen will lay in state at the Capitol in Baton Rouge on Monday. Public visitation will occur at that time, followed by a funeral on Tuesday.
