Ken Hollis

Jesse Kendrick "Ken" Hollis (born March 13, 1942) is a departing Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from Metairie in Jefferson Parish in The New Orleans suburbs. He has served since 1982, when he won a special election to fill an unexpired term.

In 2003, Hollis launched an exploratory campaign for governor but never filed his papers even though he claimed that his early polling was encouraging. He instead endorsed intraparty rival Hunt Downer of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana. Downer finished in sixth place in the jungle primary, and the office ultimately went to the Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette. Because he did not run for governor, Hollis was able to secure his sixth full term in the state Senate District 9.

Hollis was term-limited and could not seek reelection in the October 20, 2007, primary. He endorsed Republican State Representative Steve Scalise, who won the seat in The Primary.

Early years, education, military

Hollis was born and reared in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana. He graduated from Bolton High School in 1960. One of his classmates was former Mayor Edward G. "Ned" Randolph, Jr., who served in the state Senate from 1976-1984. Their tenures hence coincided only in the short session to which Hollis was elected in 1982. Hollis thereafter received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana.

Hollis was a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1967-1974.

A Presbyterian, Hollis is a board member of United Christian Charities. He is married to the former Barbara Jones.

After graduation from Louisiana Tech, Hollis entered the insurance business as MassMutual's regional group manager, a position that he retained until 1981. Hollis then served as MassMutual's general agent for the State of Louisiana until he retired from that position in January 1998. He is since the president and chief executive officer of Hollis Companies which specialize in employee benefits consulting.

Prior to his Senate tenure, he was an elected member of the Jefferson Parish governing council from 1980-1982.

Legislative activities

In his last Senate term, Hollis is chairman of the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee and a member of the Judiciary "B" and Retirement committees

Hollis was unopposed in his bids for re-election in 1983, 1987, 1991 and 1999. In 1995, he defeated fellow Republican Greg Reinhard in the primary, 29,240 (80 percent) to 7,361 (20 percent). In 2003, Hollis defeated fellow Republican Polly Thomas in the primary, 19,570 (61 percent) to 12,504 (39 percent).

In the Senate, Hollis supported Planned Parenthood of America and one of its opposite, the Louisiana Family Forum, each approximately 33 percent of the time. The interest group, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, and its rival, the AFL-CIO, each graded Hollis between 70 and 80 percent in the most recent years. The Christian Coalition rated him 55 percent. The Louisiana Association of Educators has rated him from 40 to 90 percent, depending on the year.

Hollis was named "Senator of the Year for Jefferson Parish" in 1985, 1987, and 1993 by the interest group, the Alliance for Good Government. He was designated as "Man of the Year" in 1984 by the New Orleans chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. He is a past president of the Louisiana State Employees' Group Benefits Program.

Supporting gay rights

In 2001, Hollis acknowledged that his son, Mike Hollis (born 1971) is homosexual. He introduced a bill to prohibit all but the smallest businesses in Louisiana from discriminating against employees because of [...] preference.

"This was a real gut issue for me. I realized this is probably not the smartest position, politically, to take. It would have been easy for me to be somewhere else. But I just reached down deep. I voted for it. I did the right thing, and I have had a calm feeling since," Hollis told the national homosexual publication The Advocate in its June 19 2001 issue. Mike Hollis is also a Louisiana Tech graduate and at the time was a Tech administrator who feared that he could be fired from his job. He since left the university and works for his father's company.

The Senate committee voted 3-2 to send the bill to the full chamber, where it was defeated. The bill made Hollis a rare Republican favorite among the interest group the Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians, Inc.