Rob Shadoin

Robert Ermon Shadoin, known principally as Rob Shadoin (born August 24, 1953), is an American lawyer and politician. He is a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 12, which includes Lincoln and Union parishes in North Louisiana. An attorney in Ruston, Louisiana, Shadoin resigned his legislative seat in 2018 to join the administration of Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards as the deputy counsel in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries under agency secretary Jack Montoucet.

Rob Shadoin was born on August 24, 1953. After graduating from Ruston High School, Ruston, Louisiana, in 1971, he obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana, in 1975. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1978, he received his Juris Doctor degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge.

From 1991 to 1994, Shadoin served as the Ruston city attorney. From 1994 to 2006, he was a member of the Lincoln Parish School Board.

Political life

A Moderate Republican, Shadoin defeated the more conservative fellow Republican, Jason Paul Bullock (born 1977), also of Ruston, in the general election held on November 19, 2011, to choose a successor to Republican Hollis Downs, a professor at Louisiana Tech University. In a low-turnout contest, Shadoin received 4,186 votes (54.4 percent) to Bullock's 3,513 votes (45.6 percent). In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, Bullock had led the balloting with 45 percent, with Shadoin trailing at 39 percent. A third Republican candidate, Jacob "Jake" Halley, of Farmerville, a consultant with an emergency preparedness company, held the remaining but critical 16 percent of the primary vote. No Democrat sought the position. Halley emphasized the need to promote tourism in both parishes; Bullock, who operates a business that rents construction equipment, the importance of small business, and Shadoin, his legal and political experience and a call for streamlining and repeal of unnecessary laws.

Shadoin served on these House committees: (1) Civil Law and Procedure, (2) Education, and (3) Judiciary.

In May 2013, Shadoin spoke at the Louisiana Film and Entertainment Association event, "Laissez Louisiana Film Rouler" held in Baton Rouge to support the state's film industry.

In 2013, Shadoin voted for a judicial pay raise, which the legislature approved. He favored the removal of term limits on judges, but that amendment failed in the House. He supported a state law that now requires that women working for the state receive the same pay as men in the same job, something already required under a federal provision in 1963. He voted for surrogacy contracts for couples designating another woman to bear their child, a measure handily approved by the legislature. Shadoin voted with the House majority to oppose reductions on penalties for possession of marijuana, to prohibit state enforcement of federal firearm regulations on weapon manufacturers, and to prohibit the publication in the public record of the names of those with concealed weapon permits. On all these issues, Shadoin voted exactly as his Democratic colleague in neighboring District 10, Gene Reynolds of Minden in Webster Parish.

Shadoin's legislative ratings have ranged from 44 to 62 percent from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. In 2012, he was rated 40 percent by the National Federation of Independent Business, a low business score for a Republican legislator. In 2013 and 2014, he was rated 88 and 89 percent, respectively, by the conservative Louisiana Family Forum. In 2013 and 2014, Louisiana Right to Life scored him 75 and 100 percent, respectively. In 2013 and 2014, the Louisiana Association of Educators rated him 67 and 75 percent, respectively.

In 2013, Shadoin and State Senator Mike Walsworth of West Monroe obtained passage of legislation to name the Louisiana Highway 33 bridge over Lake D'Arbonne in Farmerville in honor of the late State Representative James Peyton Smith of Union Parish. Shadoin's district includes a part of the territory once represented by Smith, whom Shadoin calls "one of the greatest men of Union Parish".

Shadoin ran unopposed for reelection to a second term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015.

Tax issues

In March 2016, Shadoin joined a House bipartisan majority for a one-cent increase in the state sales tax. State representatives voted 76 to 28 for the tax hike, a part of the revenue-raising measures pushed by the new Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A House and Senate conference committee subsequently trimmed the five years for the duration of the tax to expire instead after 27 months, effective from April 1, 2016, to June 30, 2018. Even the sale of Bibles, religious publications, and Girl Scout cookies are now subject to the tax. On June 9, 2016, radio talk show host Moon Griffon accused Shadoin of espousing a Democrat voting record based on the lawmaker's support for tax increases, which Shadoin declared necessary to support higher education.

On May 9, 2017, Shadoin introduced four previously separate pieces of legislation that collectively would have raised taxes on businesses and lowered them for what he said would constitute 90 percent of individual taxpayers. The combination of the four bills into one was suggested by Shadoin's Democratic colleague, Major Thibautof New Roads. When his measure was killed in the House Ways and Means Committee, Shadoin said, "You can kiss tax reform goodbye." Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, who backed the Shadoin bill, blamed its defeat on lobbyists. "It is disappointing that a small group of members on the House small group of members on the House Ways and Means Committee would block a tax cut for 90 percent of individual tax filers in Louisiana but refused to ask the 80 percent of corporations that pay absolutely nothing in state income taxes to pay their fair share." Moon Griffon again challenged Shadoin on the tax plan on the premise that the bill is based on misleading information because "tax filers" are not necessarily "taxpayers." He again questioned Shadoin's Republican credentials: "The 'R' after his name means Ruston, not Republican," Griffon said. Shadoin's Republican colleague, Jay Morris of Monroe, said that the bills "would not help the state's fiscal situation and would in fact make it worse. At the same time, it would have made the tax code much more progressive (making higher-income earners pay more) and would have eliminated the deduction for federal income. The committee didn't see the benefit from a set of bills that made the state fiscal situation worse in the name of purported tax reform." In June 2017, Jeffrey D. Sadow, a political science professor at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, penned an Internet blog article critical of Shadoin and John Alario of Westwego, the President of the Louisiana State Senate. Sadow contends that Shadoin's backing for tax increases works to the advantage of the Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, as Edwards seeks a second term in 2019.

House successor pending

Two Republican candidates sought to succeed Shadoin in the February 23, 2019 special election. The Ruston businessman, Chris Turner, the owner of a pharmacy, defeated Jake Halley of Farmerville, 3,561(70 percent) to 1,537 (30 percent).

Though Turner ran as a conservative political "outsider" and had not previously held elected office, the columnist, Sam Hanna, Jr., publisher of the Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe, said that Turner carries "the blessing of the ruling class in Baton Rouge."

Shadoin is married to the former Carol Brasuell. They have four children.