Robert Louis Freeman Sr. (April 27, 1934 – May 16, 2016) was an American politician who served as the 47th

Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana The lieutenant governor of Louisiana (french: Lieutenant-Gouverneur de la Louisiane) is the second highest state office in Louisiana. The current lieutenant governor is Billy Nungesser, a Republican Party (United States), Republican. The lieuten ...

from 1980 to 1988 under Governors

Dave Treen David Conner Treen Sr. (July 16, 1928 – October 29, 2009) was an American politician and attorney from Louisiana. A member of the Republican Party, Treen served as U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 1973 to 1 ...

and

Edwin Edwards Edwin Washington Edwards (August 7, 1927 – July 12, 2021) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972– ...

Early life and education

Freeman earned a bachelor's degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

and L.L.B. from

Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name o ...

in 1965. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from 1956 to 1959.

Career

After earning his law degree, Freeman worked for a chemical company from 1960 to 1961. He later established his own law firm, Freeman and Pendley. Freeman served in the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 repr ...

from 1968 to 1980. Freeman, a floor leader for Governor

, was one of labor's strongest allies in either house of the Louisiana Legislature during his tenure. He vehemently opposed right-to-work legislation, which nonetheless became law in July 1976 despite unyielding opposition by Freeman, other pro-labor legislators, and Louisiana AFL-CIO president Victor Bussie. In 1979, Freeman was elected lieutenant governor during the simultaneous

gubernatorial election A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

, inc which Democratic candidate Louis Lambert, strongly backed by Freeman and Edwards, was narrowly defeated by

, who endorsed Freeman's runoff opponent, future Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon. Treen also angered Freeman by allowing the outgoing lieutenant governor,

Jimmy Fitzmorris James Edward Fitzmorris Jr. (November 15, 1921 – June 30, 2021) was an American politician who served on the New Orleans City Council from 1954 to 1966 and as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana The lieutenant governor of Louisiana (french: Lie ...

, to serve as the state's chief industrial recruiter. During Treen's governorship, the two feuded on multiple occasions with Freeman using his powers whenever Treen was out of state while Treen attacked the lieutenant governorship position as an unnecessary waste of public funds due to the position having no official duties. In 1983, Treen vetoed a bill giving $381,000 in operating expenses to Freeman's office which forced him to fire 11 employees. He attempted to sue Treen in court, but was his veto was upheld in court. In the 1983 election he was backed by

who was running for governor at the same time and in the initial election came in first against former Lieutenant Governor

and in the runoff defeated him by 20%. In the 1987 lieutenant gubernatorial initial election Freeman came in first with 40% of the vote, but in the runoff election he was defeated by former Secretary of State

Paul Hardy Paul Jude Hardy (born October 18, 1942) is an American attorney from Baton Rouge, in the U.S. state of Louisiana, who was the first Republican to have been elected lieutenant governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He serv ...

. Hardy, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in 1979, successfully tied Freeman to the scandal-plagued Edwards, who pulled out of the 1987 governor's race after running second to U.S. Representative

Buddy Roemer Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III (October 4, 1943 – May 17, 2021) was an American politician, investor, and banker who served as the 52nd Governor of Louisiana from 1988 to 1992, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives fr ...

Bossier City Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area. In 2020, it had a ...

in the open primary. As a reward for his fealty to Edwards, the governor appointed Freeman's wife, Marianne, to the LSU Board of Supervisors in 1986. On May 16, 2016 Freeman died from a ruptured aneurysm in Baton Rouge and his death was confirmed by his former press secretary Lester Duhe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Robert Louis 1934 births 2016 deaths Louisiana Republicans 20th-century American politicians