Joseph Peter Lopinto, III | |
---|---|
Louisiana State Representative for District 80 (Jefferson Parish) | |
Assumed office January 14, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Charles D. Lancaster,Jr. |
Personal details | |
Born | June 11,1976 |
Nationality | Italian American |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Lauren Lopinto |
Residence(s) | Metairie,Jefferson Parish,Louisiana |
Alma mater | Loyola University Loyola University Law School |
Occupation | Attorney |
Joseph Peter Lopinto,III,known as Joe Lopinto (born June 11,1976),is the Sheriff of Jefferson Parish Louisiana,a suburb within the New Orleans area. He is an attorney from Metairie,Louisiana,and was a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 80 in suburban Jefferson Parish outside New Orleans.
Lopinto began his career as a deputy sheriff with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in 1997. Upon graduating from the police academy,Lopinto worked in the First District (the east half of the Eastbank that encompasses Metairie) before being promoted to narcotics detective.
Lopinto graduated from the Roman Catholic-affiliated Loyola University and its law school,from which he received the Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees. [1]
Lopinto was elected to the legislature in 2007 to succeed Charles D. Lancaster,Jr. In the nonpartisan blanket primary,Lopinto defeated fellow Republican Glenn Lee,6,170 (58.6 percent) to 4,357 (41.4 percent). [2]
Lopinto was reelected to the House in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22,2011. [3] Lopinto also holds the District 80 seat on the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee. [4]
Entering his third and final House term on January 11,2016,Lopinto has announced that he will cross party lines to support the Democrat Walt Leger,III,of New Orleans for Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives,the choice of incoming Governor John Bel Edwards. [5] However,in an upset,lawmakers chose not Leger as Speaker but New Iberia Republican Taylor Barras. [6]
On June 30,2016,Lopinto resigned from the Louisiana legislature to become Chief Counsel at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. After serving as Chief Counsel,Sheriff Newell Normand appointed Lopinto to be Chief of Field Operations and also Chief Deputy,which is the highest appointed rank in a sheriff's office.
On August 30,2017,Sheriff Normand unexpectedly resigned to take a job as a talk show host and Lopinto was appointed Interim Sheriff. During the subsequent race to complete Normand's term as Sheriff,Lopinto faced a challenge from John Fortunato,the longtime spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. On March 24,2018,Lopinto was elected to complete Newell Normand's term as Sheriff of Jefferson Parish after defeating Fortunato 52% to 48%.
Harry Lee was the long-time sheriff of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. He was first elected in 1979 as the thirtieth sheriff, and was re-elected six times, having served twenty-eight years and six months.
Suzanne Haik Terrell is the first and only Republican woman elected to statewide office in Louisiana. A practicing attorney, Terrell was the state's final commissioner of elections, a position which she held from 2000 to 2004. In 2002, she was the Republican nominee for United States Senate, losing a hotly contested and closely watched race against incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu. In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed Terrell to a position as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the United States Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. Terrell is currently a partner with the New Orleans law firm of Hangartner, Rydberg, and Terrell.
Charles Carmen Foti, Jr., is a lawyer in New Orleans and a politician who served a single term from 2004 to 2008 as the Democratic Attorney General of the U.S. state of Louisiana, United States. Prior to becoming attorney general, Foti had been repeatedly reelected and served for thirty years as Orleans Parish criminal sheriff.
Pascal Frank Calogero Jr., was the longest-serving Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
John Frank LaBruzzo is an American businessman who is a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 81 in Jefferson Parish. LaBruzzo occupied the legislative district formerly held by Charles Cusimano, David Duke, and David Vitter.
Daniel R. Martiny, known as Danny Martiny, is a politician and attorney from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, who served between 2008 and 2020 as a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate for the 10th district, based in the New Orleans suburbs. He was also the Senate Majority Leader from 2012 until 2020.
Dudley Anthony Gautreaux, known as Butch Gautreaux was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from Morgan City, Louisiana. From 2000 to 2012, he represented Senate District 21. In 2012, the reconfigured district incorporated mostly Republican portions of Iberia, Lafourche, St. Mary, and Lafourche parishes.
Charles R. Chaney, known as Bubba Chaney, is a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 19, which includes his home city of Rayville in Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana.
John Patrick Connick, is an American attorney from Marrero, Louisiana. A Republican, Connick has represented the 8th district in the Louisiana State Senate since 2020. He previously represented the 84th district in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2008 until 2020.
Sherman Quinn Mack is a lawyer from Albany outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 95 in Livingston Parish.
Leonard Joseph Chabert, I, of Houma, Louisiana, was a member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature. He was born in rural Chauvin in Terrebonne Parish in South Louisiana.
Theodore Michael Haik, Jr., known as Ted Haik, is an attorney in New Iberia, Louisiana, who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976 to 1996. He represented House District 49, which includes portions of Iberia, St. Mary, and Vermilion parishes. He is the older brother of U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik of Lafayette and Suzanne Haik Terrell of New Orleans, the last Louisiana elections commissioner who served from 2000 to 2004 and the unsuccessful Republican candidate in the 2002 U.S. Senate race against the incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu.
Marty James Chabert is a businessman from Houma, Louisiana, who is a Democratic former member of the Louisiana State Senate. He served a single term from 1992 to 1996 to succeed his father, Leonard J. Chabert, also a Democrat, who died in office in 1991. His younger brother, Norby Chabert, a Democrat-turned-Republican, now holds this same District 20 seat, which encompasses Terrebonne and Lafource parishes.
Douglas D. Green, known as Doug Green, is the former Louisiana insurance commissioner who held the office from 1988 to 1991, when he received a 25-year federal sentence for taking $2 million in illegal campaign contributions from owners of insurance companies doing business with the state. Green's predecessor and fellow Democrat Sherman A. Bernard, whom he unseated in the 1987 nonpartisan blanket primary, pleaded guilty to extorting bribes disguised as campaign contributions and served forty-one months during the middle 1990s in a federal prison in Alabama.
Sherman Albert Bernard Sr. was an American businessman from Jefferson Parish in the New Orleans suburbs, who served from 1972 to 1988 as the Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance. He is mainly remembered for having served forty-one months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in federal court to extortion in connection with his job duties.
Jeffrey Paul Victory is a lawyer from Shreveport, Louisiana. He served from 1995 to 2014 as an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. His former 2nd Judicial District embraces eleven parishes in northwestern Louisiana. Victory was a member of the Democratic Party who became a Republican.
Christopher J. Leopold, is a businessman from Belle Chasse, Louisiana, who is a former Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 105, primarily Plaquemines Parish. His district was numerically the last of the state House districts.
Jerome P. "Dee" Richard is an American politician who served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2008 to 2020. A native and resident of Thibodaux, Richard represented the 55th district, which encompasses Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.
Leonard Ray Hataway, known as Pop Hataway, was a Democrat who served as the sheriff of his native Grant Parish in north central Louisiana from 1976 to 2008. Upon his defeat for a ninth four-year term in 2007, Hataway was appointed by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal to the influential Louisiana Board of Pardons and Paroles. He left the sheriff's office six months early and was succeeded on an interim basis by Preston Hall Mosley (1954-2018).
Jim Donelon is an American politician. He is the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner, a role he has served in since 2006. He previously served as member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1981 to 2001.