Paulette Irons

Last updated

Paulette Riley Irons (born 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is New Orleans civil district court judge for Division M. [1] In November 1994 she became the second female member of the Louisiana Senate. She served in the chamber until the end of the statutory limit of 12 years, ending in 2006. Irons represented Louisiana Senate District 4 in New Orleans. She previously represented Louisiana House of Representatives District 95 from 1992 to 1994. [2] Irons ran for mayor of New Orleans in 2002, finishing in third place. [3]

Background

While serving in the state senate, Irons was an active participant and leader in legislative committees including the Education, Insurance, Judiciary B, and Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committees. She was an at-large member of the Bond Commission and Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children. Senator Irons has served on task forces including the Louisiana Women's Commission, the HIV/AIDS Commission, and the Council on Obesity Prevention and Management. Because of her belief that the rate of teenage pregnancy in Louisiana should be greatly reduced, Irons has actively worked with National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy State and Local Task Force. [4] In 1995 she received the Alliance for Good Government's Legislator of the Year. [5] She supported, along with Senator Don Cravins Sr., legislation to extend legal employment protection to homosexuals and lesbians. [6] She encouraged young people to stay in school and to do their best academically. [7]

Home Box Office (HBO) honored Irons during Black History Month in February 2004 as one of 10 notable black women leaders in the "Hearing her voice, Telling her Story" competition. In 2001, Irons received the Good Housekeeping Award for Women in Government. Family Circle Magazine featured Irons for her work to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy. [8]

A lifelong New Orleanian, Irons graduated from Booker T. Washington Senior High School in New Orleans, with honors. She received her bachelor's degree in business administration from Loyola University New Orleans and her juris doctor from Tulane University Law School where she pursued a concentration in public interest law. She achieved her educational success despite her impoverished background and situation as a teenage single parent. As a lawyer she has often represented defendants on the civil side and indigents charged with offenses on the criminal side. She also serves as a consulting lawyer for managers. She is a sole practitioner in the Paulette Irons Law Firm, established in 1992. [9]

Irons has been married for many years to Alvin Irons. She is the mother of Marseah and Paul and, as of 2009, has three grandsons: Daniel, Drew, and Dillon. Her interests off the job are to be with her family. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Landrieu</span> American politician (born 1955)

Mary Loretta Landrieu is an American entrepreneur and politician who served as a United States senator from Louisiana from 1997 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Landrieu served as the Louisiana State Treasurer from 1988 to 1996, and in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1980 to 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Vitter</span> American politician (born 1961)

David Bruce Vitter is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Louisiana from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Vitter served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1999 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleo Fields</span> American politician (born 1962)

Cleo Fields is an American attorney and politician who serves in the Louisiana Senate. He represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1997 and ran unsuccessfully for governor of Louisiana in 1995. He serves as a state senator for Louisiana's 14th State Senate district, a position he held twice before. Fields is a member of the Democratic Party.

Karen Carter Peterson is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a member of the Louisiana State House from 1999 to 2010, then as the state senator from the 5th district until her resignation in 2022. She also served as the chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party from 2012 to 2020, becoming the first female chair of the state party. In 2008, Peterson became as Democratic National Committeewoman for Louisiana. In 2017, Peterson was elected vice chair of civic engagement and voter participation for the Democratic National Committee.

Eric LaFleur is an American attorney and politician. A Democrat, LaFleur is a former member of the Louisiana State Senate for the 28th district, serving from 2008 until 2020. Earlier he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 38 from 2000 to 2008. He was first elected without opposition to an open seat vacated by Dirk Deville. He was re-elected four years later in 2003 with 81 percent of the vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willie Mount</span> American politician from Louisiana

Willie Landry Mount is an American politician from Louisiana who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from 2000 to 2012. She represented District 27, which includes parts of her native Lake Charles and the surrounding cities of Sulphur and Westlake. From 1993 to 1999, Mount was the first woman to serve as the mayor of Lake Charles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah S. Vance</span> American judge (born 1950)

Sarah Elizabeth Savoia Vance is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Troy Carter (politician)</span> American politician (born 1963)

Troy Anthony Carter Sr. is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district since 2021. He was previously a member of the Louisiana State Senate for the 7th district. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter also previously served on the New Orleans City Council and as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He is currently the only Democrat in Louisiana's congressional delegation.

Irma Muse Dixon is a social worker, manager, and African-American politician, the first to be elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC). Dixon represented the Third District on the PSC from 1992 through 2004.

Almond Gaston Crowe Jr. is a former Republican Louisiana State Senator born May 8, 1948, in New Orleans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Williams (politician)</span> American politician from Colorado

Angela Williams is an American politician from Colorado. Elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Democrat in 2010, Williams represented House District 7, which encompasses the northeast part of Denver, including the neighborhoods of Montbello and Green Valley Ranch, and the Denver International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nannette Jolivette Brown</span> American judge (born 1963)

Nannette V. Brown is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She previously served in the role of city attorney for the city of New Orleans from the time that Mayor Mitch Landrieu hired her in May 2010 until becoming a federal judge in 2011. As city attorney, Brown was responsible for all city contracts and oversaw all legal matters for the city.

The Louisiana Science Education Act, Act 473 (SB733) of 2008 is a controversial anti-evolution law passed by the Louisiana Legislature on June 11, 2008 and signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal on June 25. The act allows public school teachers to use supplemental materials in the science classroom which are critical of scientific theories such as evolution and global warming and to promote creationism as science. Louisiana was the first state to have passed a law of this type.

Sharon Woodall Hewitt is a former Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate for the 1st district, which encompasses portions of St. Tammany, Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard Parishes. In January 2016, she succeeded fellow Republican A. G. Crowe, who did not pursue a third term in the primary election held on October 24, 2015. She chaired the Republican Legislative Delegation in the state senate.

Judith "Judy" Ward is a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, representing the 30th Senatorial district in Blair County, Pennsylvania in the United States. A Republican, she previously served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Cheron Michelle Brylski, is a writer, speechwriter, public relations director and activist who built a career helping minorities and women enter the political mainstream in Louisiana and improve their quality of life through education, health and economic reform. She was the first woman to be appointed to the chartered position Public Information Director for the City of New Orleans by the late Mayor Ernest Nathan Morial. She worked in city government from 1980 to 1986, when she started her own consulting business. For nearly 30 years, her boutique public relations agency, The Brylski Company, headquartered in New Orleans has helped governmental, political and non-profit clients move their message through effective communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Vitter</span> American judge (born 1961)

Wendy Baldwin Vitter is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Nicole Akins Boyd is an American attorney, business woman, teacher, volunteer, and politician. She is a Republican who has served the 9th district in the Mississippi State Senate since 2020.

Mandie Landry is an American attorney and progressive politician serving as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 91st district. Elected in November 2019, she assumed office on January 13, 2020.

Bernadette D'Souza was elected to be the first Family Court judge on the Civil District Court in Orleans Parish. She is also the first female Indian-American judge in the state of Louisiana. D'Souza was born in Portuguese Goa, and received a degree in Psychology from the University of Bombay. She married Terrance D'Souza in 1978 and immigrated to the United States where they started their family. In 1989, D'Souza went back to school where entering Tulane University School of Law.

References

  1. ↑ "Irons in the New Orleans Yellow Pages". Archived from the original on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  2. ↑ "Mayoral candidate interviews: Paulette Irons" in New Orleans CityBusiness 2002 January 2 (accessed 2009 June 08).
  3. ↑ "Gambit New Orleans 'Irons has Debts and Cash.' Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Senator Paulette R. Irons - District 4
  5. ↑ Irons bio in the Louisiana Senate archive site.
  6. ↑ Keith Brannon "Gay rights advocates pressing employment legislation" in New Orleans CityBusiness, 2001 April 09 (accessed 2009 June 08).
  7. ↑ Louisiana State Senate article on staying in school.
  8. ↑ Senator Paulette R. Irons - District 4
  9. ↑ Irons bio in the Louisiana Senate archive site.
  10. ↑ Other articles about Irons can be located via the Irons site on Pipl.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.