Regular Session, 2005 ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 151
BY SENATORS BARHAM, SMITH, ADLEY, AMEDEE, BAJOIE, BOASSO, BROOME, CAIN, CHAISSON, CHEEK, CRAVINS, DARDENNE, DUPLESSIS, DUPRE, ELLINGTON, FIELDS, FONTENOT, B. GAUTREAUX, N. GAUTREAUX, HEITMEIER, HINES, HOLLIS, JACKSON, JONES, KOSTELKA, LENTINI, MALONE, MARIONNEAUX, MCPHERSON, MICHOT, MOUNT, MURRAY, NEVERS, ROMERO, SCHEDLER, SHEPHERD, THEUNISSEN AND ULLO
A RESOLUTION
To commend and congratulate Bud Mapes for fifty years of service as a lobbyist.
WHEREAS, it is with great pride and honor that the citizens of Louisiana honor Bud Mapes for fifty years of service as a lobbyist; and
WHEREAS, he was born in the foot hills of Ozark, Missouri, becoming one of the nine hundred and sixty-one souls living in the remote farm community and the newest member of a hard scrabble farm family scratching a living out of the rocky dirt along with his two sisters and one brother; and
WHEREAS, one can get a true sense of who Bud Mapes is today from the people who cultivated him into the man we all know and love, his father, the farmer who left the land to become the Clerk of Court for the sparsely populated county and ultimately heeded a higher calling and took to the pulpit as a Baptist Minister; and
WHEREAS, Bud’s mother was typical of the times, working from sunup until sundown to provide for her family, hand knitting argyle socks for the young Bud and setting the stage for his wardrobe, thereby helping to evolve him into the style icon that he is today; and
WHEREAS, Bud subsequently left the Ozarks to join the Air Force during the Korean War, serving in England for most of his tour perhaps explaining where he may have picked up his unique accent and heightened sense of fashion and style; and
WHEREAS, he eventually found his true love, Bea, and had the good sense to marry her, starting a forty-seven year old “until death do we part” love story; and
WHEREAS, Bud recalls that after his military service he started work for AB Dick Printing where he was encouraged to go into the lumber and agriculture industry, first representing the Lumber Association of Missouri, and later, because of his unique people skills and his youthful energy, his territories were greatly expanded to include Arkansas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, and finally Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, in 1960 he arrived in Louisiana during the Jimmy Davis “You are My Sunshine” Administration in true Bud Mapes style and as only Bud could with his lime green jackets and rainbow array of colorful suits, or sometimes in his most comfortable jeans, boots and bolos, explaining that he took his eclectic style and sartorial splendor so as not to
be stereotyped into a boring suit type guy, and he has accomplished that with great success, always standing out in a crowd right down to his colorful selection of argyle socks; and
WHEREAS, speaking of his large sock and shoe collections, Bud has recounted when he was a young boy many, many years ago when his mom knitted him a pair of argyle socks and continued to repair that same pair over and over because he loved them so, vowing that when he could afford it he was going to buy every pair and color of argyle socks he
could find, and in his same inimitable style he so loved the shoes in his colorful collection that he refused to part with them and continued to repair the well worn soles with cardboard, explaining in his All-American drawl “that is why he now owns approximately sixty pairs of shoes and about forty pairs of boots”; and
WHEREAS, he has so long been a fixture at the Louisiana State Capitol that it has been joked that Bud was the water boy when they dug the Mississippi River, and the Red Stick in Baton Rouge was still pink when he arrived here because only one coat of paint had been applied, and that if Bud Mapes does not know about it then it must not have happened; and
WHEREAS, Bud Mapes has seen and heard almost all of the known, major controversies argued in these legislative halls, from gill nets and gambling to prevailing wage, abortion, term limits, taxes of every shape and size, and teacher pay raises forever; and
WHEREAS, after working with the Louisiana Legislature for the past forty-five years lobbying for issues as varied as agriculture and gaming, Bud is still excited and satisfied to have represented the Louisiana Farm Bureau for the past seventeen years in addition to his numerous other clients; and
WHEREAS, upon the death of his wife Bea in 2000 he found himself a widower wondering how he would go on without his one, true love, but Bud threw himself into his work and gave thanks for the two wonderful sons that came from that long and loving union and is grateful that one of those sons, Joe, is his faithful partner in business and is also proud that his other son, Sam, has a successful career as a firefighter, serving as a captain with the Baton Rouge Fire Department; and
WHEREAS, Bud Mapes has said that he gets his greatest satisfaction being around people and just helping others; and
WHEREAS, the success of the state of Louisiana, the strength of our communities, and the overall vitality of our American society depend, in great measure, upon people like Bud Mapes who use their unique talents, style, and abilities to help others and resolve issues that seem unresolvable.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby recognize this extraordinary man for his amazing and enduring skills as a lobbyist, alleged water boy, fly on the wall of these majestic halls, and style icon supreme for the Louisiana Legislature for the past forty-five years.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana wishes Bud great success in his next fifty years as he fitfully tries to break in all of the freshmen legislators who shall come as a result of the dreaded term limits.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be presented to Bud Mapes.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
