Beth Mizell

Mary Beth Sherman Mizell
Louisiana State Senator for District 12 (St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes)
Incumbent
Assumed office January 11, 2016
Preceded by	Ben Nevers
Personal details
Born	January 1952
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	James Robert "Bob" Mizell (deceased)
Children	Julie M. Stewart Joshua Mizell Six grandchildren
Residence	Franklinton Washington Parish Louisiana, USA
Occupation	Businesswoman
Religion	Southern Baptist

Mary Beth Sherman Mizell, known as Beth Sherman Mizell (born January 1952),^[1] is a businesswoman from Franklinton, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 12, which encompasses the parishes of St. Tammany], Tangipahoa, and Washington, part of the Florida Parishes of southeastern Louisiana. On January 11, 2016, she succeeded the term-limited Democrat Ben Nevers, who instead joined the new administration of Governor John Bel Edwards.

Background

Mizell was married for forty-one years until his death of cancer to James Robert "Bob" Mizell (1948-2012), an all-state linebacker for the Lumberjacks team at Bogalusa High School in Bogalusa in Washington Parish. Bob Mizell also served in the United States Navy and the Louisiana National Guard and was affiliated with the American Legion. He was a piping designer and a volunteer firefighter in Franklinton.^[2] He is interred at the Plainview Baptist Church Cemetery in Bogalusa, along with his father, Arvelee Mizell (1922-1991). Bob Mizell's surviving mother is Kathleen N. Mizell (born 1925).^[3]

There are two Mizell children and their spouses, Julie Mizell Stewart, a teacher, and Joshua Mizell, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, all of Laurel in Jones County in southeastern Mississippi.^[2] She is a Southern Baptist.^[4]A former preschool operator, Mizell is the director of The Children's Cottage in Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish.^[5]

Political life

Mizell won the state Senate position in the general election held on November 21, 2015, when she defeated the Democrat Mickey Murphy, 19,404 votes (58 percent) to 14,033 (42 percent),^[6] a former teacher and college dean.^[7] In 2011, Mizell had made a strong but losing showing for the Senate against Ben Nevers. She finished with 4,764 votes (49.4 percent) to his 15,116 (50.6 percent).^[8]

In the 2015 campaign, Mizell opposed plans for the establishment of a reservoir in Senate District 12 on the premise that the project would involve eminent domain of private land in violation of the wishes of many of the impacted property owners. Murphy supported the proposed reservoir.^[7] Mizell vowed to work in the Senate for job creation to improve the business climate in Louisiana; "We need to remove regulations that stifle growth and reduce taxes on businesses. Government must get out of the way and let Americans do what we do best."^[9]

Mizell was earlier an organizer of the Franklinton Tea Party movement and is president of the group, Republican Women of Franklinton.^[4]

Mizell sits on the House committees on (1) Education, (2) Retirement, (3) Commerce, Consumer Protection, and International Affairs. She is also the vice chair of the select committees of: (1) Vocational and Technical Education and (2) Women and Children.^[4] The National Rifle Association rated Mizell 86 percent in 2015, based on her campaign pronouncements.^[10]

In March 2016, Mizell joined eight other Republican state senators and the Democrat John Malkovich of Caddo Parish] to oppose the bipartisan majority backing a one-cent increase in the state sales tax for a five-year period. Senators voted 29-10 for the tax hike, a part of the revenue-raising measures pushed by Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards.^[11] A House and Senate conference committee subsequently trimmed the five years to twenty-seven months, effective from April 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018. Even the sale of Bibles and religious publications and Girl Scout cookies are now subject to the tax.^[12]

Mizell submitted a bill to establish a seven-member state historical protection review commission in light of the pending dismantling of Confederate monuments in New Orleans. However, her measure was doomed before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, where five African-American Democrat senators, led by committee chairman Karen Carter Peterson, hold the majority vote. Mizell will reserve the right to bring the bill back up for consideration later in the 2016 legislative session but with little prospect of success.^[13]

Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and former state Senator Elbert Guillory of Opelousas, who ran against Nungesser in the 2015 primary election, both appeared before the Governmental Affairs Committee to support Mizell's legislation. Nungesser said removal of the monuments would harm tourism; Guillory, an African-American Republican, said the state must provide "full access to history" and likened the removal of the monuments to book burnings in Nazi Germany and the blowing up of holy sites in the Middle East by ISIS terrorists. Their arguments, as predicted, failed to sway the united committee majority.^[14]

References

1. "Mary Mizell, January 1952". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
2. "James Robert "Bob" Mizell". findagrave.com. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
3. "Kathleen N. Mizell". Findagrave.com. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
4. "Beth Mizell's Biography". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
5. "Beth Mizell in Mandeville". April 15, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
6. "Results for Election Date: 11/21/2015". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
7. Chad Rogers. "Mizell v. Lifelong Bureaucrat in 12th District". The Dead Pelican. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
8. "Results for Election Date: 10/22/2011". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
9. "Beth Mizell for State Senate: Jobs". bethmizell.com. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
10. "Beth Sherman Mizell's Ratings and Endorsements". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
11. "The Louisiana Senate Just Voted for Five Years of the Nation's Highest Sales Tax". The Hayride. March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
12. "See the list: Examples of goods, services that'll now be taxed in Louisiana". The Baton Rouge Advocate. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
13. "Looks Like Beth Mizell's Monument-Protection Bill Is Dead, For Now". thehayride.com. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
14. Greg Hilburn (April 6, 2016). "Bill to preserve Confederate monuments fails". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved April 9, 2016.