Ryan Gatti

Ryan Eugene Gatti
Member of the Louisiana Senate from the 36th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 11, 2016
Preceded by	Robert Adley
Personal details
Born	June 1974 Bossier City, Louisiana, USA
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Susan Lockhart Gatti
Children	Katherine, Elizabeth, Rebecca, and Charlotte Gatti
Residence	Bossier City, Louisiana
Alma mater	Airline High School Louisiana State University Louisiana State University Law Center
Profession	Lawyer; Farmer
Religion	Southern Baptist

Ryan Eugene Gatti (born June 1974)^[1] is an attorney from Bossier City in northwestern Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 36, which encompasses the parishes of Bossier, Webster, Bienville, and Claiborne. On January 11, 2016, he succeeded fellow Republican Robert Adley, who was term-limited after thirteen years in the upper legislative chamber.

Background

Gatti graduated in 1992 as co-valedictorian of Airline High School in Bossier City. He obtained his undergraduate education in three years from Louisiana State University, where he was the president of Kappa Sigma fraternity. In law school, he was a clerk to the state Senate.^[2]In addition to his law practice, Gatti was from 2007 to 2009 a judge in Shreveport over worker's compensation cases. He owns a farm near Plain Dealing in northern Bossier Parish from which he transplants oak trees.^[2]

Gatti is married to the former Susan Lockhart, formerly an assistant professor at the LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport and previously the assistant headmaster at Providence Classical Academy in Bossier City. The couple has four daughters Katherine, Elizabeth, Rebecca, and Charlotte.^[2]

Political life

To win his Senate seat, Gatti narrowly defeated fellow Republican Henry Burns, a retired military officer and the owner of a cookie shop in Bossier City. Descended from a politically connected family from Shongaloo in central Webster Parish, Burns gave up his seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives after two terms to run instead for state senator. Gatti polled 14,023 votes (50.6 percent); Burns, 13,698 (49.4 percent).^[3]

Gatti ran as an intraparty critic of term-limited and failed 2016 presidential candidate, Governor Bobby Jindal. He is a close friend of Jindal's successor, [[Democratic Party (United States) |Democrat]] John Bel Edwards, whom Gatti met at the Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge, where both obtained their law degrees. In 2014, Edwards made a campaign appearance at Gatti's law office in Bossier City.^[4]Gatti also was a large donor to the Edwards campaign^[5] despite his role as vice president of the Bossier Parish Republican Party.^[2]

At the time of his legislative election, Gatti was on a mission trip to Haiti.^[6] He has also made such trips to Mexico and El Salvador. Since 2012, he has been a trustee of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is a deacon at First Baptist Church in Bossier City.^[2]

Upon his election, Gatti promised to work to end the sale by Planned Parenthood of aborted children. He has also vowed to support higher education, to eliminate the Common Core State Standards Initiative, to return local control to school boards, to address state budgetary shortfalls, and to promote the Louisiana energy industries.^[6]

In March 2016, Gatti joined the Senate majority, 29-10, to increase the state sales tax for five years.^[7] A House and Senate conference committee trimmed the five years to twenty-seven months, from April 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018.

References

1. "Ryan Gatti, June 1974". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
2. "About Ryan". rayangatti.com. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
3. "Results for Election Date: 11/21/2015". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
4. Tom Pace (July 11, 2014). "a. State Rep. John Bel Edwards for Governor Speaks to Supporters at Ryan Gatti Law Firm Office 7-11-14". shrevetalk.com. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
5. Jeffrey D. Sadow (September 15, 2015). "Turbulent Caddo, quiet Bossier elections loom". jeffsadowblogspot.com. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
6. "Gatti wins state senate District 36 race". The Shreveport Times. November 21, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
7. "The Louisiana Senate Just Voted for Five Years of the Nation's Highes Sales Tax". The Hayride. March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.