I have known Beth since were Teen-Age Republicans (TARS) back in 1971. That was the year a friend of mine name Roland Bienvenue convinced a very young lady that she should get involved in the cause of bringing forth a two party system to the state of Louisiana.
The first year was the year of Dave Treen’s first campaign. Beth along with several other young ladies became “Treen Queens” in which they dressed up in nice red, white and blue outfits. As you know, we lost the election that year but the hard work by the youth movement she and I were in started to grow.
The next year, Louisiana decided to have open elections because after Edwards had defeated Johnson in a campaign, he then had to raise a lot of money to defeat Treen. Beth, several TARS including myself went down to the third district to help campaign for Dave Treen for Congress. As you know, Treen won that election.
She and I continued in the TARS as the club she was in and the one I was in eventually merged. In 1974, she graduated from The Academy of the Sacred Heart at Grand Coteau . Even in her fist year of college, we helped Henson Moore run his campaign. So many trips to Baton Rouge doing canvassing, helping put up their headquarters and other work we thought had paid off but the election had to be done all over. Keep in mind at this time, a lot of supporters were dropping off because of the result of Watergate. This did not stop us in our quest for our two party system.
In 1975, we found ourselves again helping Moore in a special campaign because of three voting booths malfunctioned. Moore won this time with a good enough margin.
In 1976, we worked in the Ford for President campaign. Even with many people saying we were going to win this election, we still worked hard in the campaign. After this lost, we found ourselves loosing supporters once again. However, in the same year, Beth and a good friend name Lionel Ard went down to the First Congressional District to help Bob Livingston work in his campaign. The two of them went into minority areas that others would not want to canvas. As you know, Livingston won this campaign.
In 1978, Mike Thompson in Lafayette needed someone to help him with his campaign for Congress. The one he called of course was Beth. Beth called me up asking me for help. Our friend Lionel, another friend name PJ Gomer Jr, Beth and I were able to revitalize the College Republicans on the USL Campus. Thompson did not win but it did not discourage us in our quest for a two party system in the state.
In 1979 started three consecutive campaigns in the state that we worked practically day and night in. The first one was the Treen for Governor in the fall of 1979 followed by the Lastrapes for Mayor of Lafayette in the spring of 1980 and ending with the Reagan campaign in the fall of 1980. You should have seen Beth back then. She was amazing. After three victories, she continued doing what she did best which was helping everywhere she could.
I hope you enjoyed this story of Beth before she became the one everyone knows about in the media when she went up against David Duke. Now you can see why she succeeded. Like a fine sword cast in iron, she weathered years of defeats and victories to become the crusader we all know and loved.
Mark Sulzbach
Former Lafayette TAR Chairman and former USL College Republican Chairman
Posted by: Mark Sulzbach - Houston, TX Sep 22, 2009
John
Russell
