Pat Brister

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Patricia Phillips "Pat" Brister
St. Tammany Parish President
Assumed office
2012
Preceded by Kevin Davis
Louisiana Republican Party State Chairman
In office
2000–2004
Preceded by Francis Charles "Chuck" McMains, Jr.
Succeeded by Roger F. Villere, Jr.
St. Tammany Parish Council member
In office
2000–2008
Preceded by New position replacing St. Tammany Parish Police Jury
Succeeded by Reid Falconer
Personal details
Born (1946-12-06) December 6, 1946 (age 77)
Place of birth missing
Spouse(s) Joseph Stanley Brister, Jr.
Residence Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
Occupation Businesswoman; Politician
Religion Presbyterian
Active at all levels of the Republican Party, Brister is the first and thus far only woman to serve as Louisiana state chairman.

Patricia Phillips Brister, known as Pat Brister (born December 6, 1946), a businesswoman and Republican politician from Mandeville, Louisiana, who is the president of the government in St. Tammany Parish in the New Orleans suburbs.[1]

Political life

From 2000 to 2004, Brister served as chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, the first woman to have held that particular position.[2] From 1996 to 2000, she was the Republican national committeewoman from Louisiana.[2] She is also a former ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women under former U.S. President George W. Bush. Brister's tenure on the commission included the annual meetings held from February 28 through March 11, 2006, and again from February 25 to March 7, 2008. Brister has also served on the elected St. Tammany Parish Council.[3] On October 22, 2011, she was elected parish president of St. Tammany Parish with 73 percent of the vote; she was sworn into office in January 2012.[1]

In May 2006, Brister was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ambassador to the Commission on the Status of Women,[4] after her first convention session had ended. The commission was founded in 1946, a year after the United Nations was organized. During her tenure, Brister defended the Bush administration regarding its policies concerning the role of women and repeatedly praised the appointment of Condoleezza Rice as the United States secretary of state. "The policies of the U.S. government have been and continue to be to encourage countries to include women in their initiatives. President Bush has been a strong advocate of democratization and we fully believe empowering women will strengthen a country. We will continue to talk about that specific issue here at CSW," said Brister.[5]

Brister continued, having noted the United States commitment to medical care for women and children: "The US has been at the forefront, particularly here at the UN Commission on the Status of Women, in advocating for availability of medical care for women and children. We point to President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief . . . which supports a variety of bilateral, regional, and multilateral initiatives."[5]

Brister won the first of her two terms on the St. Tammany Parish Council from District 4 in the primary election held on October 23, 1999. With 2,214 votes (54.1 percent), she defeated two fellow Republicans.[6] Brister was unopposed for a second term in the 2003 primary. She declined to seek a third term and was succeeded by fellow Republican Reid R. Falconer (born December 26, 1956) of Madisonville, the winner of the 2007 primary over another Republican named John Robertson.[7]

Earlier, Brister ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Senate from District 11 (St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes). She was defeated by fellow Republican Tom Schedler of Slidell, the Louisiana Secretary of State, who held the seat from 1996 to 2008, when he was term-limited by state law and succeeded by the Mandeville Republican Jack Donahue.

Brister was elected party chairman in 2000 by the 144-member Republican State Central Committee to succeed Chuck McMains, a Baton Rouge state representative, who served in 2000. She was in turn succeeded in 2004 by Roger F. Villere, Jr., a Metairie businessman. Brister was a member of the site-selection committee which tapped Philadelphia Pennsylvania, to host the 2000 Republican National Convention. She was a Louisiana state elector in 2000. Thereafter, she was a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention, which met in New York City to renominate the Bush-Cheney ticket and worked thereafter for the GOP slate in Louisiana.[8]

In 2002, President Bush named Brister to a three-year term on the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas[2]

On January 9, 2009, Governor Bobby Jindal appointed Brister her to the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission, the panel which regulates, operates, and controls the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which includes the bridge system and the causeway approach road system on the North Shore.[9]

In 2013, Brister attended a fundraiser for Democrat U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, a candidate for a fourth term in the 2014 midterm elections. Landrieu's principal challenger is Republican U.S. Representative Bill Cassidy of Louisiana's 6th congressional district.[10] Brister's embrace of Landrieu has been strongly criticized by Moon Griffon, the conservative statewide radio talk show host based in Monroe, who is a long-term critic of Senator Landrieu.[11]

Personal life

Involved in various businesses over the years, Brister was for a time the chief executive officer and chairman of the trustees[12] of Orion College, a diploma mill which existed in Mandeville from 1997[2]to 2002.

Brister is married to Joseph Stanley "Joe" Brister, Jr. (born November 22, 1933), a New Orleans native. Her children are Ken Brister, Mark Beck, Matt Beck, and Jill Beck Heebe.[13] She is Presbyterian. Her political interest was initially fueled by the Parent-Teacher Association. She is the former executive director of the Northshore Business Council.[14]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ The Moon Griffon Show, November 22, 2013; December 3, 2013
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ http://lwvofst.org/_archives/2011/Documents/Biographies/LWVST%20Parish%20President%20Brister%20BIO.pdf
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Government offices
Preceded by St. Tammany Parish President

Patricia Phillips "Pat" Brister of Mandeville
2012–

 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Louisiana Republican Party State Chairman

Patricia Phillips "Pat" Brister of Mandeville
2000–2004

 Succeeded by
Roger Francis Villere, Jr., of Metairie
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Missing
 United States Representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
2006–2008		 Succeeded by
Missing
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