Theodore "Ted" Jones

Theodore Lutrell Jones, known as Ted Jones (born May 1934),^[1][2] is an attorney and lobbyist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who provided counsel to governors, U.S. representatives, U. S. senators, and presidential candidates.^[3]

Background

In 1960, at the age of twenty-six,^[4] Jones received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. He procured his Juris Doctor in 1963 from the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford, Mississippi. In 1970, he received a Master of Laws from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he has also long maintained a law practice. His legal specialties include taxation, estate planning, insurance, communications, oil and natural gas, rate regulations, federal and state campaign election law, corporate law, and financial transactions.^[5]

Political and legal career

Jones was briefly the chief of staff to Democratic U. S. Representative Speedy Long of Louisiana's 8th congressional district, since disbanded. Thereafter, he was named counsel for the then newly implemented Medicare program for Governor John McKeithen. He was a special counsel for McKeithen's successor as governor, Edwin W. Edwards. He worked on the 1968 presidential campaign staff for Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, who was defeated by Richard M. Nixon. He has written two books dealing with business and tax planning and foreign tax credits.^[3]

Jones has been special counsel to both the Louisiana Public Service Commission and the Louisiana Tax Commission. He is a former state assistant collector of revenue. For eight years, Jones was the chief lobbyist for the Louisiana state government in Washington, D.C.^[5]

Jones played in the band of Governor Jimmie Davis and continued to entertain with the remaining band members after Davis's death. At the annual induction ceremonies of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield in 2004, Jones performed and sang Davis' trademark song, "You Are My Sunshine". He was also known for his renditions of Governor Earl Kemp Long giving a stump speech. In 2003, Jones himself considered running for governor but declined after he determined how much his pay would be reduced were he to have been successful.^[6]

Theodore Wonders Jones

Jones and his wife, Sally Wonders Jones (born 1939), have a son, Theodore Wonders Jones (born July 1971),^[7][8] who is also an attorney in Baton Rouge with the Stephens firm. He attended Tulane University in New Orleans on a scholarship^[9] and graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, from which in 1998 he received his Juris Doctorate. The junior Jones has managed the financing of long-term debt for the state, various municipalities, and institutions of higher education. Prior to joining Stephens, he was the chief legislative counsel to former U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin, a Democrat-turned-Republican from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district. A Republican, the younger Jones formerly practiced corporate and securities law in northern California with two firms, one Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, previously headed by Charles Taylor Manatt, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.^[10]

Honors

Ted Jones holds honorary doctorates of humanity from both his alma mater Northwestern State University and Nicholls State University in Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. He is an inductee of the NSU "Long Purple Line of Distinguished Alumni" and the former director of the NSU Foundation.^[5] In 2007, Jones was himself inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame.^[3]

Other residences

The senior Jones also maintains a residence in Miramar Beach, in Walton County on the northern Gulf Coast of Florida.^[2] As of December 2013, his Democratic voter registration is in Bogalusa in Washington Parish.^[1]

References