Bryan Bush (politician)

Bryan Edward Bush, Jr.
District Attorney of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
In office 1985–1990
Preceded by	Ossie Brown
Succeeded by	Douglas Moreau
Personal details
Born	(1934-04-14)April 14, 1934 Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died	December 4, 2010(2010-12-04) (aged 76) Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Julia Taulman Bush (married 1956–2010, his death)
Children	Sallie Bush Moore Karen Bush Hubicz Kathy Bush McHugh Bryan E. Bush, III Ten grandchildren
Residence	Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Alma mater	Southern Methodist University Louisiana State University Law Center
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Roman Catholic

Bryan Edward Bush, Jr. (April 14, 1934 – December 4, 2010) was the first Republican of the 20th century to hold the position of district attorney of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Elected in 1984, Bush took office in 1985 and resigned in 1990 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of maintaining incomplete office records.^[1] Bush had been an assistant district attorney under the two-term Democrat Ossie Brown, but he challenged Brown's bid for a third term. A resident of Baker, Brown held the position from 1972-1984.^[1]

Background

Bush was born to Bryan Bush, Sr., and the former Sallie Mat Clingman^[2] in Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish in north Louisiana. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he was on the Mustangs baseball team and a member of the fraternity, Kappa Alpha Order.^[3] Thereafter, he received his law degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge.^[3]

DA political matters

Bush retained the Democrat Hillar Moore, III, the current district attorney who had been an assistant to Brown, supported Brown in 1984, and was still attending law school at the time of that campaign. Douglas Moreau, a fellow Republican, succeeded Bush as district attorney in 1991, having won a landslide election in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 6, 1990.^[4] Moore described Bush as having been intent on prosecuting criminals and public officials accused of corruption. After Bush resigned as DA, he returned to the private practice of law.^[1]

Moore, who had since been a defense attorney in private practice, won the DA's position in 2008 with the support of both Bush and Moreau. Moore handily defeated the Republican Dan Claitor, subsequently the winner of a special election in the spring of 2009 for the Louisiana State Senate for the seat vacated by U.S. Representative Bill Cassidy.^[1][5][6]

Family and death

In his later years, Bush had been in declining health caused by multiple sclerosis, which was initially diagnosed when Bush was thirty-seven.^[1][3] He died at his Baton Rouge home of cardiovascular disease at the age of seventy-six.^[7]

Bush was survived by his wife, the former Julia Taulman (born May 25, 1934); three daughters, Sallie Bush Moore and husband, Jeramie, Karen Bush Hubicz and husband, Jim, and Kathy Bush McHugh and husband, Jess; a son, Bryan E. Bush, III, and wife, Tanie; ten grandchildren: Michael, Lauren, Jessica, Mary Kate, James, Olivia, Anna Kathryn, Brandon, Gerrett, and Sawyer, and a sister, Jo Bush Chandler. A funeral mass was said at St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church in Baton Rouge, and Bush was thereafter entombed at Greenoaks Memorial Park Mausoleum.^[2]

Judy Rhodes Smith of Baton Rouge, a former client of Bush's, wrote upon his death: "Many, many, years ago Bryan went over and beyond and literally saved my family from great hardship. He was an extraordinary attorney and an immeasurable friend. May he rest in peace."^[8]

References