BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A Republican state lawmaker is stepping down, saying that the job is taking too much time away from his family.
Rep. Chris Broadwater of Hammond sent a letter to House colleagues Monday, telling them he had submitted his resignation to Speaker Taylor Barras on Friday.
Broadwater, a lawyer, was elected in 2011 to represent Tangipahoa Parish. He has a seat on the important House tax committee and serves as vice chairman of the labor committee.
But the father of four daughters described finding a balance between the Legislature and his home life to be “elusive.”
“I thank God that he blessed me with an amazing wife who has been understanding and an unbelievable mother during my absence. However, I cannot continue to allow her to handle a disproportionate share with regard to our family,” Broadwater wrote. “Therefore, it is time for me to refocus my attention on the wonderful family with which I have been blessed.”
Broadwater told Barras in his resignation letter that he will leave the House no later than March 1.
But he also requested that if his successor is chosen in a special election before March or if the Legislature doesn’t have a special session on finances in February as expected, he intends his resignation to be “effective at an earlier date.”
A special election date wasn’t immediately announced.
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