September 25, 2012
By: Jamie Gros
J. Thomas “Tom” Schedler was born and raised in New Orleans. Upon graduating from De La Salle High School in 1967, he went on to receive his Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1971.
Schedler first started his legislative career when he was elected in to Louisiana State Senate in 1996, where he served three terms representing Senate District 11 in St Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. He received numerous awards and honors during his career; such as: Legislator of the Year, Republican of the Year, as well as champion of business several times over.
Schedler was sworn in as Louisiana’s Secretary of State on Monday, November, 22, 2010 when then-Secretary of State Jay Dardenne was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor. Schedler was appointed first assistant secretary of state in December of 2007 by Dardenne.
As Secretary of State, Schedler handles many responsibilities. He is committed to providing programs that help the state’s citizens better understand and take advantage of the services available to them. Of the many programs out there for citizens’ to utilize, Schedler elaborated on two subjects at the Thibodaux rotary meeting. These two topics were Elections and the Commercial Business.
Elections:
- Elections touch the lives of literally every person in our state. As chief elections officer, the secretary of state is responsible for qualifying certain candidates, overseeing the election, and tabulating and verifying the results.
- There are more elections held in Louisiana than any other state in the country. Schedler is trying to amend this.
- Louisiana voters were the 1st to use picture Id as a requirement to use voting privileges. All names and pictures were matched in all 50 parishes.
- There are currently 251 political parties in the state of Louisiana
- Initiated Geauxvote.com, Louisiana is the first state to have a phone app dedicated to voting privileges. The app has the personal ballot of the voter; directions to wear the voter needs to vote and as well as the political party that voter is registered.
- Schedler started the Honor vets program. This is a program that honors those who have fought and sacrificed for our freedom and our sacred right to vote.
Commercial:
- Geauxbiz is a perfect example of streamlining a process to help the consumer — in this case, business owners. GeauxBiz gives current and potential business owners a single place to go for all the necessary information to operate within the state. Approval for all licenses and permits still comes from the individual agencies, but GeauxBiz is a clearinghouse for regulatory information
- Schedler reported 75% of Louisiana businesses are online with GeauxBiz.com
- The website allows business owners to reserve their name and request their LLC online as well as informing the consumer on every document needed to start a business.
The secretary of state is also responsible for the operation of several outstanding state museums. The secretary of state is the official keeper of the state seal, as well as many other important documents.
Schedler ended his speech in urging everyone “to go vote if not for yourselves go vote in respect for others, respect the right we have been given”. More information about Tom Schedler can be found on http://www.sos.la.gov
