Robert E. Barton

Barton graduated from Bay High School in Panama City, Florida. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of West Florida at Pensacola and a master's degree from Florida State University in the capital city of Tallahassee. He served in the United States Army from 1970 to 1973. He has been affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce and Lions International. He is Roman Catholic.[1][2]

In 1986, while at the Ruston Daily Leader in Ruston in Lincoln Parish in North Louisiana, Barton purchased the weekly The Ouachita Citizen newspaper from Bert Hatten, a former mayor of West Monroe.[3]

Barton also formerly owned and published the Bossier Press (since the Bossier Press-Tribune) in Bossier City.[4] He is a past president of the Louisiana Press Association and held membership in the National Newspaper Association.

Barton and his wife, the former Jane Susan Kohlhaas, reside in Benton, the seat of government of Bossier Parish located north of Bossier City.[5]

Barton held the District 8 seat from 1996 to 2000.[6] The position opened when the 16-year incumbent, Robert Adley, ran for governor in the 1995 nonpartisan blanket primary. On October 21, 1995, Barton defeated the Democrat Bob G. Burford (1942–2009) in a low-turnout election, 5,416 votes (59.2 percent) to 3,740 (40.8 percent).[7]

Barton did not seek reelection in the 1999 primary but instead unsuccessfully challenged Republican State Senator Max T. Malone of Shreveport. He finished in third place in a three-candidate field with 27.4 percent of the vote.[8]

Fellow Republican Jane H. Smith, the former Bossier Parish school superintendent, won Barton's seat without opposition from either party in the 1999 primary.

During the late 1990s, Barton was employed at Bossier Parish Community College in the role of assistant to the then chancellor, Tom Carleton.[9] Barton was also a teacher from 1973 to 1978. He is Roman Catholic.[10]