In 1991, a 32-year-old offshore caterer from Algiers, Louisiana turned a practical idea into a multimillion-dollar business. Now, at 56, former Plaquemines Parish President, Republican Billy Nungesser, hopes to see another dream come true on Oct. 24.
Nungesser will run for the Lieutenant Governor position — set to be vacated by incumbent Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne — against three challengers: Democratic East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden, Republican Jefferson Parish President John Young and Republican State Sen. Elbert Guillory.
Nungesser’s political career began in 1983 when he was appointed by Gov. Treen to the Lake Ponchartrain and Maurepaus Study Commission. He then served on the Orleans Levee Board in 1985.
His dabble in politics took a 15-year hiatus when in 1991, Nungesser established General Marine Leasing Company, a business providing offshore workers with portable living quarters.
He conjured the idea in his early 20s while working for an offshore catering business. Nungesser said he used the $7500 left in his college fund to buy a 20-foot shipping container furnished with six bunks, a kitchenette and bathroom.
Nungesser contacted a company to lease the shipping containers from him on a trial basis. He sold his grandmother’s house, which he was living in at the time, to cover building expenses.
Almost 25 years later, General Marine is worth $20 million and employs 200 people.
“I’m a great salesman when I believe in something,” Nungesser said.
When he was financially able, Nungesser said he splurged $2 million on 60 acres of parish land near the Mississippi River for a recovery arena, to allow more than 200 adults and children with disabilities to stop by seven days a week during Hurricane Katrina to ride horses at no cost to them or their family.
He and his wife protected the 26 specially-trained horses at the facility during the storm. They also opened their home to 30 local strangers without a place to stay.
While he and his wife rescued people and animals for five straight days, Nungesser said he never once saw an elected official help Katrina relief efforts — and it angered him.
“People told me to shut up or run for office, so I did,” he said.
Nungesser narrowly won the 2006 Plaquemines Parish President election with about 51 percent of the vote, compared to his opponent Amos Cormier, Jr.’s 49 percent.
Before his first term as parish president ended in 2010, Nungesser worked mostly on disaster recovery, including Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Nungesser said one day after the storm passed, he saw a woman walking along the highway with her three small children. When he stopped to ask her where she was going, she said she was on her way to do laundry 24 miles away.
He said he drove them to the laundromat, and the waiting line wrapped around the block. He called the President of United Way and put up his $10,000 credit card limit to purchase washers and dryers for his parish.
He put the new laundry equipment in FEMA trailers so his constituents could wash their clothes.
For Christmas, Nungesser bought 500 bikes and thousands of FEMA turkeys to celebrate the holiday in the trailers. He said his reaction to the storm in his first term allowed for his re-election in 2011.
He said Katrina recovery put everything into a new perspective for him.
“We need more public servants, not politicians,” Nungesser said.
Nungesser said the state is rich in assets and elected officials need to whip them back into shape for the public to see.
After restoring state parks, museums and historical sites, he said as lieutenant governor he wants to capitalize on the fishing industry, which draws in a myriad of tourists each year.
He said he wants to create a traveling circuit in which fishermen can fish every lake, stream and river in the state on a particular route. The state never promoted fishing on a large scale, Nungesser said.
As the election nears, he said he believes he can increase tourism by 10 percent each year and create 66,000 new jobs in the state.
“Nobody will work harder,” Nungesser said.

Gallery • 1 Photos

Zoe Geauthreaux

Lt. governor candidate Billy Nungesser talks to attendees on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, after the LWVision 2015 Reality Check Luncheon at Drusilla Place in Baton Rouge.