Badon says he won't seek re-election
by Marsha Shuler and Jason Brown - Advocate (excerpt)

Democratic state Rep. Bobby Badon, of Carencro, said Tuesday he would not seek re-election this fall. Badon becomes the 25th state representative who will not seek re-election to the 105-member Louisiana House. Eleven are prevented from running by term limits. Another 14 are retiring or seeking other elected offices.

His decision not to seek re-election comes a little more than one month after State Police released a dash camera video showing the legislator asking for leniency during a January 2010 traffic stop on La. 182 near Carencro. The trooper stopped Badon for allegedly making an illegal left turn. In the video, Badon drops the names of several high-ranking law enforcement officials while repeatedly asking the trooper to let him go home.

Badon was arrested by State Police on first offense DWI in January 2010. Badon had registered a 0.125 percent breath sample about an hour after the stop, according to court records. The case was dropped in July after 15th Judicial District Judge Herman Clause, of Lafayette, ruled that State Police had no basis for the traffic stop that led to the DWI charge and evidence collected after it was inadmissible. The District Attorney’s Office said the ruling meant the case was “dead.”