Cecile Bledsoe

Cecile Herndon Bledsoe (born June 26, 1944) is a business executive from Rogers in Benton County in Northwest Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate, having represented District 3 since 2009. From 2009 to 2013, she represented Senate District 8. Bledsoe has also represented two different districts in the Arkansas House of Representatives, the 96th and the 23rd, with service dating back to 1999.[1]

Cecile Herndon Bledsoe
Member of the Arkansas Senate from the 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office 2013
Preceded by	Ruth R. Whitaker
Member of the Arkansas Senate from the 8th district
In office January 12, 2009 – January 2013
Preceded by	Dave Bisbee
Succeeded by	Jake Files
Member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from the 95th district
In office January 13, 2003 – January 10, 2005
Preceded by	Steven B. Jones
Succeeded by	Timothy Chad Hutchinson
Member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from the 23rd district
In office January 11, 1999 – January 13, 2003
Preceded by	Dave Bisbee
Succeeded by	Chris Thomason
Personal details
Born	(1944-06-26) June 26, 1944 Lyons, Toombs County Georgia
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	James Harper Bledsoe, M.D.
Children	3
Residence	Rogers, Benton County Arkansas
Alma mater	University of Georgia
Occupation	Vice President, Surgical Clinic

Background

A native of Lyons in Toombs County in southeastern Georgia, Bledsoe is a 1968 graduate of the University of Georgia at Athens, with a degree in journalism. She is the vice president and assistant manager at a surgical clinic. Bledsoe and her husband, Dr. James Harper Bledsoe, a surgeon, have three children, Gregory Harper Bledsoe, Sam Bledsoe, and Tricia Bledsoe.[2]

Bledsoe is a member of the Southern Legislative Conference, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). She is a former member of the Pea Ridge National Military Park Foundation and the Northwest Arkansas Agency on Aging. Bledsoe is affiliated with the Benton County Republican Women's Association and is a founding member of Grace Point Church of Northwest Arkansas, a Baptist congregation in Bentonville.[2]

Political life

In 2010, Bledsoe, whose state Senate seat was not up for election that year, was a candidate for Arkansas's 3rd congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was in a runoff with the Mayor Steve Womack and lost in the Republican primary. Bledsoe carried the endorsement of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List and former Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. The U.S. House seat was vacated by the Republican John Boozman, who was instead elected to the United States Senate, having unseated the Democrat Blanche Lincoln.

In 2013, Senator Bledsoe voted to override the vetoes of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe to ban abortion after twenty weeks of gestation and to require the presentation of photo identification when casting a ballot in Arkansas. She also sponsored legislation to forbid abortion from being included on the state insurance exchange. Bledsoe voted to amend state income tax rates and co-sponsored a measure requiring recipients of unemployment compensation in Arkansas to submit to testing for narcotics. She also voted to reduce weekly unemployment checks. Bledsoe opposed the legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. She voted against legislation, signed into law by Governor Beebe, which allows up to five hundred gallons per month of unpasteurized milk to be sold directly from the farm to consumers. She opposed the legislation which would have established a racial impact statement regarding crime bills.[3]

In 2011, Bledsoe voted for the congressional redistricting act. She opposed the banning of cell phones from school zones. She voted for the Capital Gains Reduction Act and to reduce excise taxes on natural gas and electricity. In 2009, she sponsored legislation to permit medical assistants to perform simple medical procedures in a physicians office with physicians taking full legal responsibility. That same year she voted with a large Senate majority to raise the tobacco tax in Arkansas to support a state wide trauma system.[3]

References

2. "Cecile Bledsoe's Biography". votesmart.org. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
3. "Cecile Bledsoe's Voting Records". votesmart.org. Retrieved January 20, 2014.

External links

• Cecile Bledsoe campaign website

Preceded by Ruth R. Whitaker	Arkansas State Senator from District 3 Cecile Herndon Bledsoe 2013–	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Dave Bisbee	Arkansas State Senator from District 8 Cecile Herndon Bledsoe 2009–2013	Succeeded by Jake Files
Preceded by Steven B. Jones	Arkansas State Representative from District 95 Cecile Herndon Bledsoe 2003–2005	Succeeded by Timothy Chad Hutchinson
Preceded by Dave Bisbee	Arkansas State Representative from District 23 Cecile Herndon Bledsoe 1999–2003	Succeeded by Chris Thomason