Hatcher, Elijah Porter, Jr.
(born: September 9, 1936 - died: December 26, 2012)E. Porter Hatcher, Jr. was a legislator, alderman, insurance agent, and expert bridge player. He holds the honor of being elected as alderman, followed by four consecutive alderman re-elections and four consecutive legislative re-elections.
In 1986 former Alderman Hatcher announced he was a candidate for State Representative of the 43rd District. He defeated Carl R. Hines, Sr. in the primary and defeated John B. Miles, Jr. in the November election. Hatcher was re-elected four times; in 1999, he resigned his seat and pleaded guilty to insurance and campaign finance fraud. A special election was held and Paul Bather defeated Michael Dickerson to become the next State Representative of the 43rd District. This marked the end of Hatcher's long political career.
It had all started in 1975 when Hatcher was a successful candidate for the Louisville Board of Alderman, 12th Ward. He defeated the incumbent Lois Morris in the primary, and in the November election defeated competitors Anna E. Bishop and William Gibbs. Hatcher was re-elected as Alderman from 1977 through 1983. He declined to run for a 6th term, and Paul Bather was elected the next Louisville 12th Ward Alderman.
Hatcher had planned to run for Jefferson County Magistrate. Those plans changed and he sought a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives and won the 1986 election. He had also served on the Board of Trustees at Spalding University with his term ending in 1976. He had also served as director of the Louisville Branch of the NAACP.
Hatcher was also an expert bridge player. In 1967, he and Reginald Talton were the local winners of the nationwide charity bridge game sponsored by the Louisville Bridge Association and held in Louisville at the Kentucky Hotel. The following year, Hatcher was a member of the Louisville bridge team that won the American Bridge Association's life master division annual tournament held in San Francisco, CA. The other members were team captain Louis Sutherland, Alonzo B. Crumes, and Herbert Davis.
E. Porter Hatcher, Jr. was born in Louisville, KY, the son of Rev. Elijah Sr. and Mauziva T. Stone Hatcher. He died in 2012 and is buried in the Louisville Cemetery (Ancestry).
For more information, contact the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. See also "Editorial: Hatcher's Resignation," Courier-Journal (Louisville), 12/5/1999, p. 60; "2 Local winners named in charity bridge game," The Courier-Journal, 3/12/1967, p. 9; "Louisvillians win bridge tournament," The Courier-Journal, 8/13/1968, p. 34; "Candidates: 153 seeking offices in Jefferson County," The Courier-Journal, 4/2/1975, p. 30; Sheldon Shafer, "Spalding installs its first board of trustees with lay members," The Courier-Journal, 5/6/1975, p. 23; "Democrats sweep aldermanic, comptroller races," The Courier-Journal, 11/5/1975, p. 16; "Four unendorsed candidates in Tuesday's vote speak out," The Courier-Journal, 5/21/1986, p. 13; "Results of races for Kentucky's House and Senate," The Courier-Journal, 11/6/1986, p. 6; "Hatcher praised at last aldermanic meeting," The Courier-Journal, 12/24/1985, p. 9; and "Louisville Democrat wins House special election," The Paducah Sun, 1/19/2000, p. 9.