When I was a child, stories about former Gov. Edwin Edwards’ first two terms in office had been told at my house for a long time, but Dave Treen was governor when I became an adult. He is the governor for which I have almost a nostalgic feeling.

He was also the governor I remember as being different from many of the politicians I had come to know and had the pleasure to meet.

The first time I met former Gov. Treen was in 1983 during a fundraiser in Natchitoches when he was vying for a second term. I was in college and worked part time at a liquor store that also catered parties. I had learned that he belonged to the Kappa Sigma fraternity when he was at Tulane, the same fraternity to which I belonged at Northwestern State University. So when he reached out his hand to shake mine I gave him “the” handshake. He recognized it immediately and made a light-hearted joke about the secrecy of it all.

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The most impressive thing to me, though, was that he treated everyone with the same dignity and respect, even the hired help. And despite the mudslinging from the Edwards folks, Treen seemed to keep plugging with a cleaner campaign.

It is Edwards, really, whom Treen could thank for his victory in 1979. The four-term governor had changed the primary election system in Louisiana to allow anyone from any party to run on the first ticket. Edwards’ reasoning, according to John Maginnis in his book “The Last Hayride,” was to eliminate Republicans in the primary election, thus giving Democrats the edge. Over the long haul, though, it allowed the Republican Party to grow in the state. No one had to be seen going to the Republican primary to be outed by Democrats and kept from political patronage.

Still, Treen could not overcome the smoother Edwards, the velvety talk and the level of “coolness” he maintained with Cajuns and populists in the northern part of the state.

Since his recent death, many reports have been published about the former governor that acclaim to Treen’s statesman-like qualities. Indeed, he was that. But one of the things he failed to accomplish, and no one is likely to pick up the torch, is support of a unicameral legislature — a single chamber state governing body.

Every once in a while, Treen would find the platform to again explain his reasoning for going from a two-chamber system to a single-chamber legislature. Since a court ruling decades ago, the Legislature has determined that the state House of Representatives and state Senate would use population as a means to elect its officials. The only difference is that a Senate district has more people than a House district. Since there is no difference in how the people are represented, we could save a considerable amount of money by eliminating one chamber. How’s that for a suggestion for the Commission to Streamline Government.

“You can even call them senators if it makes them feel better,” I remember Treen saying in a telephone interview years ago. He was right; the Legislature should seriously consider changing itself.

If current politicians or anyone considering a run for any political office want a role model, they might consider Treen. He certainly earned that right.

JEFF ZERINGUE is managing editor of The Daily Iberian. He can be reached at iberianedit@bellsouth.net.