H. Joel Deckard
Huey Joel Deckard was a U.S. Representative from Indiana.
Born in Vandalia, Illinois, Deckard attended public schools in Mount Vernon, Indiana. He attended the University of Evansville from 1962 to 1967, and served in the Indiana National Guard from 1966 to 1972. Deckard was affiliated with broadcasting stations in southern Illinois and Indiana from 1959 to 1972. He was a cable television executive and legislative liaison for the Illinois-Indiana TV Association from 1974 to 1977. Deckard also formed a corporation involved in design and construction of energy-efficient and solar-heated homes and offices. He served as member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1966 to 1974.
Deckard was elected as a Republican to the Ninety-sixth and to the Ninety-seventh Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1982 to the Ninety-eighth Congress, losing to then-Bloomington mayor Frank McCloskey. Initially favored for reelection to a third term, Deckard was involved in an automobile accident three weeks before the election. He refused to take a blood test and was charged with driving under the influence. McCloskey sought to tie Deckard to President Ronald Reagan at a time of high unemployment in the district. When McCloskey defeated Deckard, Deckard became the sixth incumbent from 1966 to 1982 to lose reelection in the district known as the "Bloody Eighth."
Deckard ultimately moved to Florida, where he became a computer technical specialist for Citibank in Tallahassee. A supporter of Pat Buchanan, he was the Reform Party's nominee for U.S. Senator in 2000. Deckard's 17,338 votes, only 0.30% of the total votes cast, became the subject of statistical analysis by critics of the butterfly ballot in Palm Beach county. He died of an apparent heart attack on September 6, 2016 at a hospital in McKinney, Texas. He lived in Little Elm, Texas in his retirement.
