Huey Joel Deckard was born on March 7, 1942, and died on September 7, 2016.
He was a former U.S. Representative from Indiana.
He attended public schools in Mount Vernon, Indiana.
H. Joel Deckard attended the University of Evansville from 1962 to 1967 and served in the Indiana National Guard from 1966 to 1972.
He was affiliated with broadcasting stations in southern Illinois and Indiana from 1959 to 1972.
H. Joel Deckard was a cable television executive and legislative liaison for the Illinois-Indiana TV Association from 1974 to 1977.
He also formed a corporation involved in design and construction of energy-efficient and solar-heated homes and offices.
H. Joel Deckard served as a 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 (January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1983).
H. Joel Deckard was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1982 to the Ninety-eighth Congress, losing to then-Bloomington mayor Frank McCloskey.
Af first he was favored for reelection to a third term, Deckard was involved in an automobile accident three weeks before the election.
H. Joel Deckard refused to take a blood test and was charged with driving under the influence.
However, McCloskey sought to tie Deckard to President Reagan at a time of high unemployment in the district.
After McCloskey defeated Deckard, Deckard became the sixth incumbent from 1966 to 1982 to lose reelection in the district known as the “Bloody Eighth.”
He then relocated to Florida, where he became a computer technical specialist for Citibank in Tallahassee.
And, a supporter of Pat Buchanan, he was the Reform Party’s nominee for U.S. Senator in 2000.
His 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.
Huey Joel Deckard passed away at 74 years old.