Charles Joseph Melançon (; born October 3, 1947) is an American politician and the former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. From 2005 to 2011, he was the U.S. representative for . He earlier served as a state representative, from 1987 to 1993. In 2010, he was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by the Republican David Vitter. Early life, education and career Melançon was born in Napoleonville, Louisiana, the son of Nicee L. "Brownie" (née Talbot) and Joe Melançon. The grandson and great-grandson of sugar cane farmers, Melançon has spent most of his life in Napoleonville, 50 miles south of Baton Rouge. He owned and operated several small businesses, including two Baskin-Robbins outlets. He also served as head of the American Sugar Cane League. Louisiana House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives Melançon ran in 2004 for the House of Representatives seat in Louisiana's 3rd congressional district and won. Committee assignments Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee on Energy and Environment Very soon after being sworn in January 2005, Melançon joined the Blue Dog Coalition. Like most Southern Democrats, he is more conservative than most members of the national party, especially on social issues. But he did vote for the DREAM Act and repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Just a few months after Melancon took office, Hurricane Katrina slammed into south Louisiana, causing massive levee failures and devastating flooding in the eastern part of his district. A second major storm, Hurricane Rita, struck the Gulf Coast three weeks later. Melancon worked with the rest of the Louisiana delegation in Congress to bring billions of recovery dollars to south Louisiana. He fought for federal funding for hurricane protection projects such as Morganza-to-the-Gulf and the levee systems in lower Plaquemines Parish and south Lafourche Parish. Melancon has continuously urged other members of the United States Congress to visit south Louisiana for as long as Louisiana still has recovery or hurricane protection needs. He has brought Congressional delegations to the Gulf Coast to see firsthand the destruction from the storms as well as the ongoing need for hurricane protection and coastal restoration. Since the storms, Melancon has sponsored a number of reform bills to try to fix the flaws in the government's disaster response and relief system. As the representative for much of south