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Louisiana's Legendary Silver Fox Edwin Washington Edwards |
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A Cajun originally from near Marksville, Louisiana, controversial Democratic politician Edwin Washington Edwards was born on August 7, 1927. After graduating from LSU Law School at age twenty-one, Edwards settled in Crowley, Louisiana, where he practiced as one of two local attorneys who conducted business in English and Cajun French. Edwards served in the Louisiana state senate, the U.S. Congress (1965-72), and in the Louisiana governor's office-always relying on his Cajun constituency for strong support. Edwards served four gubernatorial terms, 1972-76, 1976-80, 1984-88, and thought to be politically dead after conceding the 1987 race to Buddy Roemer, Edwards roared back into the Governor's Mansion for an unprecedented fourth term in 1992-1996. Not since his first gubernatorial election had Edwards received the endorsement of so many major newspapers and organizations-all intent on keeping former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke out of office. Edwin Edwards led the passage of land based casino gambling legislation during his last term in office. David Duke was later convicted of fraud. |
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His administration was marked by several accomplishments. Edwards supported a constitutional convention to replace the unwieldy Constitution of 1921. The new Constitution, written in 1973 was made effective in 1975, directed the Governor to reorganize the executive branch, protected the civil rights of civil service employees from political retribution, and streamlined governmental bureaucracy. Edwards also pushed for legislation tying the severance tax on crude oil to a percentage of the barrel price rather than a flat fee, which resulted in greatly increased state revenues. The New Orleans Superdome was completed in 1974 during Edwards first term in office. Governor Edwards named blacks to key state positions and his support of black politicians resulted in a mutually beneficial relationship. He supported the "open primary" which pitted candidates of all parties against each other in a first general primary which inadvertently strengthened the Republican Party in state elections as Democrats split their votes. Edwards' third term was marked by Federal bribery stemming from the sale of hospital certificates, and coincided with failing oil prices and failing state revenues. Edwards was indicted, tried and acquitted. Tried twice as the first trial ended in a hung jury, during the second trial the U.S. Prosecutor John Voltz suffered a heart attack (not fatal) and Edwards was acquitted. |
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In 2000, after Edwards had retired from a life of public service he and son Stephen Edwards were convicted of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from riverboat casino license applicants. The four-term governor was convicted on 17 racketeering and fraud counts and acquitted on nine counts, Stephen Edwards was also convicted on 18 counts of racketeering and acquitted on five. Three other co-defendants were also convicted while two others were acquitted. Eddie DeBartolo Jr., a former San Francisco 49ers owner, testified against Edwards when federal prosecutors threatened to include him in the indictment, as did Robert Guidry, a former owner of the Treasure Chest casino. Ecotry Fuller, who was accused of providing State Sen. Greg Tarver with a copy of a confidential state police report about casino license applicants then lying about it to a federal grand jury. Both Fuller and Tarver were acquitted. Edwin Edwards, who is rarely at a loss for words was prohibited by a judge's silencing rule from discussing the verdicts in detail. But in brief comments to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Baton Rouge, he thanked family members who supported him during the more than four month trial, and he vowed to appeal. A high stakes gambler known for being host to $10,000-ante poker games in the governor's mansion, Edwin Edwards then acknowledged that his luck may finally have run dry. "The Chinese have a saying that if you sit by the river long enough, the dead body of your enemy will come floating down the river", he said, his voice calm and measured. "I suppose the feds sat by the river long enough, and here comes my body". Outside the court house shaded by a canopy of oaks former Governor Edwin Edwards said, "I regret that it has ended this way, but there is the system. I've lived 72 years of my life within the system. I will spend the rest of my life within the system. Whatever consequences flow from this I'm prepared to face.' He added: 'I will try to maintain the same demeanor of confidence and support that I've had in the past three years as all this began to unfold. And in due course, whatever comes, comes". |
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Within months of the racketeering conviction Edwards faced yet another trial by the U.S. Government's relentless pursuit of him. Former state insurance commissioner Jim Brown, Edwin Edwards and three others were accused of conspiring to help Dallas insurance businessman David Disiere avoid reimbursing the state for assets Disiere was suspected of taking from his failing insurer, Cascade Insurance Co. Jim Brown, despite his 56-count federal indictment in September, won a November run-off election for a third term in the commissioner's seat. He called his inclusion in the fraud indictments the result of a "political drive-by shooting", claiming opponents only wanted to drag him down prior to the election. Edwin Edwards was exonerated of all charges in the Cascade case, Commissioner Jim Brown was found guilty, being the third Louisiana Insurance Commissioner in a row to be convicted. Many believe Edwards was deliberately included in this trial as insurance - in the event that the Federal Racketeering conviction would be justly overturned on appeal, they'd have him on the trumpted up Cascade case. |
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After hearing strong arguments on the legalities of the federal case resulting in Edwards conviction from Edwards attorney Allen Dershowitz, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, to the shock of the bar, upheld the conviction. Dismissal of a juror who refused to deliberate having made up his own mind from the facts presented during the trial was a key issue brought up by Dershowitz. Recent developments reveal that Judge Polozola was drug induced during parts of the trial on the narcotic pain killer OxyContin, quoted as saying he was experiencing "impairment of function". The FDA warns that OxyContin is "very strong narcotic similar to morphine". In his last press conference Edwards, resigned to his fate, said "I have always been a model citizen - I will be a model prisoner". All legal avenues exhausted, Edwin Washington Edwards, Louisiana's only four term governor voluntarily turned himself in at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth Texas in October of 2002 to begin serving his 10 year sentence. Telling reporters gathered outside the gate that he is innocent of the charges, "I did not do anything wrong as a governor, even if you accept the verdict as it is, it doesn't indicate that, and I'd like that clear". Upon leaving, a reporter yelled "Good Luck Governor" as Edwin Edwards headed to the gate to engage his fate. |
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In 2004 Edwin and Candy Edwards divorced after ten years of marriage, and Edwin Edwards was granted the transfer he requested from Fort Worth, TX to the Federal prison in Oakdale, LA. Closer to home (Baton Rouge) the Edwards family can now visit more often and the governor writes of better living conditions in Oakdale. Also Edwards was finally granted permission to correspond with his son Stephen Edwards, serving in another prison. |
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"Since justice could not be found in the judiciary, hopefully mercy can be found in the executive"-David Harvey |
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