[/caption]Carol Forsloff - The last time I saw former Governor Edwin Edwards of Louisiana, it was Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans when the newly-elected Governor was crashed on a couch inside of a grand house in the French Quarter, and yesterday he became a free man again in time to celebrate the good times ahead after nearly ten years in jail..
Edwards was released from house arrest yesterday after being sent to jail two years after his conviction in 2000 for corruption. He had been wheeling and dealing in the casino licensing business, getting his good old gambling boys special favors along with extra money in his pocket. His prison sentence ended in January of 2011. Since then he had been under house arrest.
The former Louisiana Governor had hoped to be released earlier, as he had asked for, and been refused, a pardon from George W. Bush before the former President left office.
In 1992 Edwards was at his peak, having run for Governor against David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Major entertainers, like Naomi and Wynona Judd, declared their support for Edwards out of worries for the State of Louisiana and the prospect of its being governed by a former Klan official. Ross Perot, having hinted at a run for the Presidency, gave his support to Edwards also, again out of concern for Louisiana’s reputation.
There he was, the newely-elected Governor Edwards, two decades ago, as groups of folks strolled through the house, to the great wide porch on which dignitaries danced to Louisiana’s musical best. Al Hurt wasn’t playing but was dancing nearby, as this journalist moved to the beat without writing a bit about fun. Harry Connick Sr. was among the guests too, as artists, musicians and political figures enjoyed private fun on Bourbon Street, where fun is the operative word.
Edwards, not a drinker, still stretched in repose in the house, as folks laughed a bit and went on with the gaiety still, as the old man snoozed away on that couch. Governor Edwards had always been his own form of eccentric in a parade of political pomp, with the kind of colorful ways that had tarnished the state’s reputation. His gambling addiction and fast-and-loose style were known far and wide in the state. The voters were put in the worst situation, a choice of two men who stood for the worst, Duke and Edwards, in a high-profile contest that Edwards won mostly because of the black vote and New Orleans precincts as well. The choice had been “Vote for the Crook” as campaign buttons pleaded that year.
He is free now, that old man, Edwin Edwards, at age 84. He is quoted as saying he’s “looking forward to it” when asked about being released. With a new fiancé, Tina Scott Grimes, less than half his age, Edwards is said to be planning to go on a book tour with his biographer who says, "He's still very dynamic...he's still a lot of fun to be around and at 84, he doesn't seem to be stoppable!"
