Thread: The Govenor's Wife

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

Former La. governor Edwin Edwards disputed a Bloomberg article today claiming he's definitely running for Congress.

http://www.wbrz.com/news/edwards-no-...ressional-run/

Lord help us all

Fresh act: 87-year-old felon Edwin Edwards wants back in Congress
Ex-governor, convict Edwin Edwards to run for Congress
By Gloria Borger, Kevin Bohn and Brian Rokus, CNN
updated 8:58 AM EDT, Fri September 19, 2014

Baton Rouge, Louisiana (CNN) -- It's Sunday morning at the New Life Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but the man preaching to the choir is no minister. "My God is not finished with me yet," he tells the congregation.

The man speaking is Edwin W. Edwards -- ex-four-term Louisiana governor, ex-four-term congressman and ex-con. "I may be old and rancid butter, but I'm on your side of the bread," he proclaims from the altar.

The bad boy of Louisiana politics

Unrepentant and unapologetic, Edwards is in church not looking for forgiveness. The 87-year-old is looking for votes. After almost nine years in prison, the flamboyant showman of Louisiana politics has a fresh act -- running for Congress -- co-starring his 35-year-old wife, Trina, and their 1-year-old baby. This is his third marriage.

Fifty years after his first stint on Capitol Hill, Edwards would no doubt rather be running for governor again. But he's running for a seat in Congress because Louisiana law doesn't allow felons to run for state office -- until they've been out of prison for 15 years. By then, Edwards would be 98 -- so he's taking this shot instead.

His chances? The district is now bright red, but never mind.

Political experts think Edwards at least has a good shot of making it into a runoff because of his universal name recognition and the size of the field: he's running against nine Republicans, two other Democrats and one Libertarian. If no candidate gets 50% in November, the top two then will face off in December. "He is gonna make the runoff hands-down unless some kinda Christmas morning miracle happens and pushes him out," says Jeremy Alford, publisher of LaPolitics.com. Edwards won the backing of state Democrats last week.

While Edwards was happy to re-enter the political arena, his wife of four years wasn't fully on board. Did she want him to run? "Not particularly. I would naturally support him in whatever he chose to do," Trina Edwards says. "But it's not really my thing."

Edwards' relationship with Trina began as his prison pen pal, which led to love at first sight when she visited him. "I was expecting him to be angry or bitter, and he just wasn't," she tells us.

As for Edwards he recounts what she told him when they met. "She said, 'If you don't mind, I only live 30 minutes from here. I'd like to come back and visit you.' That's like throwin' a rubber raft to a drowning man."

He went to prison in 2002 after a felony conviction of extorting millions in exchange for riverboat casino licenses -- and served his time. To this day, Edwards says he never took a dime from the taxpayers. "In all this claptrap about how crooked I am and what I stole, nobody's ever charged me, or accused me, of taking money from the taxpayers," he tells CNN. "It had nothin' to do with my career as a public official. Nothin."

After getting free in January 2011, he and Trina married. Last year they had a son. So now Edwards is the father to children in their 60s, a wife half their age and a baby. "He gets up with him in the morning," Trina Edwards says. "He changed diapers. He bathes him, He puts his clothes on. He feeds him."

If this seems like a reality TV show it was -- briefly -- entitled "The Governor's Wife" on the A&E network. What was it like for them doing it? "It's horrible," she says. His take: "it was unbelievable." The couple now says the whole thing was kind of annoying. The critics and viewers agreed.

They admit they are bit of an odd couple -- and it's not just age. Trina is a Republican. Edwards is an old-time populist Democrat who wants to return to Congress exactly 50 years since his first stint there.

When the 6th District congressional seat became open, he says he thought, "That's my chance. I've got a second chance, and I'm going to take it. And I'm gonna surprise everyone."

As for what he would say to those who ask about sending a convicted felon to Washington, "People say, well, they're all crooks anyhow. You might as well send an experienced one."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/politi...ger/index.html

See also : The law finally catches up with Edwin Edwards http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/....tm/index.html

God Help Us ALL. Edwards is in a run off for the 6th Congressional District

Louisiana needs to fall out of love with Edwin Edwards
By JR Ball, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on September 24, 2013



Sloshing down Skip Bertman Drive on a soggy Saturday afternoon, a perfectly nice, albeit game-day infused, purple-and-gold-clad gentleman made the solo decision to join me on the march toward a "mist"-drenched Tiger Stadium. For reasons that remain unclear, a conversation that began with his observation that the athletic department, usually quick to bleed zealots of their cash, was missing the financial boat by not offering rainy-day shuttle service eventually meandered to the subject of Edwin Edwards, the ex-con who is also the only man to ever serve four terms as Louisiana's governor.

Between pops of an adult beverage, my newfound friend informed me that Edwards, with a personality second-to-none, was the greatest governor to ever grace this state. My mention of Edwards' decade-long stay at a federal penitentiary brought, without hesitation, the explanation that "the governor" was simply robbing from those who could afford to be fleeced to help fulfill his larger, nobler quest to help the "little man" in Louisiana.

This bit of information prompted an epiphany: I need some new friends.

Before going our separate ways, my soon-to-be, newfound ex-friend dropped this nugget of wisdom: "Edwin Edwards would easily beat Bobby Jindal if he could run against him. Hell, there's not a politician in the state right now who could beat Edwards."

This was hardly my first exposure to this state's perverse love affair with Edwards. Most times, I adopt the learned Deep South behavior of smiling politely and simply walking away, silently stunned by the ignorance of such misguided opinions. As usual, I walked away without confrontation, but this time there was no incredulous internal laughter. Maybe it was latent hostility from having my television hijacked earlier that morning by a steady stream of commercials for "The Governor's Wife," a new reality show devoted to Edwards' ginormous ego. Maybe it was the ego of Edwards' attention-seeking trophy wife, using the show to introduce herself to a national cable audience. But this time I was angry. Or maybe it was just the increasing tempo of the "mist."

Regardless, can someone please explain this state's ongoing -- and seemingly never-ending -- fascination with one Edwin Washington Edwards?

The man is a convicted criminal who shook down companies wanting to do business in this state so that his friends and allies could get even richer.

The man, usually with a sly smile on his face, quasi-acknowledges the commitment of crimes far worse than what the Feds finally got him for in 2001, not that the racketeering charges that sent him to prison were chopped liver.

The man's first two terms in office coincided with a huge boom in oil and gas revenues, yet our state's citizens got dumber and unhealthier.

The man's third term saw the big industry gravy train dry and, unwilling to pull back on his populist spending spree, he responded by imposing $730 million in new income taxes on residents (He actually wanted $1.1 billion).

The man is hailed as a champion of civil rights -- and the NAACP will honor him at a banquet later this month -- but, in truth, minorities made little educational, social or economic progress during his reign.

The man claims to be a defender of the poor and organized labor but those groups suffered the most during his 16 years in office.

The man is responsible for Louisiana becoming a corrupt, welfare state that many derided as a banana republic.

The man, upon leaving office for good in 1996, left behind a mess that saw Louisiana ranked nearly last in good things like teacher pay and higher education funding, and near the top in bad things like welfare recipients, high school dropouts and prison population.

The man believes fidelity is reserved exclusively for old-school record albums.

And, yes, the man is quite charming.

Complain all one wants about Gov. Bobby Jindal (and I do plenty), but then realize Edwards created much of the mess that Jindal is trying to correct. You may not agree with Jindal's solutions or motives, but no one can deny that many of the problems he's attacking were either were born or exacerbated by the Edwards regime.

Yet Edwards is a man treated with reverence?

How can this be a man that LSU thought was worthy of paying $6,000 so that he could laugh and charm his way through softball questions lobbed by Larry King? (Who, by the way, was paid $66,400 to massage the ego of the Cajun Prince.)

Is his tremendous charm and devil-may-care attitude enough to blind the people of this state to the responsibility Edwards bears for the damage done to this state?

Seriously, what's the deal with you people when it comes to Edwin Edwards? Exactly which of his non-existent accomplishments make him worthy of such unbridled love?

The man is a character but he has no character.

The man can crack a joke but he made this state into a joke.

Some will suggest Edwards served his time and that he should be allowed to get on with his life. Fine, but tell him to get his ego in check and live what's left of his life out of the public spotlight.

Edwards embarrassed this state enough while governor. Does he have to do it again as an aging reality television star?

http://www.nola.com/opinions/baton-r...ll_out_of.html