Trina Edwards and former La. The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing for project, running through and highlighting the moments and people that connect and inspire us. Today, the series continues with the end of the colorful political career of Edwin Edwards.
He was convicted on 17 counts of racketeering, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering. Edwards was sentenced to 10 years in prison and served eight, followed by six months in home detention and three years of probation. He will turn 90 on Aug. Throughout his long political career, Edwards had always cultivated the image of a suave rogue with a quick wit, abundant charm and an uncanny knowledge of the way politics is played.
There were always rumors of corruption, but Edwards devotees, of whom there were many, shrugged them off as just part of the package that was Edwin Edwards. After all, they said, he beat the rap in In the gubernatorial runoff against Duke, the former Klansman, that history was acknowledged with a wink, with bumper stickers that said: "Vote for the crook -- it's important! Edit Close. Toggle navigation. Close 1 of Edwin Edwards in with rock and roll legend Elvis Presley.
He had suffered bouts of ill health in recent years and entered hospice care this month at his home in Gonzales, near the Louisiana capital. I tried to help as many people as I could and I hope I did that, and I hope, if I did, that they will help others, too. His quick wit and flamboyant character intact, he married Trina Grimes, then 32, his third wife.
They met when she began visiting him in prison after they struck up a pen-pal relationship. The federal case that led to his May conviction involved state riverboat casino licenses awarded during and after his fourth and final term in the s.
Edwards maintained the case was built on misinterpreted, secretly taped conversations and the lies of former cronies who made deals to avoid jail. Silver-haired, handsome and gifted with a dry sense of humor and easy charm, Edwards dominated Louisiana politics in the late 20th century much as Huey P. Long had dominated its earlier years. But Edwards, a consummate dealmaker, had a cooler demeanor.
Whereas Long typically crushed critics with brute political force, Edwards used humor to disarm them. He invited a reporter once to accompany him for three days, saying he enjoyed the camaraderie of gambling with friends and never gambled more than he could afford to lose.
In , just after stepping down as governor, Edwards served a day as an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
That led him to crow that he was the only person in the U. Congress and as a member of his state's highest court. Treen, honest and fair but an unwilling deal-maker, was no match when Edwards ran against him in It was during that campaign that he delivered perhaps his most famous line. He was right.
The 1,, votes he received marked the first time a Louisiana governor received more than 1 million votes. Louisianans stopped chortling at his antics. The hayride was over. So was his ability to stay one step ahead of the federal authorities, who by then had convened more than a dozen grand juries to investigate him. He faced four strong opponents in He led Edwards in the primary.
That night, Edwards conceded the runoff election. It was his first election defeat. But as governor, Roemer ran into trouble, in part because Edwards worked behind the scenes with state legislators to block his initiatives. In , Edwards sought to avenge the defeat and ran for governor again. Edwards ran first in the primary, followed by Duke, a Republican state legislator from Metairie who delivered a race-based message against political elites.
In a debate two weeks before election day, Edwards delivered a powerful closing statement that marked their sharp differences. It was , and the eyes of America were on Louisiana - and not in a good way.
When he was selling Nazi hate literature as late as in his legislative office, I was providing free textbooks for the children of this state. Two bumper stickers captured the ambivalence that Edwards generated. Edwards had won over skeptics — including two former foes, Roemer and Treen — by promising to avoid becoming embroiled in scandal. It would create 25, jobs and generate millions of dollars in tax revenue, he promised. Licensing the casino — as well as 15 riverboat casinos approved under Roemer — provided Edwards with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for skullduggery.
He did not miss a chance to cash in. Newspapers reported repeated instances in which Edwards strong-armed state regulators to benefit his friends. His children set up businesses to grab a share of the new riches. Meanwhile, problems delayed the opening of the New Orleans casino. When David Duke won his first statewide election in , journalist Josh Levin was 8 years old. Voters turned on Edwards. Close supporters noticed that he seemed to enjoy the job less than before, especially after he fell off a horse and broke his back.
In June , Edwards made the surprise announcement that he would not seek a fifth term the following year. After he left office in January , federal authorities were soon investigating him again, this time on accusations that he had taken payoffs from men wanting licenses to operate the riverboats.
The federal trial in Baton Rouge began in Three months later, an person jury found him guilty on 17 of 26 counts of extorting riverboat owners and money laundering in hiding payoffs from casino owner Robert Guidry. I suppose the feds sat by the river long enough, so here comes my body. Edwards was acquitted in a fourth criminal trial, centering on allegations he gave favorable treatment to a failed insurance company.
Two years later, about to enter federal prison having exhausted his appeals, the year-old Edwards had lunch with attorney Lewis Unglesby. After they said their goodbyes, Unglesby thought his friend would never survive his prison sentence. Over the next eight years, Edwards divorced his second wife, Candy, served as the chief librarian during his two years at Oakdale Federal Correctional Institute and helped other inmates study for the GED.
Edwards was receiving so much mail that she received a form letter in return. She wrote him again, and this time she enclosed a photo. Intrigued, he invited her to visit, and they spent the entire day talking. She began visiting him regularly. Men clapped him on the back and women asked him for a kiss. And he had his younger bride on his arm. He and Trina briefly starred in a reality TV show. On election night, Edwards climbed onto a raised stage in a hotel meeting room, Eli in his arms, Trina by his side.
None of his four adult children with Elaine sought political office. Edwards was born on Aug. He had four children during a year marriage to his high school sweetheart, the former Elaine Schwartzenburg, before they divorced in They divorced after he went to prison. Nothing bothered him except bothering other people," Trina Edwards said. A lawyer, Edwards began his political career on the City Council in the town of Crowley in before moving on to the state Legislature, then Congress.
He appointed more African Americans to policy-making positions than any previous governor and spearheaded the adoption of a new constitution. Edwards seized on an oil boom in to defeat energy interests and fill Louisiana's coffers, tying oil taxes to price, rather than volume. Changing the severance tax from 25 cents a barrel to Constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term, he left office in only to return four years later, after easily defeating incumbent David C.
Meanwhile, his reputation for impropriety caught up with him. But in , he was indicted on federal racketeering charges involving hospital and nursing home regulations.
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