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"Vote for the crook; it's important"
Edwin Edwards, Louisiana populist who served 4 terms as governor and 8 years in prison, dies at 93
Former Gov. Edwin W. Edwards, who embodied Louisiana’s populist era in the late 20th century — championing the poor and ushering Black people and women into state government but also facing repeated accusations of corruption before finally being sent to prison for taking bribes — died just before 7 a.m. Monday at his home in Gonzales.
He was 93.
The cause of death: respiratory problems that had plagued him in recent years, said Leo Honeycutt, his biographer. Friends and family surrounded his bedside.
A Democrat, Edwards dominated the state’s politics for 25 years and even enjoyed a brief and spectacular turn in the national spotlight during the 1991 governor’s race when he faced off against former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, a Republican. Edwards won 1,057,031 votes, the most ever in a Louisiana gubernatorial election.
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_6c91c6a0-2bf2-11e9-b57a-0f28036ae840.html
Former Gov. Edwin W. Edwards, who embodied Louisiana’s populist era in the late 20th century — championing the poor and ushering Black people and women into state government but also facing repeated accusations of corruption before finally being sent to prison for taking bribes — died just before 7 a.m. Monday at his home in Gonzales.
He was 93.
The cause of death: respiratory problems that had plagued him in recent years, said Leo Honeycutt, his biographer. Friends and family surrounded his bedside.
A Democrat, Edwards dominated the state’s politics for 25 years and even enjoyed a brief and spectacular turn in the national spotlight during the 1991 governor’s race when he faced off against former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, a Republican. Edwards won 1,057,031 votes, the most ever in a Louisiana gubernatorial election.
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_6c91c6a0-2bf2-11e9-b57a-0f28036ae840.html