(Edwin Edwards, D) Former Louisiana governor released from prison

[alp227]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was released from federal prison Thursday after serving about 10 years, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.

Edwards was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy and extortion after prosecutors said he asked for payoffs from people who applied for riverboat casino licenses in New Orleans in the 1990s.

Edwards, 83, had pursued a pardon from President George W. Bush, but never got one. He began serving his sentence in February 2001.

He was released from prison to a halfway house, said Edmond Ross, spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/13/louisiana.former.governor.released/index.html

[Ken Burch]

1. Bribes or no bribes, I'm STILL glad Edwards beat David Duke in the governor's race

n/t.

[Ter]

3. Yeah

That year any other Republican would have won, maybe even Palin. :)

[jus_the_facts]

6. I registered to vote for Fast Eddie in that election.....

....still sickened he was sent to jail over illegal wiretaps in his home. :(

[Jack Rabbit]

9. I recalled reading about Louisanna bumper stickers at the time reading . . .

Vote for the crook. It's important.

[KamaAina]

11. "Vote for the crook. It's important."

a widely-seen bumper sticker in the Pelican State that year.

[skoalyman]

14. me too eom

[cloudbase]

2. He had the best political line ever.

The only way I can lose this election is if they find me in bed with a dead woman or a live boy.

[Ter]

5. Even still, Duke might not have won

:)

[brooklynite]

7. Don't forget the campaign slogan: "Vote for the Crook...It's Important"

[Janice325]

10. I lived in Louisiana at that time and remember the election.

Of course I voted for "Fast Eddie." My friends and I were really sweating it out until the results were in. Whew!!!

I met him once,too, years before that. He was very short, and referred to as the "Silver Zipper." lol

[niyad]

4. used to watch him and his mistress gambling, years before the feds got around to him

[NOLALady]

8. My StepMother worked at the voting booths at the

time David Duke ran against Edwards.

She told me about the hospital patients voting. They had not removed their hospital IDs from their wrists. Busses were picking up the hospital patients. She said that was one of the largest turn outs that she had ever seen.
There were news stories about how the "elites" were seen in the projects getting out the vote. Class differences and race differences (for some) were put aside. The better off folk were in the projects picking up the folk without cars and driving them to the polls.
We were all in it together to fight the cancer of David Duke.

I am glad for our Cajun Governor.

[Roy Rolling]

12. Edwin Edwards' best line

When he faced Dave Treen for governor in 1983, he said Dave Treen is "so slow it takes him an hour and a half to watch "60 Minutes"" :rofl:

Dave Treen, later, publicly spoke out against Edwards' incarceration. He was a class act.

[EFerrari]

15. LOL

[pacalo]

13. I love that man. He had more charm & charisma than even Clinton.

The GOP hated him for that.

[RushIsRot]

16. I created another bumper during that election:

DAVID

DORK

FUHRER

[provis99]

17. didn't Duke win a majority of the white vote in that election?

That's about the time I pretty much wrote off the Deep South as intractable.

[juajen]

18. I don't think so. I voted in that election and do not remember hearing

that opinion anywhere. Maybe I was asleep. I was pretty tired in those years. I met Edwin Edwards once. He was very charismatic and basically good for the state in many ways. Of course, the republican machine wanted him out any way they could get him out. They succeeded. His incarceration was a laugh!

[rampart]

19. "the only way i can lose this election

is if i'm caught in bed with a dead woman or a live man" is a good edwards line.

if he ran for governor again no one doubts he would win.