Let Edwards complete his 'public service'

Published: Thursday, August 14, 2003 at 12:23 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 at 11:00 p.m.

The issue: Clemency for Edwin Edwards.

We suggest: It would not serve the public.

It's a free country, and the friends of Edwin Edwards can seek signatures in support of clemency for our former four-term governor, but their efforts are another bad public-relations campaign for Louisiana. Edwards accomplished some good as governor, and he sure is entertaining, but his legacy is a damaging one to the state, furthering the notion that Louisiana is a backwater where corruption reigns.

If Edwards cares about the state, he'll serve his time and tell his "friends" to stop the campaign to collect signatures for a petition requesting a presidential pardon. Edwards, who turned 76 last Thursday, is only eight months into a 10-year federal prison sentence for extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from people who hoped to get a state license to operate a casino.

Extensive evidence persuaded a jury beyond a shadow of a doubt to convict Edwards in May 2000 on 17 counts of racketeering and conspiracy. His son Stephen and two longtime associates, including Lafourche Parish businessman Andrew Martin, were convicted also as part of the influence-peddling scheme.

After the conviction, judges generously let Edwards remain free for more than two years while he filed various appeals, none of which went anywhere. Finally, last October, he had to report to a federal facility in Beaumont, Texas, to pay his debt to society.

Edwards said shortly after his conviction that he believed in the rule of law and that he would do his time. But long before he ever began doing his minimum-security time, he took to characterizing his pending term as a "life sentence" and complaining that he should be in the same prison as his son so they could enjoy each other's company.

Now, after having received several fax-distributed letters from prison by the newly initiated inmate complaining of a boring life of housekeeping and television viewing, friends of Edwards are conducting a campaign to gather a million signatures from people who want President Bush to grant a pardon.

We apparently have a higher estimation of the president's intelligence than does the disgraced ex-governor and The Committee, as his friends have named themselves.

Clearly, Edwards views himself on a level somewhere above the common man. Imagine yourself seeking such privileges and what the reaction would be. It's absurd.

Edwards for years publicly laughed at prosecutors' failure to gain convictions against him in previous cases alleging corruption. He never seemed to deny taking advantage of his position of public trust. Still he has shown no contrition.

It is revealing how Karl Koch, a Baton Rouge lawyer and spokesman for The Committee, portrays the situation.

"Forget the law for a minute," Koch was quoted as saying in a recent Associated Press story, "because this is not about whether Edwin Edwards is guilty or whether he got a fair trial. It's this question: Is it right and moral to take a 75-year-old man and lock him up for 10 years under these circumstances?"

The federal justice system, indeed, does seem to be treating the former governor fairly. To do otherwise would damage public trust.


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