re: Who is the best Governor Louisiana ever had and why?

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I think it has to be Huey Long.

He was a socialist, corrupt, and extremely dirty politician.

But he made some serious gains for our state.

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What you think Huey Long did a good job of doing was not worth the tradeoff that he set in stone.

He institutionalized a culture of corruption, grift, self dealing and anti business mindset. It's a culture that Louisiana has never recovered from and may never will.

Edwin Edwards some 40 years later would pick up where Huey left off with the same Governing style and finish the job and now Louisiana is a good 25-30 years behind the rest of the south, economically speaking.

Thanks to Huey and Edwin, Louisiana is a corrupt and greedy state major corporations and self respecting, credible businesses avoid like the plague.

And the biggest consequence of that is our massive brain drain. If businesses don't want to come here, that means there are no jobs, and thus our best and brightest leave for where the jobs actually are. We're exporting our middle class to other states.

Yeah.. that was the point. When the country was reeling he was booming.

Made tiger stadium through a dorm house tax loop hole.
Built a bridge too low that made commerce go through baton rouge.

Built a gothic literal penis of a state capital building.

But you know his name and accomplishments. I didn't say I love the guy.

But everyone knows his legacy. GREAT doesn't mean good.

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Long saw himself as a mobster/political hybrid.

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Anyone who identifies as such like this has no business serving in Government.

The biggest legacy of Huey Long is that respectable and legit entrepreneurs will not and will never do business with thugs and Huey Long was a thug and ran Louisiana state Government like a thug.

And now Louisiana is an economic backwater because a thug permanently institutionalized a culture of corruption.

Foster, because well I never heard anything bad about him.

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We're still feeling and experiencing it today with his institutionalized culture of corruption being the biggest reason why Louisiana is an economic backwater.

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Corruption was ingrained before Huey was born.

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Hold up... let me look it up.

90 fricking years since his death.

In 2035 it will be 100 yrs since he was shot. And you are gonna blame him for how we are now?

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Even after Huey Long and even Earl Long, Louisiana still had a chance to recover and have the same success the rest of the south is having right now.

But then Edwin Edwards and his 4 terms as Governor happened. Edwin who considers himself one in the same with Huey governed just like Huey and he too ran Louisiana state government like a thug and it firmly cemented Louisiana's reputation as a corrupt hell hole full of crooks looking to make a quick buck.

Edwin was intimately involved in drafting our current state constitution and that legal document is the source of so much dysfunction in state government and it is what made the Governor even more powerful than the legislature and provides JBE with the powers he has so often abused and still abuses.




TLDR: Louisiana still had a chance after Huey Long but then Edwin Edwards happened.

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You have to try to put your mindset into the people back then. Long crushed it and scared the crap out of the "normal" politicians.

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Long was a phony, and is the individual responsible for the shitty state of Louisiana politics. There's nothing admirable about the man.