Monday, April 16, 2007

Reconstruction may have ended 130 years too soon

From a Sunday column by Louisiana's Gannett capitol bureau chief John Hill, who apparently is dying to ask the $200 billion question: "What's a little casino-license shakedown between friends?"

BATON ROUGE - Former Gov. Edwin Edwards has done enough time in prison.

At 80, EWE is no threat to society.

He's done 52 months in prison, is a model prisoner and has health problems.

Edwards recently wrote a friend, wondering what public support there might be for a presidential commutation to time served, something that would get him out of the Oakdale prison and back with his family, most of whom are congregated in Baton Rouge.
The friend showed the letter to pollster Verne Kennedy, owner of Marketing Research Institute of Pensacola, Fla., who already was planning to conduct a statewide poll for a client. Kennedy, at his own expense, added two questions about Edwards to his statewide poll of 600 voters taken March 29 through April 2.

"Two out of every three says he's done enough time," Kennedy said.

Another interesting finding is that among the five most recent governors, "the guy in prison ranks very high in having gotten things done for the state," Kennedy said.

"Of all the governors since 1972, the imprisoned guy is tied for job approval. That's kind of unusual," said Kennedy, who has polled in all 50 states.

People in Louisiana believe Edwards "has served enough time and should be allowed to live the remaining days he has outside the prison system," Kennedy said.

Former Gov. Dave Treen is among those. Treen has for more than a year said there is no purpose in keeping Edwards behind bars.

Now, in a scientific poll, we know that 58 percent of those polled believe that Edwards has served enough time and should be released. That's close to 2-to-1, more than the 31 percent who think he should serve the rest of the 10 years.

AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE: Having moved away from Louisiana is like watching a family member holding a loaded gun to his head and not being able to do a damned thing to stop him from pulling the trigger. But living in Louisiana is like having your crazy-ass family member holding the loaded gun to YOUR head and not being able to do a damned thing to stop him from pulling the trigger.

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