Buddy Roemer

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Buddy Roemer
52nd Governor of Louisiana
In office 1988 – 1992
Preceded by	Edwin Edwards
Succeeded by	Edwin Edwards
Born	October 4, 1943 Bossier City, Louisiana
Political party	Democrat , then switched to Republican

Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer, III (born October 4, 1943), was governor of Louisiana from 1988 to 1992. He was elected as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party in the spring of 1991. Prior to the governorship, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981-1988.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Congressional service 3 Election as governor, 1987 4 Roemer as governor 5 The stinging defeat of 1991 6 Attempted comeback fails, 1995 7 After the governorship 8 Sources

[edit] Early life and career

Buddy Roemer was born in Bossier City to Charles E. Roemer, II, and the former Adeline McDade. He was reared on Scopena plantation ten miles south of the city. He attended public schools and graduated as valedictorian of Bossier High School in 1960. He received a B.S. and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1964 and 1967. He returned to Louisiana to work in his father’s computer business and later founded two banks. He was elected in 1972 as a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention held in 1973.

Roemer's father, Charles E. Roemer, II, had been Edwin Washington Edwards' campaign manager in 1971, and became commissioner of administration during the Edwards’ first term as governor. Buddy Roemer worked on the Edwards campaign as a regional leader and later started a political consulting firm. In 1981, Charles Roemer II was imprisoned on charges of conspiring to sell influence in the awarding of state insurance contracts. Roemer blamed Edwards for his father’s legal troubles.

[edit] Congressional service

As a member of Congress, Roemer represented the northwestern Louisiana district anchored about Shreveport and Bossier City.

Roemer lost the 1978 jungle primary for the Fourth District seat in Congress vacated by popular incumbent Joseph David "Joe D." Waggonner, Jr. Waggonner announced his opposition to Roemer after Roemer criticized the excessive costs of the Red River navigation progam, which was a favored project of the retiring Waggonner. Roemer finished a solid third in the primary to Democratic state Representative Anthony Claude "Buddy" Leach, Jr., of Leesville, the seat of Vernon Parish, and Republican James H. "Jimmy" Wilson, a former state representative from Vivian in Caddo Parish. Leach went on to defeat Wilson by 266 disputed votes.

Roemer and Wilson again challenged Leach in the 1980 primary. That time, Wilson finished in a solid third place, and Roemer and Leach advanced to the general election held on the same day that Ronald W. Reagan won the presidential election over Jimmy Carter. Roemer scored a large victory over Leach, who had been hampered by allegations of vote-buying on his behalf in the 1978 elections.

Roemer frequently supported Reagan policy initiatives in Congress and fought with the Democratic congressional leadership, though he remained a Democrat. After Roemer left the House to become governor, he was succeeded by his administrative assistant, Republican Jim McCrery, also of Leesville and later of Shreveport.

[edit] Election as governor, 1987

Main article: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1987

Buddy Roemer was one of a large number of Democratic candidates to challenge three-term incumbent governor Edwin Edwards, whose flamboyant personality and reputation for questionable ethical practices had polarized voters. Other candidates challenging Edwards in the primary had been Congressmen Robert L. "Bob" Livingston, a Metairie Republican, and Wilbert J. "Billy" Tauzin, II, a Democrat from Lafourche Parish. Outgoing Secretary of State James H. "Jim" Brown, originally a lawyer from Ferriday in Concordia Parish, finished in a weak fifth position.

Roemer led a fiery campaign calling for a “Roemer Revolution,” promising to “scrub the budget,” overhaul the education system, reform campaign fundraising rules, and slash the state bureaucracy by “bricking up the top three floors of the Education Building.” Perhaps the key moment in the 1987 race came at a forum between the candidates. As usual, the main topic of discussion was Edwin Edwards. His challengers were asked, in succession, if they would consider endorsing Edwards in the general election if they didn't make it to the runoff. The candidates hedged, particluarly Secretary of State Jim Brown. The last candidate to speak was Buddy Roemer: "No, we've got to slay the dragon. I would endorse anyone but Edwards." The next day, as political commentator John Maginnis put it, Jim Brown was explaining his statement while Buddy Roemer was ordering "Slay the Dragon" buttons. Boosted by his endorsement as the ‘good government candidate’ by nearly every newspaper in the state, Roemer stormed from last place in the polls and on election night, overtook Edwin Edwards and placed first in the primary election, with 33% of the vote compared with Edward’s 28%.

Edwards, recognizing he could not make up the large number of votes which would be neeeded, withdrew from the pending general election with Roemer, an act which essentially handed the governorship to Roemer. By withdrawing, Edwards denied Roemer the opportunity to build a governing coalition in the general election race, and denied him the decisive majority victory that he surely would have attained. In one stroke, Edwards made Buddy Roemer a minority governor. Also, Edwards virtually ceded control of the state to Roemer even before his inauguration. By doing so, he passed on the burden of the state's problems to the new governor, who was essentially under the gun even before assuming office.

[edit] Roemer as governor

Roemer entered the governor’s office facing a $1.3 billion deficit in the state budget. He called a special session of the legislature in which Roemer pushed an ambitious tax and fiscal reform program for state and local governments, promising to slash spending, abolish programs, and close state-run institutions. His proposals were so complex and poorly presented, though, that they met defeat at the hands of voters in a statewide constitutional referendum.

As governor, Roemer worked to boost lagging teacher pay and toughened laws on campaign finance. State employees and retirees received small pay increases too, the first in many years of austere state budgets. Roemer was also the first governor in state history to make a real effort to address the state's environmental deficiencies. The legislature, dominated by supporters of Edwards, repeatedly opposed initiatives proposed by Roemer. Roemer also acquired a reputation for being difficult to work with, something he had been frequently accused of as a member of the U.S. House as well. In 1990, he vetoed an anti-abortion bill, alienating large numbers of his socially-conservative electoral base. He was also widely mocked after a story appeared in the press explaining that he had his staffers wear rubber bands on their wrists to snap whenever they had negative thoughts. His wife Patti left him in 1989, increasing the governor’s reclusive, anti-social tendencies that alienated former allies.

Roemer also ushered in the modern era of gambling in Louisiana. In 1991, at this urging, the Legislature legalized 15 floating casinos throughout Louisiana and legalized video poker gambling at bars and truck stops throughout the state. Roemer would leave offfice before the riverboat casinos or video poker gambling would go on line.

Despite his spectacular come-from-behind 1987 win for governor, and his reputed national ambitions, Roemer's performance in office was inconsistent and his relations with state legislators poor. Though he was considered an articulate reformer who won election promising a "revolution in Louisiana," he compiled a thin record of lasting accomplishments during his gubernatorial term and even presided over the legalization of a state lottery and controversial riverboat gambling, initiatives many reformers opposed.

Roemer switched to the Republican Party before the 1991 election, apparently at the urging of Bush White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu. Roemer's clumsy handling of his mid-term party switch dismayed as many Republican politicians and activists as it did Democrats, and contributed to a reputation for erratic behavior.

[edit] The stinging defeat of 1991

Main article: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1991

The 1991 gubernatorial contest involved Roemer (Democrat-turned-Republican), Edwin Edwards (Democrat), former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke (Republican opposed by party leaders), and Eighth District Congressman Clyde C. Holloway of Forest Hill (Republican with official grass-roots party endorsement). Roemer came in third in the primary, which led to a nationally watched general election between Duke and Edwards, whom Roemer then endorsed.

One of the contributing factors to Roemer's defeat in the 1991 runoff election was a last-minute advertising barrage by Marine Shale owner Jack Kent. Marine Shale had been targeted by the Roemer administration as a polluter. Seeking revenge, Kent spent $500,000 of his own money in the closing days of the campaign to purchase anti-Roemer commercials. Others believe that Roemer's defeat was also spurred by his support for abortion rights, which led the more active prolife elements into the Holloway camp, and his disengaged campaign style.

[edit] Attempted comeback fails, 1995

Main article: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1995

In 1995, Roemer attempted a comeback, running again for governor. Having been squeezed out in 1991 between Edwards on the left and Duke on the right, Roemer chose to run on a much more conservative platform in 1995, emphasizing a tough anti-crime and anti-welfare stance. Roemer held a wide lead for much of the campaign, although his place in the polls may have been based heavily on name recognition. Roemer faded in the days before the runoff as conservative state senator Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., who switched affiliation from Democrat to Republican during the campaign, peeled conservative votes away from him. Once again, a late barrage by Jack Kent also damaged Roemer. He finished fourth, but only a few thousand votes short of a general election berth.

[edit] After the governorship

Having failed at his political comeback, Roemer has, in recent years, spent his time in the financial world. He has taken part in various investments, most notably a retirement community near the campus of Louisiana State University. In the summer of 2004, Roemer briefly considered entering the race to succeed retiring Senator John Breaux. Roemer passed on the race, and Republican Representative David Vitter of suburban New Orleans was elected to replace Breaux.

In June 2005, Roemer underwent triple bypass heart surgery at the Baton Rouge General Medical Center.

[edit] Sources

• Portrait
• Bridges, Tyler. The Rise of David Duke. University of Mississippi: Jackson, 1994.
• DuBos, Clancy. “Roemer’s Redemption: The Former Governor Takes Another Shot at the Mansion.” Gambit Weekly. September 19, 1995.
• Maginnis, John. Cross to Bear. Darkhorse Press, Baton Rouge, 1992.
• Reeves, Miriam G. The Governors of Louisiana. Gretna: Pelican Press, 1998.
• Louisiana Secretary of State Biography

Preceded by Edwin Edwards	Governor of Louisiana 1988–1992	Succeeded by Edwin Edwards
Preceded by Claude Leach	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 4th congressional district 1981–1988	Succeeded by Jim McCrery

Governors of Louisiana

First Period of Statehood (1812-1861): Claiborne • Villeré • Robertson • Thibodaux • H. Johnson • Derbigny • Beauvais • Dupre • Roman • White • Roman • Mouton • I. Johnson • Walker • Hébert • Wickliffe • Moore Confederate Louisiana (1861-1865): Moore • H. Allen Union-Controlled Louisiana (1862-1865): Shepley • Hahn Reconstruction Era (1865-1868): Wells • Flanders • Baker Second Period of Statehood (1868-Present): Warmoth • Pinchback • J. McEnery • Kellogg • Nicholls • Wiltz • S. McEnery • Nicholls • Foster • Heard • Blanchard • Sanders • Hall • Pleasant • Parker • Fuqua • Simpson • H. Long • King • O. Allen • Noe • Leche • E. Long • Jones • Davis • E. Long • Kennon • E. Long • Davis • McKeithen • Edwards • Treen • Edwards • Roemer • Edwards • Foster Jr. • Blanco