Murphy J. Foster, Jr.
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Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. (born 11 July, 1930 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is a Louisiana politician. A Republican, he was elected Governor of Louisiana in 1995 and 1999, serving from January of 1996 to 11 January 2004. His grandfather, Murphy J. Foster, was governor of the state in the late 19th century.
In his 1995 campaign for governor, Foster paid more than $150,000 for David Duke's mailing list of supporters. After failing to report the purchase as a campaign expenditure, Foster became the first Louisiana governor to admit and pay a fine for a violation of the state's ethics code. Foster insists he did not need to report the expenditure, since he paid with his personal funds and never actually used the list in the campaign. (La. Campaign Finance Opinion No. 99-630 (http://domino.ethics.state.la.us/campopn.nsf/999d109733135c25862567f8006847bf/8f58d9e4d672366e86256848006b83df?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,foster,duke))
Foster initially supported Duke's run for the Senate in 1996 but under pressure from the Republican Party did not officially endorse him.
Foster was the Louisiana campaign chairman for George W. Bush in 2000.
External links
- Biography on sec.state.la.us (http://www.sec.state.la.us/73.htm)
| Preceded by : Edwin Edwards | Governors of Louisiana | Succeeded by: Kathleen Blanco |