When State Sen. Mike Foster became a candidate for Republican governor of Louisiana in 1995, most political reporters tended to dismiss his chances.
The race included two far better known contenders, State Treasurer Mary Landrieu and former Gov. Buddy Roemer. Foster was little known statewide after two rather undistinguished terms in the state Senate.
And Foster (who died last week at age 90)—bald, overweight, and mustachioed—did not ''look the part'' of a governor, not by a long shot.
All these detriments the Franklin, Louisiana, sugar planter and construction company owner used to his advantage. Using his personal wealth, he told voters of his success in the private sector and vowed to run the Pelican State ''like a business.'' Plain-spoken to a fault, he let everyone know his very conservative credo: strongly pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-home schooling, and against quotas, affirmative action and welfare cheats.
As for his appearance, Foster appeared in his own TV spots and reminded voters he was a serious business-minded politician and ''not just another pretty face.''
It all worked well, and Foster topped the field over the better-known contenders Landrieu and Roemer. In the run-off, he defeated Rep. Cleo Fields, one of Louisiana’s best-known Black Democrats, with 64% of the vote.
True to his word, Foster governed as both a businessman and conservative. He overhauled the state’s costly workers' compensation system and, to the chagrin of Louisiana’s powerful trial lawyers’ association, he changed the laws to make it more difficult to launch lawsuits against private businesses.
In terms of education, Foster helped convince the state Legislature to create the state’s first-ever community college system in 1998. The measure, approved by voters later that year, allowed people to learn training and job skills without a four-year degree.
Reelected resoundingly in 1999, Foster oversaw Louisiana’s state debt going down significantly. As an example of his commitment to cutting spending, the governor took no salary during his eight years in Baton Rouge.
Foster remained a true-blue conservative on social issues while in the governor’s mansion. In 1996, he became one of the first elected officials anywhere to support columnist Pat Buchanan for the Republican presidential nomination.
''Governor Mike Foster was a portrait in political grit and loyalty,'' Buchanan told Newsmax. ''His standing by us in the Louisiana [Republican] caucuses of 1996 helped to propel us to a great upset victory there, which propelled us to a second place finish in the Iowa caucuses a week later, and then first in the New Hampshire primary. Mike’s word was always good.''
In a state where corruption and politicians seem to go hand-in-hand and governors have been sent to prison and a mental institution, Foster’s tenure was almost scandal-free. The lone ''black mark'' was on the governor himself, who was forced to pay a fine for a violation of the state’s ethics code for failing to report the payment of $150,000 for former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke’s mailing list of contributors and not reporting it.
Foster always insisted he didn’t have to report the expenditure because he paid Duke with personal funds and wound up never using the list.
A graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in chemical engineering, Murphy ''Mike'' Foster served in the U.S. Air Force in the Korean War. He succeeded his father running the family’s sugar plantation and later launched Bayou Sale Contractors. He also served on several bank boards.
At the age of 57, Foster entered politics and unseated Democratic State Sen. Anthony Guarisco Jr. because he never returned his phone calls.
While governor, Foster learned to fly helicopters and ride motorcycles. He also attended night classes at Southern University Law Center and received his law degree as he was leaving the governorship in 2004.
If there is any phrase to summarize Mike Foster as Louisiana mourns him, it is obviously ''sui generis''—his own kind.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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