Mike Foster, a former two-term Republican governor of Louisiana who shepherded the state through a period of relative calm — in the wake of the corruption scandals of his flamboyant predecessor, Edwin W. Edwards, and before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina — died on Sunday at his home in Franklin, La. During that campaign, Mr. Foster publicly welcomed the endorsement of David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who had lost a runoff election for governor four years earlier. It was later revealed that Mr. Foster had bought Mr. Duke’s list of contributors and supporters. But the general tone of Mr. Foster’s eight years in office was one of business-oriented conservatism with a dose of practicality. These and other achievements, his supporters argued, improved the lives of working-class people, including many of those from minority groups who were vilified by the likes of Mr. Duke.

Source: New York Times October 05, 2020 16:18 UTC