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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |image= |office=53rd Governor of Louisiana |term_start=January 8, 1996 |term_end=January 12, 2004 |predecessor= Edwin Edwards |successor= ..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|image=
|office=53rd [[Governor]] of [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=January 8, 1996
|term_end=January 12, 2004
|predecessor= [[Edwin Edwards]]
|successor= [[Kathleen Blanco]]
|office2=Louisiana State Senator for District 21
|predecessor2=Anthony Guarisco, Jr.
|successor2=John Siracusa
|term_start2=1988
|term_end2=1996
|birth_name=Murphy James Foster, III
|birth_date=July 11, 1930
|birth_place=Franklin, Louisiana
|death_date=
|death_place=
|resting_place=
|spouse=Alice C. Foster
|parents=Murphy J., Jr., and Olive Roberts Foster
|relations=Murphy J. Foster, Sr. (paternal grandfather)<br>
Robert Roberts, Jr. (maternal grandfather)<br>
Captain [[Alfred Goodwill]] (maternal great-grandfather)<br>
Jasper Goodwill (cousin)
|profession=[[Business]]man; rancher<br>
[[United States Air Force]] in [[Korean War]] (1952-1956)
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (1995)
|religion=[[Episcopalian]]
|alma_mater=[[Louisiana State University]]<br>
Southern University School of Law
}}
'''Murphy James Foster, Jr.''', known as '''Mike Foster''' (born July 11, 1930), served as the 53rd [[governor]] of [[Louisiana]] from 1996 to 2004. Previously a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Foster switched to [[Republican Party|Republican]] affiliation in his 1995 campaign for the state's highest office. He is a long-term resident of Franklin in St. Mary Parish in the southern [[sugar]]-growing portion of his state. Foster's grandfather, Murphy, Sr., was a governor and [[U.S. Senator]] from Louisiana; Foster is technically Murphy Foster, III, but he uses the Roman numeral "II" because his grandfather died before Foster's birth.
Foster won the governorship as the final successor to Democrat [[Edwin Edwards]] by defeating an array of opponents, including future U.s. Senator [[Mary Landrieu]], former Governor [[Buddy Roemer]], and [[African-American]] [[U.S. Representative]] Cleo Field. [[David Duke]], the former [[Ku Klux Klan]]sman, endorsed Foster in the gubernatorial race; as it turned out Foster had paid from his personal funds $150,000 to Duke for the use of Duke's mailing list.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domino.ethics.state.la.us/campopn.nsf/999d109733135c25862567f8006847bf/8f58d9e4d672366e86256848006b83df?OpenDocument&Highlight=0|title=Foster, Duke La. Campaign Finance Opinion No. 99-360|publisher=domino.ethics.state.la.us|accessdate=October 4, 2017}]</ref> Term-limited in 2004, he was succeeded by the Democrat [[Kathleen Blanco]], who defeated Foster's preferred successor, Republican [[Bobby Jindal]], who won the 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary to succeed Blanco.
Though elected on an anti-[[gambling]] platform, once in office Foster became a quiet ally of the gambling industry. His support for a bailout bill for Harrah’s [[casino]] in [[New Orleans]] secured passage of the measure. Prior to leaving office, Foster quarreled with fellow Republican U.S. Representative and subsequent Senator [[David Vitter]] over expanded gambling on Indian reservations. He ran against [[affirmative action]], racial quotas, corruption, welfare fraud, and gun control. He was considered closer to business interests than most other Louisiana governors of his generation. Though he had endorsed [[Pat Buchanan]] for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, he was back with the [[establishment]] Republicans in leading the [[George W. Bush]]-[[Dick Cheney]] ticket in 2000.
He is an inductee of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. He resides at his family's Oaklawn Manor Plantation.
==References==
{{reflist}]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Mike}}
[[Category:Louisiana Governors]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Episcopalians]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:Business People]]
|image=
|office=53rd [[Governor]] of [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=January 8, 1996
|term_end=January 12, 2004
|predecessor= [[Edwin Edwards]]
|successor= [[Kathleen Blanco]]
|office2=Louisiana State Senator for District 21
|predecessor2=Anthony Guarisco, Jr.
|successor2=John Siracusa
|term_start2=1988
|term_end2=1996
|birth_name=Murphy James Foster, III
|birth_date=July 11, 1930
|birth_place=Franklin, Louisiana
|death_date=
|death_place=
|resting_place=
|spouse=Alice C. Foster
|parents=Murphy J., Jr., and Olive Roberts Foster
|relations=Murphy J. Foster, Sr. (paternal grandfather)<br>
Robert Roberts, Jr. (maternal grandfather)<br>
Captain [[Alfred Goodwill]] (maternal great-grandfather)<br>
Jasper Goodwill (cousin)
|profession=[[Business]]man; rancher<br>
[[United States Air Force]] in [[Korean War]] (1952-1956)
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (1995)
|religion=[[Episcopalian]]
|alma_mater=[[Louisiana State University]]<br>
Southern University School of Law
}}
'''Murphy James Foster, Jr.''', known as '''Mike Foster''' (born July 11, 1930), served as the 53rd [[governor]] of [[Louisiana]] from 1996 to 2004. Previously a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Foster switched to [[Republican Party|Republican]] affiliation in his 1995 campaign for the state's highest office. He is a long-term resident of Franklin in St. Mary Parish in the southern [[sugar]]-growing portion of his state. Foster's grandfather, Murphy, Sr., was a governor and [[U.S. Senator]] from Louisiana; Foster is technically Murphy Foster, III, but he uses the Roman numeral "II" because his grandfather died before Foster's birth.
Foster won the governorship as the final successor to Democrat [[Edwin Edwards]] by defeating an array of opponents, including future U.s. Senator [[Mary Landrieu]], former Governor [[Buddy Roemer]], and [[African-American]] [[U.S. Representative]] Cleo Field. [[David Duke]], the former [[Ku Klux Klan]]sman, endorsed Foster in the gubernatorial race; as it turned out Foster had paid from his personal funds $150,000 to Duke for the use of Duke's mailing list.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domino.ethics.state.la.us/campopn.nsf/999d109733135c25862567f8006847bf/8f58d9e4d672366e86256848006b83df?OpenDocument&Highlight=0|title=Foster, Duke La. Campaign Finance Opinion No. 99-360|publisher=domino.ethics.state.la.us|accessdate=October 4, 2017}]</ref> Term-limited in 2004, he was succeeded by the Democrat [[Kathleen Blanco]], who defeated Foster's preferred successor, Republican [[Bobby Jindal]], who won the 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary to succeed Blanco.
Though elected on an anti-[[gambling]] platform, once in office Foster became a quiet ally of the gambling industry. His support for a bailout bill for Harrah’s [[casino]] in [[New Orleans]] secured passage of the measure. Prior to leaving office, Foster quarreled with fellow Republican U.S. Representative and subsequent Senator [[David Vitter]] over expanded gambling on Indian reservations. He ran against [[affirmative action]], racial quotas, corruption, welfare fraud, and gun control. He was considered closer to business interests than most other Louisiana governors of his generation. Though he had endorsed [[Pat Buchanan]] for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, he was back with the [[establishment]] Republicans in leading the [[George W. Bush]]-[[Dick Cheney]] ticket in 2000.
He is an inductee of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. He resides at his family's Oaklawn Manor Plantation.
==References==
{{reflist}]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Mike}}
[[Category:Louisiana Governors]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Episcopalians]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:Business People]]