| Foster Campbell | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Louisiana Senate from the 36 district |
|
| In office 1975-2002 |
|
| Succeeded by | Robert Adley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 6, 1947 Shreveport, Louisiana |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Divorced |
| Profession | Insurance Agent |
| Religion | Baptist |
Foster L. Campbell, Jr. (born January 6, 1947), is a Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, a former 26-year member of the Louisiana State Senate, and an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the October 20, 2007, jungle primary. Campbell polled 161,425 votes (12 percent) and won two parishes: Red River and Bienville, both near Shreveport. He lost his home parish of Bossier Parish (20 percent) to the successful candidate, Bobby Jindal (60 percent).
Born in Shreveport, Campbell graduated from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches with a Bachelor of Science degree. He became a salesman of agricultural supplies until 1976, when he founded the Campbell Insurance Agency in Bossier City.
That same year, he was elected to the Senate to succeed the retiring conservative Democrat Harold Montgomery of Doyline in Webster Parish. In a lopsided general election outcome, Campbell defeated former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, John Sidney Garrett of Haynesville in northern Claiborne Parish, who failed in a comeback attempt. During his Senate service, Campbell was often allied with Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. Campbell chaired the Select Committee on Consumer Affairs.
Ron Gomez, a member of the Louisiana House from Lafayette and at the time a Democrat prior to later switching parties, describes Campbell, when he was a state senator, as "always having some populist, usually anti-business legislation moving through the process. Persistent is his middle name."."[1]
Over the years, Campbell easily won reelection to his Senate seat. In the jungle primary held on October 24, 1987, for instance, he polled 11,080 votes (70.2 percent) over two Democrats and a Republican opponent. Democrat (later Republican) Garland Mack Garrett trailed with 3,400 votes (21.5 percent. Ivan J. Edwards received 474 votes (3 percent), and the Republican William F. "Bill" Lott, drew the remaining 835 votes (5.3 percent) [2]
Campbell first ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 1980, when the seat went to future Governor Buddy Roemer, who unseated incumbent Buddy Leach. Other unsuccessful candidates in that race were former State Representative Jimmy Wilson, who lost to Leach by a narrow margin in 1978, State Representative Forrest Dunn of Shreveport, former State Senator Cecil K. Carter, Jr., of Shreveport, and Rogers M. "Mickey" Prestridge, the Bossier City municipal judge.
In 1988, Campbell lost the congressional race to a former Roemer aide, Republican Jim McCrery. During that special election campaign, triggered by Roemer's resignation to become governor, Campbell was seriously injured in a single vehicle car crash weeks before the 1988 runoff election when he drove the wrong way down an unfinished, and not yet opened, section of Interstate 49. The accident left him blind in his right eye. In 1990 Campbell made this third race for the U.S. House, but he was again defeated by McCrery, who solidified his hold on the district. (McCrery retired in January 2009 and was succeeded by the Republican John C. Fleming.)
In 2002, Campbell was elected to the Public Service Commission (District 5), the statewide regulatory agency in charge of public utilities and the oil industry. He unseated popular incumbent Donald Lynn "Don" Owen, a former news anchorman for KSLA-TV in Shreveport.
In November 2006, Campbell informed the press that he was considering challenging incumbent Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a fellow Democrat, in the primary. He subsequently toured the state, raised money, and hired political consultant George Kennedy—described by LAPolitics.com as "the state's hottest political consultant." The centerpiece of Campbell's platform was a proposal to repeal the excise tax levied by the state on domestic oil production and replace it with a 6 percent processing fee on all oil and natural gas that passes through the state. Campbell estimated that this fee would raise $5.5 billion per year, enough to eliminate the state's income tax with nearly $2 billion per year left for discretionary spending.
On March 19, 2007, in a press conference held in New Orleans, Campbell officially announced his gubernatorial campaign. The next day, in apparent response to opinion polls showing that she would be unlikely to win re-election over Jindal, Blanco announced that she would not seek re-election. (Blanco had defeated Jindal in the 2003 general election.) Former U.S. Senator John Breaux, a Democrat, was expected to also announce his candidacy, but he bowed out on April 13. On April 26, another gubernatorial contender, Walter Boasso, the Republican state senator from St. Bernard Parish in south Louisiana, announced that he was returning to the Democratic Party. Campbell faced Jindal and Boasso in the primary as well as an independent, John Georges of New Orleans. When asked to cite some of the differences between him and frontrunner Jindal, Campbell says, “I understand rural people and agriculture. He has no idea what’s going on in rural communities and agriculture. I work with black people very well. I don’t think that he has a lot of communication with the black community.”
Had he been elected governor, Campbell would have been the fifth public service commissioner to become governor. Previously, Huey Long, Jimmie Davis, John McKeithen, and Blanco were public service commissioners.
Campbell is a divorced father of six children. He resides in Elm Grove in south Bossier Parish and raises cattle.
In 2008, Campbell was reelected to a second term on the Public Service Commission. In 2009, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.[3]
| Louisiana Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by A. Harold Montgomery |
Louisiana State Senator from the 36th District (Bossier, Webster, Bienville, later parts of Claiborne and Red River parishes)
Foster L. Campbell, Jr. |
Succeeded by Robert Roy Adley |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Donald Lynn "Don" Owen |
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner from District 5
Foster L. Campbell, Jr. |
Succeeded by Incumbent (Next election in 2014) |
THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY 8/29/2007