Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer has passed away at the age of 77. Roemer was Louisiana’s governor from 1988 to 1991. Before that, he served as a U-S Representative for over seven years. His former chief of staff Len Sanderson says Roemer was a compelling person.
“In the sense, you could not avoid being inspired by him when he spoke, he had an electric personality,” said Sanderson.
Roemer was known as a reformer and his Roemer Revolution talk helped him defeat Edwin Edwards in the 1987 governor’s race. Sanderson says one of Roemer’s big successes during his one term in office was changes to campaign finance laws,
“If you were running for governor, you can get contributions of any size, you can take cash, and we set rules on ourselves, no contributions more than $5,000, everything had to be reported,” said Sanderson.
Roemer signed the bill that legalized riverboat gaming, he also worked to improve the state’s environment. But his tax reform plan was rejected by the voters and Sanderson says his administration also had to cut the budget as a result of a large deficit.
“When we took office, they almost had no money and so we were left with really tough decisions, were not in a position to say “yes” as much as any other governor would like to,” said Roemer.
After he left the governor’s office, Roemer formed a company that invested in retirement housing for retirees near college campuses and he also founded Business First Bank in Baton Rouge.
He is survived by his third wife, Scarlett, and his three children, Caroline, Chas, and Dakota.
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