| Description: | Reggie: Reorganization's Quiet Power |
| Text of article: | Reggie: Reorganization's Quiet Power Judge Edmund M. Reggie EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article is reprinted from Gris-Gris, a Baton Rouge newspaper. Things would not be going nearly so smoothly for Edwin Edwards' reorganization plan for state government were it not for the knowing hand at the wheel, Judge Edmund Reggie. There's something familiar about the chairman of the Reorganization Committee. It's his crisp manner, his air of confidence, even his deep tan and silver hair. So many things about him say: Edwin Edwards. But seasoned observers of state politics may turn the comparison around. Some people who know both of them think that so many things about Edwin Edwards say: Edmund Reggie. Who is this man and why haven't we heard more from him? The answer to the first question is that Edmund Reggie is perhaps the most brilliant political mind in the state and has been for 20 years. The answer to the second question is: that's the way he likes it. Edmund Reggie was city judge of Crowley for 25 years until he decided not to run last year. He has been a longtime friend and advisor to Edwin Edwards. But his connections and his power go back further than that. In 1950, he became the youngest judge in the United States when Earl Long appointed him city judge in Crowley. He was 24. Six years later he stumped the state for Earl, making eight speeches a day and reinforcing his reputation as a brilliant orator. When John Kennedy ran for president in 1960, Reggie managed his Louisiana campaign. He remained a close friend of the family and is now an intimate of Ted Kennedy. Reggie is one of two or three men credited with engineering John McKeithen's election to governor in 1963. Then he helped Edwards in his ascent. Now he is Edwin's dealer as the power cards in the executive department are reshuffled. He runs the Reorganization Committee with efficiency and finesse. He has a courtly way of asking piercing questions, as in his query to the man from the new Transportation Department: "You did such a superb job in Aviation in pooling your resources. I don't notice that you've done the same thing in Public Works." When the spokesman admitted that Public Works had not been reorganized, Reggie thanked him, "I appreciate your frankness, I really do." Reggie still has some more piercing questions to ask and tough decisions to make in implementing the plan already passed by the Legislature. Once the committee goes through the 11 departments appointed by the Governor it must then tackle the eight departments with elected heads and give the Legislature its plea. That's going to take some diplomacy, even for the godfather of Southwest Louisiana. |
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