Here is an assortment of little stories about Foster Campbell, his positions, and folks supporting him.
But first, a word from John Bel Edwards:
With Louisiana’s runoff election fast approaching, I wanted to remind you just how critical it is that we send Foster Campbell to the Senate. I’ve watched Foster in action, putting Louisiana families first for over 25 years now, and I know as our next senator he will continue to fight for all of us.
— John Bel Edwards, from email message in support of Campbell
And some useful links for getting involved:
Let’s start with a story that Foster Campbell tells frequently, about going to a shop in Fryeburg, LA with his uncle...
By way of introduction, Foster Campbell often tells the story of his uncle with no hands.
It's a tale he's spun many times over his 40 years in elected office. He did it before the Police Jury Association of Louisiana in March. He did it again in an interview Wednesday (Nov. 23). He tells it roughly the same way each time.
For the cattle farmer, insurance agent, and lifelong Democrat, it's an explanation for his throwback adherence to populism, a political ethos from which he hasn't wavered since first joining the state Senate in 1976.
…
His uncle, who lost his hands in a dynamite accident, was at the counter sifting through a box of shotgun shells with his hook. He extracted 10 to buy. Campbell, the son of a shop owner and in fourth grade at the time, couldn't understand why his uncle didn't buy the whole box.
Not everybody's daddy owned a hardware store, his uncle told him.
"I realized then that's all he could afford," Campbell said Wednesday. "Ever since that moment, I have always been on the side of poor folks."
— Richard Rainey, The Times-Picayune of Greater New Orleans
I'm sure those here will identify with these two folks who joined the Campbell campaign, and turned their distress at the presidential election into determination:
Up until election day, Trevor Scott was the Brooklyn field director for Clinton’s campaign. The morning after he watched in disbelief as she gave her concession speech. A week after that, with a Clinton-Kaine campaign sticker still on his laptop, he flew down to New Orleans.
“Otherwise I’d just be sitting down on the couch for four weeks, twiddling my thumbs, wondering what happened,” Scott says.
Raymond Hough, a cab driver in New Orleans who also hosts a jazz show on a community radio station, says the morning after the election he felt “deep gloom and depression.”
But Hough collected himself. On Friday he spun a protest song set on his WWOZ show. On Saturday he volunteered for Campbell.
— Matt Sledge, The New Republic
One of Campbell's big concerns is the disappearing Louisiana coastline, which, as he’ll tell you, is vanishing at the rate of one football field per hour. And did you know that, although Louisiana is a major oil processing center, only domestic oil is taxed? That’s a tiny fraction of all oil handled in Louisiana. Campbell wants to replace the old tax law with a modern one taxing all oil processing. The following is from the Sierra Club’s endorsement:
Sierra Club Delta Chapter announces its endorsement of Foster Campbell for US Senate from Louisiana. We have known Foster Campbell for years as an advocate for clean energy and a fighter for fairness in energy taxation in Louisiana. We have watched his advocacy on the Louisiana Public Service Commission for Renewable Energy, fair treatment for residential and commercial solar users and for Energy Efficiency as the cleanest and cheapest way to make more electric energy available. He has been steadfast in defending the right of nonprofit groups and public citizens to be heard in LPSC hearings and proceedings. Campbell is the only Louisiana US Senate candidate to acknowledge human caused global climate change.
RespectAbility, the disabled rights organization, asked candidates to respond to questions about their support for people with disabilities. Campbell lost his son to suicide due to mental illness, and has considerable concern to make sure mental health treatment is available. Campbell has some personal experience with disability, being blind in one eye. Here is a sample of Campbell’s answers to the questionnaire:
QUESTION 5: Do you have a proven record on enabling, or a plan to enable, people with disabilities to have jobs, careers and to start their own businesses? Do you have specific strategies for youth employment for people with disabilities and/or sector strategies such as jobs and careers in STEM, hospitality, healthcare and elder care? If yes, please describe.
ANSWER: Yes. Throughout my 40 years of public service and throughout my time as a small business owner, I have seen time and time again the unique contributions that people with disabilities bring to the workplace. Too many businesses aren’t educated about the skill set that people with disabilities offer. And for that reason, too many Americans with a disability are under employed or unemployed.
In order to ensure that we use the talents of every American to grow our economy, I will support policies that promote the independence of people with disabilities and expand employment opportunities in the recently passed WIOA. I will support transitions from graduation to employment that assist students with disabilities that age out of school based services.
To close, here’s something Campbell says frequently, about getting stuff done in a red state, and having to get creative to convince conservative colleagues and constituents (an example is the oil processing tax above):
There's an old saying in the South: There's no wrong way to do the right thing.