Editing Edwin Edwards (section)

===Early scandals===
Though arguably minor compared to the Edwards scandals of the 1980s and 1990s, the governor was embroiled in several ethics controversies during his first two terms in office. At the time, Edwards was remarkably candid about his questionable practices. When questioned about receiving illegal campaign contributions, he replied that "It was illegal for them to give, but not for me to receive."<ref name=returnguv/> He also insisted he saw no problem with investing in a proposed New Orleans office building called "One Edwards Square" (it was never actually named that) while still governor, and demonstrated his gambling prowess to the press on one of his frequent gambling trips to [[Las Vegas]]. Later, Edwards' commissioner of administration Charles Roemer{{spaced ndash}}father of future governor [[Buddy Roemer]]&nbsp;– was convicted of taking bribes and having connections with [[Italian-American Mafia|Mafia]] boss [[Carlos Marcello]]. Edwards managed to avoid direct implication in the Roemer case.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

During the governor's first term, a disaffected former Edwards bodyguard named [[Clyde Vidrine]] made several high-profile accusations of corruption, including the sale of state agency posts. The accusations were investigated by a grand jury, but the Edwards administration attacked Vidrine's credibility and the investigation stalled. Later, Vidrine published a tell-all book called ''Just Takin' Orders'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Vidrine |first=Clyde C. |author-link=Clyde Vidrine |date=January 1, 1977 |title=Just Takin' Orders: A Southern Governor's Watergate |asin=B0006CZEYY |publisher=Vidrine}}</ref> which included salacious details of Edwards' frequent gambling trips and extramarital escapades. Vidrine was murdered in December 1986 by the husband of a woman he was guarding, who believed Vidrine was having an affair with his wife.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-17-mn-3282-story.html |title = Gov. Edwards' former bodyguard is killed: Friend's husband held |date = 1986-12-17 |access-date = 2013-09-19 |last = United Press International |newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1367&dat=19861217&id=kO8VAAAAIBAJ&pg=6921,238375|date = 1986-12-17 |title = Governor's ex-guard killed outside court |access-date = 2013-09-19 |agency=Associated Press |via=Google News}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021}}</ref>

In a 1976 scandal known as [[Koreagate]], it came to light that Edwards and his wife Elaine had received questionable gifts in 1971, while Edwards was a U.S. representative. South Korean rice broker [[Tongsun Park]] was under investigation for trying to bribe American legislators on behalf of the South Korean government, and for making millions of dollars in commissions on American purchases of South Korean rice. Edwards admitted that Park gave Elaine an envelope containing $10,000 in cash, but insisted that the gift was given out of friendship and that there was nothing improper about it. In the course of the controversy, Edwards stated that he thought it was "super moralistic" for the U.S. government to prohibit American businessmen to accept gifts from foreign officials in the course of their business dealings. The scandal also engulfed Edwards's former congressional colleague [[Otto Passman]] of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]], who was later acquitted of all charges in the case, but nonetheless was defeated in his 1976 re-election bid by [[Jerry Huckaby]] of [[Ringgold, Louisiana|Ringgold]].