Duke Deal Costs Governor

The governor of Louisiana was fined $20,000 Thursday by the state Board of Ethics for failing to report more than $150,000 in payments to ex-Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke for a computerized voter list.

Gov. Mike Foster, who is running for re-election this fall, said he would pay the fine out of his campaign contributions, something his lawyers said he could legally do.

He said the violation of campaign finance law was unintentional. "I have never intentionally broken the law in my life," he said at a news conference.

In a consent opinion, worked out in negotiations between Foster's lawyers and the board, Foster was found to have twice violated the state's campaign finance disclosure law. The first time was during the 1995 governor's race when he failed to report a $103,000 payment for a computerized "list of conservative voters," the board said in its ruling. The second time was in 1997 when he paid $52,000 for the right to continue to use the list.

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David Duke

Foster said he never actually used the list. But the Ethics Board said that because the list was purchased for possibly influencing the election in 1995, it should have been reported regardless of whether it was ever used.

The governor said the expenditures were noted on the 1997 personal financial disclosure statement he filed with ethics officials. However, the personal financial report listed the expenditure as being for computer software." It did not mention that the software was a list of voters nor that the money went to Duke.

The purchase surfaced publicly in May when Duke appeared before a federal grand jury in New Orleans. The grand jury has sought information on whether Duke paid taxes on income he received from Foster and others.

Since then, the purchase has become an issue in Foster's re-election campaign with his leading opponents -- U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, and Baton Rouge businessman Phil Preis -- repeatedly lambasting him over the deal.

Jefferson also tried to link adverse publicity over Foster's relationship with Duke to reports by the U.S. Census Bureau that Louisiana's population is increasing at a much slower pace than other states in the South.

Foster has said he tried to keep the purchase secret because "it ain't real cool to put out there that you're buying something from David Duke."

Duke attorney James McPherson said in May that investigators asked whether the purchase was a secret payment in exchange for Duke's decision to drop out of the 1995 gubernatorial race and endorse Foster, something botDuke and Foster deny.

Other than a brief stint as a state legislator after a 1989 special election, Duke has been unable to win public office despite numerous tries. In his latest attempt, the race to replace Bob Livingston in Congress, he failed to make the runoff, finishing third.

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