LAST WEEK, I toured the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge, a building with tremendous character and style. I visited the chamber where the legendary Gov. Huey Long survived impeachment proceedings in 1929.
Then I went over to the "new" skyscraper State Capitol in Baton Rouge, Long's 30-story brainchild, and put my fingers in the bullet holes in the wall where he was assassinated in 1935.Long built the new capitol because he wanted Louisiana to have the tallest one in the country. He had already tried unsuccessfully to build a new governor's mansion with a floor plan identical to that of the White House.
He wanted it, he said, so he could become familiar with the way the White House was laid out in preparation for his own election as president.
Long was not only an immensely powerful politician, he was an excellent example of Lord Acton's dictum that "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
He did pretty much what he wanted as governor and as U.S. senator. His enduring nickname was "The Kingfish," and he was the absolute dictator of Louisiana.
Long did not originate corruption in Louisiana politics, of course.
Conflict and corruption date back to its earliest history and became especially disturbing during Reconstruction in the 1870s and 1880s.
But Long put his own stamp on it and made it more interesting.
He has many significant accomplishments to his credit, too.
When Long became governor, there were only 300 miles of paved road in Louisiana.
When his term ended, there were 1,583 miles of paved road, with much more being built, and bridges over the Mississippi at Baton Rouge and New Orleans had been authorized.
Ironically, in the post-Long years, Louisiana experienced its most scandal-ridden political era ever.
I was thinking about that as I surveyed the regimes of subsequent governors as detailed in the Old State Capitol.
Even as recent a governor as the dashing and flamboyant Edwin Edwards, who served four terms and became a political institution, has been accused of brazen corruption.
He was first elected in 1972 and completed his most recent term in 1996.
As I talked with people across the state, I found cynicism, with the prevalent opinion that Louisiana is deeply imbedded in a tradition of corruption that may never be broken.
A lawyer told me about the understood expectation that people offer gratuities to agencies of government to get services to which they should be entitled.
He believes corruption exists to as strong a degree on the community level as it does on the state level.
While I visited the New State Capitol, the Legislature was busy in an extended session to debate the problems that have arisen with the construction of a huge casino in the heart of New Orleans.
The impressive structure has remained unfinished for over a year while politicians wrangle and deal over the conflicting questions of gambling.
In Baton Rouge, TV cameras stayed at the ready in case legislators in the Long tradition found resolution.
But it didn't happen.
The next day, they were still there, still waiting. It looks as if tour guides will continue to explain the great embarrassment of the unfinished casino - until the politicians get finished debating.
And dealing.
The political traditions of the Pelican state remain well-ensconced. They are tied to a familiar "joi de vivre" that is at the heart of Louisiana life.