Jerry Fowler
Encyclopedia
Jerry Marston Fowler was a Baton Rouge businessman who served as Louisiana
's state Elections Commissioner from 1980 until his defeat in the 1999 jungle primary
. He was part of the Fowler family Democratic
political dynasty. Fowler vacated the position in 2000 and was thereafter indicted, convicted and imprisoned for bribery
and income tax evasion in a scandal that grew out of acceptance of kickbacks on the purchase of voting machines. Fowler succeeded his ailing father, Wiley Douglas Fowler, Sr.
(1906–1980), as Elections Commissioner. Collectively, the Fowlers, who hailed from Coushatta
, the seat of rural Red River Parish, served forty-one years in the position, originally called the "Custodian of Voting Machines."
Parish
clerk of court and a one-time Coushatta mayor, Fowler was then elected to his first full term as elections commissioner in the 1959-1960 election cycle. He was reelected with minimal opposition in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1975. (The primaries for the 1968 and the 1972 elections were held late in 1967 and 1971). To Louisiana voters, the name "Fowler" became synonymous with the management of elections – the two won a total of ten consecutive elections, and Douglas Fowler served more than a year of an appointed term.
There was also a third Fowler in the dynasty: Hendrix Marion "Mutt" Fowler, Sr.
(born 1918), the younger brother of Douglas Fowler and the uncle of Jerry Fowler. "Mutt" Fowler was a mayor of Coushatta in the 1960s and a state representative from District 24, who served from 1972-1986. He resigned from the legislature to become executive director of the Sabine River (port) Authority. His contract was nonrenewed in 1989, and he was thereafter indicted for violating state bid laws. In a plea bargain
, "Mutt" served 45 days in the Sabine Parish jail.
, reared in Coushatta, and graduated in 1958 from Coushatta High School. Thereafter, he played football
for nearby Northwestern State University
(then Northwestern State College) in Natchitoches
and obtained a degree in education. He was drafted to the Oakland Raiders
and then ultimately the Houston Oilers (1960–1966), for whom he was an offensive tackle. He played in four games in the 1964 season. Another north Louisiana player, Charlie T. Hennigan
(born 1935) of Minden
, the seat of Webster Parish, also played for the Oilers at the time in a 7-year career from 1960-1966.
John Henry Baker
of Franklin Parish. Baker had lost in 1972 to the Democratic attorney, James H. "Jim" Brown of Ferriday
, for the District 32 Senate seat. Months later, Baker was also defeated for a delegate slot on a nonpartisan ballot to the constitutional convention by then sitting Representative Lantz Womack
of Winnsboro
, the seat of Franklin Parish.
Baker was initially ignored by the media
after he announced that he would oppose Jerry Fowler, but he soon gained the support of most newspaper editorial boards and "good government" groups when he disclosed that he was running for the position in order to see it abolished. Baker hence proposed that the "useless" office, which then had a salary of $37,400 per year, be returned to the jurisdiction of the secretary of state, where it had been before Governor Long punished Secretary of State Wade O. Martin, Jr.
, by having convinced the legislature to establish a separate elections bureau free from the control of the elected secretary of state. Ironically, what Baker was proposing would have worked to the advantage of his former rival, state Senator Jim Brown, who would be elected secretary of state in that same 1979 general election
.
Baker polled 175,017 votes in the primary, just enough to enter the general election against Jerry Fowler. Baker and his gubernatorial ticket mate, David C. Treen
, then of Jefferson Parish, were the first Louisiana Republicans to win statewide general election slots since the implementation of the jungle primary law in 1975.
In the second round of balloting, Fowler polled 762,324 votes (62.8%) to Baker's 452,189 (37.2%). Baker won 68.1% in his own Franklin Parish, which Treen lost to the Democrat Louis Lambert
of Baton Rouge. Baker received 55.8% and 51.2% in his neighboring Richland and Ouachita parishes, respectively. He polled 49.1% in Caddo Parish (Shreveport) and ran nearly as well in Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles), where he had the support of reform former state Senator Robert G. "Bob" Jones, a former Democrat-turned Republican and the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones. Fowler though could claim an impressive victory under the circumstances, and he vowed to continue the spirit of public service epitomized by his ailing father, who died weeks before his son could take the oath of office as his successor.
, United States Navy
veteran of the Korean War
, an educator, and a Baton Rouge resident, who polled 217,886 ballots (17%). In 1991, Republican Steve Young challenged Fowler in the jungle primary but also fared poorly. Fowler received 940,309 votes (72%) to Young's 372,480 (28%). In 1995, Fowler won again over Republican candidate Wray M. Anderson (born 1953) of Mandeville
in St. Tammany Parish: 954,076 (75%) to 323,422 (25%). Anderson was cited after the campaign for failing to file a proper financial statement.
of New Orleans (257,182 or 22%) and outgoing state Representative Louis E. "Woody" Jenkins of Baton Rouge (305,919 or 26%). Terrell, though the second-place finisher in the primary, went on to defeat Jenkins, who had earlier lost three high-profile races for the U.S. Senate. Jenkins' loss effectively ended his political career. Presumably had Fowler obtained the second slot, instead of Terrell, he would have lost to Jenkins, considering the allegations which surfaced about abuses of his office. Terrell emerged in 2002 as a U.S. Senate candidate and was defeated by the Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu
.
Terrell, like John Henry Baker, a quarter of a century earlier, promised to work to abolish the "useless" office. And she managed to do so in her four-year term, for Terrell was the only woman elections commissioner, the only Republican elections commissioner, and the last of the three elected commissioners in Louisiana history. A political commentator, Alan Ehrenhalt, hailed Terrell's steps to abolish the office, which he dubbed the "most ridiculous elective office in the history of state government." The commissioner of elections did not even keep the tabulation of election returns: that function remains within the duties of the secretary of state, which operates a website with returns dating from 1987 and partial tabulations between 1983 and 1986.
. In November 2000, he pleaded guilty to defrauding the State of Louisiana of some $900,000 between 1991 and 1999. Many observers believed that he actually obtained $3 million illegally. Fowler's attorney said that his client spent the money gambling. Fowler was sentenced to five years in prison. He served four years in the federal facility in Beaumont
, Texas, and was then released to Ecumenical House a halfway house
in Baton Rouge, where he served an additional number of months.
Fowler's 1996, 1997 and 1998 U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, Forms 1040, reflect adjusted gross income of $157,949.54; $185,938.00 and $165,272.00, respectively. His corrected figures, including money from kickbacks, is $482,053.54; $487,891.29; and $419,312.00 in 1996, 1997 and 1998, respectively.
Ehrenhalt reflected on the Fowlers' tenure over the administration of Louisiana elections for more than four decades:
"Reformers, embarrassed by the triviality of the title "custodian of voting machines" managed in the 1970s to change the name to Commissioner of Elections. But they did not change the duties much: Louisiana's citizens continued to go to the polls every four years to pick a constitutional officer whose job consisted largely of buying and repairing machinery and remembering to deliver it to the right polling place when it was needed.
"It was not only a cushy job, it was also the personal possession of a single family. When Long created the post, he promoted the candidacy of a loyal crony, Douglas Fowler, who held it from 1960 until his retirement in 1979. Then Fowler's son, Jerry, a former lineman for the Houston Oilers, took over and won reelection four times.
"The odds are the job would still be a Fowler fiefdom if the second occupant of the office had not been caught looting the till in 1999. A legislative auditor found that Jerry Fowler had been taking kickbacks on the purchase of voting machines and occasionally paying friends of his to haul them around even when there was no election scheduled. Fowler was indicted on eight counts of malfeasance in office, entered a guilty plea, and was sentenced to prison for five years."
Eve 2002. She was abducted from the parking lot of a fast-food outlet in Port Allen
in West Baton Rouge Parish, where she had stopped while headed to Beaumont to visit her husband. The abduction was partially photographed by a security camera. Fowler was never found, and was declared legally dead by a Louisiana state court judge in May 2004.
At the time she vanished, Fowler was an education consultant. A former teacher
, she had worked more than a quarter of a century for the Louisiana Department of Education in various capacities, including assistant state superintendent for research and development. She first attended Southeastern Louisiana University
in Hammond
but received her bachelor's degree
in English
and speech
from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
(then the University of Southwestern Louisiana). She also held a master's degree
in education supervision from Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge and a doctorate in education administration from Nova Southeast University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
.
On August 27, 2005, Fowler held a memorial service for his wife in the Holy Ghost Catholic Church in her native Hammond (Tangipahoa Parish). In addition to her husband, MariAnn was survived by her then 90-year-old mother, Rose Santangelo (1914–2006) and a sister, Jo Ann O'Neil, both of Hammond; a son from a previous marriage, John A. Pritchett (born 1959), and two granddaughters, Chelsea Pritchett and Baylea Pritchett, all of Brusly
in West Baton Rouge Parish.
. He was cremated
. A memorial service was held at University United Methodist Church, 3350 Dalrymple Drive, in Baton Rouge on January 29, 2009, which was also the 29th anniversary of the date of death of Fowler's father. Fowler was survived by three children from a previous marriage to Sue Fowler, later Sue Weaver of Natchez
, Louisiana: Susannah Fowler Craig and husband Stewart, of Baton Rouge, Margaret Fowler Abrahams and husband Alan, of Los Angeles
, California
, and John Marston Fowler and wife Jennifer, of Baton Rouge. He had four grandchildren, Stewart Craig and Patrick Craig, and from the marriage to MariAnn, Chelsea and Baylea Pritchett. He was also survived by his paternal uncle, H. M. "Mutt" Fowler of Coushatta. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother, Dr. Wiley Douglas Fowler, Jr. (1938–1998), and a paternal uncle, John R. Fowler (1912–1990).
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
's state Elections Commissioner from 1980 until his defeat in the 1999 jungle primary
Jungle primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party. Under this system, the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the next round, as in a runoff election...
. He was part of the Fowler family Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
political dynasty. Fowler vacated the position in 2000 and was thereafter indicted, convicted and imprisoned for bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
and income tax evasion in a scandal that grew out of acceptance of kickbacks on the purchase of voting machines. Fowler succeeded his ailing father, Wiley Douglas Fowler, Sr.
Douglas Fowler
Wiley Douglas Fowler, Sr. , was a local politician from rural Red River Parish in north Louisiana, a loyal supporter of Governor Earl Kemp Long, and his state's chief elections officer from 1959, until declining health forced his retirement, effective December 31, 1979...
(1906–1980), as Elections Commissioner. Collectively, the Fowlers, who hailed from Coushatta
Coushatta, Louisiana
Coushatta is a town in and the parish seat of rural Red River Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is situated on the east bank of the Red River. The community is approximately forty-five miles south of Shreveport on U.S. Highway 71...
, the seat of rural Red River Parish, served forty-one years in the position, originally called the "Custodian of Voting Machines."
Fowler political dynasty
W. Douglas Fowler was originally appointed voting machine custodian by Governor Earl Kemp Long. A former Red RiverRiver
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
Parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
clerk of court and a one-time Coushatta mayor, Fowler was then elected to his first full term as elections commissioner in the 1959-1960 election cycle. He was reelected with minimal opposition in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1975. (The primaries for the 1968 and the 1972 elections were held late in 1967 and 1971). To Louisiana voters, the name "Fowler" became synonymous with the management of elections – the two won a total of ten consecutive elections, and Douglas Fowler served more than a year of an appointed term.
There was also a third Fowler in the dynasty: Hendrix Marion "Mutt" Fowler, Sr.
H. M. Fowler
Hendrix Marion "Mutt" Fowler, Sr. , is a retired Louisiana politician and businessman who served as mayor of his small town of Coushatta in Red River Parish, as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and later as the executive director of the Sabine River Authority...
(born 1918), the younger brother of Douglas Fowler and the uncle of Jerry Fowler. "Mutt" Fowler was a mayor of Coushatta in the 1960s and a state representative from District 24, who served from 1972-1986. He resigned from the legislature to become executive director of the Sabine River (port) Authority. His contract was nonrenewed in 1989, and he was thereafter indicted for violating state bid laws. In a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
, "Mutt" served 45 days in the Sabine Parish jail.
Fowler's early years
Fowler, the younger of the two sons of Douglas Fowler and his wife, Abbie Marston Fowler (1906–1976), was born in ShreveportShreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, reared in Coushatta, and graduated in 1958 from Coushatta High School. Thereafter, he played football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
for nearby Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
(then Northwestern State College) in Natchitoches
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
and obtained a degree in education. He was drafted to the Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and then ultimately the Houston Oilers (1960–1966), for whom he was an offensive tackle. He played in four games in the 1964 season. Another north Louisiana player, Charlie T. Hennigan
Charlie Hennigan
Charles Taylor Hennigan, Sr., known as Charlie Hennigan , is a retired American football player with the former Houston Oilers who resides in Shreveport, Louisiana. Born in Bienville in Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, Hennigan grew up in nearby Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, located...
(born 1935) of Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, the seat of Webster Parish, also played for the Oilers at the time in a 7-year career from 1960-1966.
Fowler (D) v. Baker (R)
By the time he sought to succeed his father as elections commissioner, Fowler was a 39-year-old Natchitoches businessman. He was the early favorite to win the position, considering the tendency of Louisiana voters to either reelect incumbents, particularly Democrats, or to promote the offspring of retiring politicians. His main rival in the jungle primary turned out to have been a previously defeated candidate for the Louisiana State Senate and the 1973 Constitutional Convention, RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
John Henry Baker
John Henry Baker
John Henry Baker, III , is a semiretired farmer and landowner from Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana who was active in the rebirth of the Republican Party in his state during the 1970s and 1980s. Baker was his party's nominee for the District 22 seat in the Louisiana State Senate in 1972...
of Franklin Parish. Baker had lost in 1972 to the Democratic attorney, James H. "Jim" Brown of Ferriday
Ferriday, Louisiana
Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census....
, for the District 32 Senate seat. Months later, Baker was also defeated for a delegate slot on a nonpartisan ballot to the constitutional convention by then sitting Representative Lantz Womack
Lantz Womack
Lantz Womack was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who served mostly Franklin Parish, from 1958, when he won a special election caused by the death of a freshman member, until his retirement in 1976...
of Winnsboro
Winnsboro, Louisiana
Winnsboro is a city in and the parish seat of Franklin Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of July 2009, the estimated city population was 4,377...
, the seat of Franklin Parish.
Baker was initially ignored by the media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
after he announced that he would oppose Jerry Fowler, but he soon gained the support of most newspaper editorial boards and "good government" groups when he disclosed that he was running for the position in order to see it abolished. Baker hence proposed that the "useless" office, which then had a salary of $37,400 per year, be returned to the jurisdiction of the secretary of state, where it had been before Governor Long punished Secretary of State Wade O. Martin, Jr.
Wade O. Martin, Jr.
Wade Omer Martin, Jr. was the Democratic Secretary of State of Louisiana under five governors, having served from 1944 to 1976...
, by having convinced the legislature to establish a separate elections bureau free from the control of the elected secretary of state. Ironically, what Baker was proposing would have worked to the advantage of his former rival, state Senator Jim Brown, who would be elected secretary of state in that same 1979 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
.
Baker polled 175,017 votes in the primary, just enough to enter the general election against Jerry Fowler. Baker and his gubernatorial ticket mate, David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
, then of Jefferson Parish, were the first Louisiana Republicans to win statewide general election slots since the implementation of the jungle primary law in 1975.
In the second round of balloting, Fowler polled 762,324 votes (62.8%) to Baker's 452,189 (37.2%). Baker won 68.1% in his own Franklin Parish, which Treen lost to the Democrat Louis Lambert
Louis Lambert
Louis Joseph Lambert, Jr. , is a Louisiana attorney, businessman, former member and chairman of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, and a former Louisiana state senator....
of Baton Rouge. Baker received 55.8% and 51.2% in his neighboring Richland and Ouachita parishes, respectively. He polled 49.1% in Caddo Parish (Shreveport) and ran nearly as well in Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles), where he had the support of reform former state Senator Robert G. "Bob" Jones, a former Democrat-turned Republican and the son of former Governor Sam Houston Jones. Fowler though could claim an impressive victory under the circumstances, and he vowed to continue the spirit of public service epitomized by his ailing father, who died weeks before his son could take the oath of office as his successor.
Easy reelection victories
Fowler faced little difficulty in being reelected in the primaries held in 1983, 1987, 1991 or 1995. In 1987, his tally exceeded one million votes: 1,079,851 (83%) against fellow Democrat James Alan "Jim" Rentz (1933–2011), a native of RustonRuston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
, United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
veteran of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, an educator, and a Baton Rouge resident, who polled 217,886 ballots (17%). In 1991, Republican Steve Young challenged Fowler in the jungle primary but also fared poorly. Fowler received 940,309 votes (72%) to Young's 372,480 (28%). In 1995, Fowler won again over Republican candidate Wray M. Anderson (born 1953) of Mandeville
Mandeville, Louisiana
Mandeville is a city in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,421 in 2008. Mandeville is located on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, south of Interstate 12. It is across the lake from the city of New Orleans and its southshore suburbs...
in St. Tammany Parish: 954,076 (75%) to 323,422 (25%). Anderson was cited after the campaign for failing to file a proper financial statement.
Defeat in the 1999 jungle primary
In 1999, however, Fowler ran into insurmountable difficulties, as it turned out in the race, in which ten challengers stepped forward: five Republicans, three fellow Democrats, and two "no party" candidates. Fowler finished a strong third with 247,961 (21%) in the multiple-candidate field. He missed a general election berth, however, by 9,222 votes. In fact, two Republicans secured the slots in the second balloting: Suzanne Haik TerrellSuzanne Haik Terrell
Suzanne Haik Terrell is a Louisiana lawyer who failed in a high-profile Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and for state attorney general in 2003. She was the state's last commissioner of elections, having served from 2000 to 2004. In 2005, President George W...
of New Orleans (257,182 or 22%) and outgoing state Representative Louis E. "Woody" Jenkins of Baton Rouge (305,919 or 26%). Terrell, though the second-place finisher in the primary, went on to defeat Jenkins, who had earlier lost three high-profile races for the U.S. Senate. Jenkins' loss effectively ended his political career. Presumably had Fowler obtained the second slot, instead of Terrell, he would have lost to Jenkins, considering the allegations which surfaced about abuses of his office. Terrell emerged in 2002 as a U.S. Senate candidate and was defeated by the Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu
Mary Landrieu
Mary Loretta Landrieu is the senior United States Senator from the State of Louisiana and a member of the Democratic Party.Born in Arlington, Virginia, Landrieu was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana...
.
Terrell, like John Henry Baker, a quarter of a century earlier, promised to work to abolish the "useless" office. And she managed to do so in her four-year term, for Terrell was the only woman elections commissioner, the only Republican elections commissioner, and the last of the three elected commissioners in Louisiana history. A political commentator, Alan Ehrenhalt, hailed Terrell's steps to abolish the office, which he dubbed the "most ridiculous elective office in the history of state government." The commissioner of elections did not even keep the tabulation of election returns: that function remains within the duties of the secretary of state, which operates a website with returns dating from 1987 and partial tabulations between 1983 and 1986.
Fowler goes to prison
After Fowler left the commissioner's office, he was charged and convicted of accepting kickbacks on voting machines and income tax evasion. Much of the investigation was handled through the office of the Republican legislative auditor Dan KyleDan Kyle
Daniel Guin Kyle, known as Dan Kyle , is a businessman from Baton Rouge Louisiana, who served as his state's legislative auditor from 1989–2003, when he stepped down to run unsuccessfully for insurance commissioner. An active Republican, Kyle uncovered many instances of misappropriations in state...
. In November 2000, he pleaded guilty to defrauding the State of Louisiana of some $900,000 between 1991 and 1999. Many observers believed that he actually obtained $3 million illegally. Fowler's attorney said that his client spent the money gambling. Fowler was sentenced to five years in prison. He served four years in the federal facility in Beaumont
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
, Texas, and was then released to Ecumenical House a halfway house
Halfway house
The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a...
in Baton Rouge, where he served an additional number of months.
Fowler's 1996, 1997 and 1998 U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, Forms 1040, reflect adjusted gross income of $157,949.54; $185,938.00 and $165,272.00, respectively. His corrected figures, including money from kickbacks, is $482,053.54; $487,891.29; and $419,312.00 in 1996, 1997 and 1998, respectively.
Ehrenhalt reflected on the Fowlers' tenure over the administration of Louisiana elections for more than four decades:
"Reformers, embarrassed by the triviality of the title "custodian of voting machines" managed in the 1970s to change the name to Commissioner of Elections. But they did not change the duties much: Louisiana's citizens continued to go to the polls every four years to pick a constitutional officer whose job consisted largely of buying and repairing machinery and remembering to deliver it to the right polling place when it was needed.
"It was not only a cushy job, it was also the personal possession of a single family. When Long created the post, he promoted the candidacy of a loyal crony, Douglas Fowler, who held it from 1960 until his retirement in 1979. Then Fowler's son, Jerry, a former lineman for the Houston Oilers, took over and won reelection four times.
"The odds are the job would still be a Fowler fiefdom if the second occupant of the office had not been caught looting the till in 1999. A legislative auditor found that Jerry Fowler had been taking kickbacks on the purchase of voting machines and occasionally paying friends of his to haul them around even when there was no election scheduled. Fowler was indicted on eight counts of malfeasance in office, entered a guilty plea, and was sentenced to prison for five years."
The abduction of Mari Ann Fowler
During his incarceration, Fowler's second wife, Mari Ann Fowler (born April 12, 1937), disappeared on ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Eve 2002. She was abducted from the parking lot of a fast-food outlet in Port Allen
Port Allen, Louisiana
Port Allen is a city in and the parish seat of West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. Port Allen is located between Interstate 10 and US Highway 190 on the West bank of the Mississippi River. The population was 5,180 at the 2010 census...
in West Baton Rouge Parish, where she had stopped while headed to Beaumont to visit her husband. The abduction was partially photographed by a security camera. Fowler was never found, and was declared legally dead by a Louisiana state court judge in May 2004.
At the time she vanished, Fowler was an education consultant. A former teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, she had worked more than a quarter of a century for the Louisiana Department of Education in various capacities, including assistant state superintendent for research and development. She first attended Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University is a state-funded public university in Hammond, Louisiana, United States. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims, the principal of Hammond High School, as Hammond Junior College, located in a wing of the high school building. Sims succeeded in getting the campus...
in Hammond
Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,049 at the 2009 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University...
but received her bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
and speech
Public speaking
Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners...
from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana...
(then the University of Southwestern Louisiana). She also held a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in education supervision from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge and a doctorate in education administration from Nova Southeast University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
.
On August 27, 2005, Fowler held a memorial service for his wife in the Holy Ghost Catholic Church in her native Hammond (Tangipahoa Parish). In addition to her husband, MariAnn was survived by her then 90-year-old mother, Rose Santangelo (1914–2006) and a sister, Jo Ann O'Neil, both of Hammond; a son from a previous marriage, John A. Pritchett (born 1959), and two granddaughters, Chelsea Pritchett and Baylea Pritchett, all of Brusly
Brusly, Louisiana
Brusly is a town in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,589 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
in West Baton Rouge Parish.
Fowler's death
Fowler died in a Baton Rouge hospital at the age of sixty-eight of heart failure following surgerySurgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
. He was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
. A memorial service was held at University United Methodist Church, 3350 Dalrymple Drive, in Baton Rouge on January 29, 2009, which was also the 29th anniversary of the date of death of Fowler's father. Fowler was survived by three children from a previous marriage to Sue Fowler, later Sue Weaver of Natchez
Natchez, Louisiana
Natchez is a village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 583 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, Louisiana: Susannah Fowler Craig and husband Stewart, of Baton Rouge, Margaret Fowler Abrahams and husband Alan, of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and John Marston Fowler and wife Jennifer, of Baton Rouge. He had four grandchildren, Stewart Craig and Patrick Craig, and from the marriage to MariAnn, Chelsea and Baylea Pritchett. He was also survived by his paternal uncle, H. M. "Mutt" Fowler of Coushatta. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother, Dr. Wiley Douglas Fowler, Jr. (1938–1998), and a paternal uncle, John R. Fowler (1912–1990).
External links
- http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:_VeiAR3TwhYJ:www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20050820/NEWS01/508200364/0/NEWS01+jerry+fowler&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=43 (Mrs. Fowler's memorial service)
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=102487
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=101991
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=102195
- http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=102399
- http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/rosters.nsf/Annual/1964-hou
- http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:OwI4EeuOefUJ:www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php+Jerry+M.+Fowler&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6
- http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=fowler&Middle=&FirstName=jerry&Race=W&Sex=M&Age=66&x=25&y=23
- http://domino.ethics.state.la.us/CampOpn.nsf/0/6287e89d65623261862568f8006dceca?OpenDocument