President George W. Bush will make three very important decisions for the future of Louisiana when he appoints a trio of U.S. Attorneys to our state. The office of the U.S. Attorney for the 13-parish Eastern District of Louisiana, headquartered in New Orleans and currently held by Clinton appointee Eddie Jordan, is the most active and receives the most media attention. However, the appointments of federal prosecutors in the Western District (Shreveport/Lafayette) and the Middle District (Baton Rouge) are equally important because Louisiana leads the nation in public corruption cases investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by U.S attorneys.

  In fact, we urge President Bush to take an unusual step. Before making any major federal appointments in Louisiana, the President should review an extraordinary – and previously unpublished – assessment of the public corruption problem here by the FBI’s top local agent. "Of the over 400 federal laws and presidential directives the FBI is charged with investigating … our most important crime problem … in Louisiana continues to be public corruption," Charles Mathews III, FBI special agent in charge, said in an Jan. 23 address to the private Metropolitan Crime Commission.

  Although the Louisiana bureau was 21st in size among the 56 FBI field offices last year, we were No. 1 in the nation in both federal public corruption indictments (34) and convictions (32).

  "Public corruption in Louisiana is epidemic, endemic and entrenched," Mathews said. "No branch of government is exempt. No position is too high or too low to be affected. I have concluded after three years here that in Louisiana, as far as public corruption goes, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution." Calling Edwin Edwards the "poster child of corruption" in Louisiana, Mathews correctly blamed the rest of us for allowing Edwards to remain in power for so long. "For 30 years, this state has tolerated if not abetted a serial thief as governor," Mathews continued. "And when the decision was made to elect a crooked governor, a very effective one was chosen."

  Mathews then played for the luncheon audience two of the FBI tapes that led to the May 9 convictions of Edwards and his cronies for corrupting the state’s riverboat gaming licensing process. "Instead of using the money gained to repair roads that are reminiscent of Beirut and schools that are collapsing around the students, we saw grocery sacks of $100 bills being carted out of Edwards’ Baton Rouge home," the FBI commander noted.

  Mathews added: "But running a criminal enterprise while governor wasn’t the greatest damage to Louisiana inflicted by Edwards…. With his conduct open and notorious, he set a standard for others in public service to live down to. And many have. Why should a dirty cop on the beat turn down a deal from a dope dealer for a couple hundred bucks to allow him to do business on the street corner, when the governor of the state collects hundreds of thousands of dollars for essentially the same conduct?

  "And between that cop and the governor, dozens of other elected and appointed public officials have followed Edwards’ example and betrayed the public trust for personal gain. …

  "While I didn’t expect anyone in Louisiana to be surprised with Edwards’ guilt, the lack of outrage at the scope of his criminality as revealed during the trial was instructive. When the best you can get in the wake of a conviction of this magnitude is ‘he was good to the people of New Orleans’ or, my personal favorite, ‘I’ll be the first to visit him in jail,’ you have to ask if [these responses] are part of the solution or part of the problem."

  We appreciate Mathews’ candor and we share his frustration with our state’s cynical culture of corruption and public indifference. That’s why we need the President to appoint three federal prosecutors to Louisiana who are not only honest, reasonable and capable but who also will also be persistently apolitical in adhering to the letter of the law.

  Just as Jordan, a Democrat, was not afraid to prosecute former Gov. Edwards and other powerful Democrats, we hope President Bush will appoint individuals who will doggedly pursue even the highest Republican, should he or she engage in wrongdoing.

  We need federal prosecutors who will serve as a conscience for federal, state and local law enforcement officials and who will vigorously prosecute corrupt and brutal cops and prison guards. We need federal administrators who will advocate for Louisiana in Washington for the resources needed to end corruption of our government and abuse of our citizens.

  As First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, a native son of Louisiana, said recently: "While corruption may be our legacy, it’s not our destiny." We hope the President gives us the men and women we need to shape our new destiny.