Brown's New Book
Sunday, December 5, 2004
John LaPlante
The Advocate
Jim Brown says he might be a U.S. senator today, instead of a convicted felon, if not for Bill Clinton's sex life.
The former state insurance commissioner ponders many "ifs" in his new book, "Justice Denied." The 409-page tome details the legal troubles that put Brown in federal prison for six months and ended a long political career.
"I'm not going to make a lot of money off this book," Brown said. "I just wanted to hammer home the message that I was screwed over."
In 2000 a jury convicted Brown of lying to an FBI agent about a legal settlement prosecutors said saved millions of dollars for the owner of failed Cascade Insurance Co.
Brown details a now-well-known list of grievances – that "Gestapo"-like judges favored the prosecution and ran roughshod over his rights; that the jury was anonymous and picked in secret; that he never got to see the FBI agent's notes that supposedly documented the lying; that even his accusers admit he gained nothing from the settlement; that he was only "lagniappe" to prosecutors trying to snag former Gov. Edwin Edwards.
The book also is sprinkled with other parts of Brown's life, including his attempt to get appointed to the U.S. Senate.
It was 1996. U.S. Sen. John Breaux was trying to convince his friend, President Bill Clinton, to name Breaux ambassador to France.
The hitch: Republican Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster would obviously name a Republican to fill the rest of Breaux's term. And Clinton needed all the Democratic votes he could get in the GOP-controlled Senate. So Clinton needed Breaux to stay put.
Brown, a lifelong Democrat, said he suggested he might be able to get Foster's appointment by arguing that Republicans should actually welcome it.
If the super-popular Breaux stayed in the Senate, Brown reasoned, he would easily win a third term in 1998 (that's what happened). If Breaux were freed to take the post in France, any Democratic replacement would be much easier for the GOP to challenge in 1998.
Brown said Foster seemed to buy the argument. But Brown said the deal fell apart when Breaux sadly reported that "several controversies were brewing in the president's personal activities," and he needed Breaux in the Senate more than ever.
At the time, federal prosecutors were stepping up the Whitewater investigation. Paula Jones was nearing her day in court over her lawsuit alleging Clinton made improper advances. And Clinton was dallying with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Breaux did not return calls seeking comment on Brown's story. Foster confirms only that Brown was one of several good people interested in the seat if it became open.
The story is not all new. Some of it was secretly recorded by federal agents, and later played in court, because Brown discussed the appointment with Edwards when Edwards' law office was bugged by federal agents.
Brown said he visited Edwards to seek political advice. Federal prosecutors said he saw Edwards to conspire to aid Cascade's owner, whom Edwards was representing.
The story says a lot about Brown.
For one thing, it shows he was close enough to Edwards to seek advice on such a sensitive political issue. Brown also acknowledged he discussed the politics of the Cascade case many times with Edwards.
In hindsight, a friendship and frequent insurance-related talks with Edwards by an insurance commissioner who called himself a reformer seems suspect and politically unwise.
The story also highlights the energy, ambition and political creativity Brown exhibited during a nearly three-decade political career. Who else would have approached Foster and Breaux with such a daring proposal?
Surely the brutal end of that career weighs heavy on such a political animal. Brown must miss it terribly.
Brown, now 64, whose wife's family is wealthy, said he travels a lot and enjoys his family a lot more than he did before.
"Sure I miss public life. I'm just trying to make the best of it," he said.
