Shreveport Businesswoman Removes Name from Clemency Petition for EWE

Shreveport, LA, Times | 03-13-03 | Hill, John

[Theodore R.]

Shehee not part of EWE petition

Local business leader says miscommunication put her name on list

John Hill / Louisiana Gannett News Posted on March 13, 2003

BATON ROUGE - Shreveport business leader Virginia Shehee has pulled her name from the group working on a presidential petition asking for clemency for jailed former Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards.

Shehee said her name was used because "of a miscommunication" on a letter sent by retired Shreveport auto dealer Ed Powell asking recipients to attend an April 11 organizing meeting in New Orleans.

Powell is heading The Committee, the name of the group that hopes to collect 1 million Louisiana citizens' signatures on a petition asking President George W. Bush to commute the 10-year prison sentence Edwards began serving Oct. 21 at Fort Worth Medical Center, a medium-security federal prison.

Nancy Matthews, an administrator at Farmer's Seafood, said the committee specifically checked back with the 85 individuals to ensure it was OK for their names to be included in Powell's letter.

Tuesday, Shehee asked that her name be withdrawn after she read about the letter in the newspaper. "I had said I would think about it. It was a miscommunication."

Mathews said she has removed Shehee's name from further materials to be sent out by the group. "We went out of our way and called people to make sure that it was all right to use their names."

Shehee is the only person who has asked to be deleted, Matthews said.

Former House Speaker E.L. "Bubba" Henry, a former Jonesboro legislator who is a Baton Rouge lobbyist, said he will work with the committee to see about getting Edwards out of prison. "He has been ruined. There is no purpose to be served by his sitting in prison for 10 years."

Edwards was convicted May 2000 on conspiracy, racketeering and money-laundering charges following a four-month trial.

[Theodore R.]

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Shehee is also a former Democrat state senator from NW LA. She is active in many civic organizations.

Henry, formerly of Jonesboro, is a former Democrat House speaker who ran for governor in 1979. He endorsed Republican David Treen in the general election that year. I seem to recall that later he may have defected to the Republican party, but I could be mistaken.

[Theodore R.]

Radio talk show host Moon Griffon, broadcasting statewide from Monroe, has come out against the clemency petition for EWE.He rails against what he calls the "old boys' network" in LA politics.