Charles Foti

Charles Foti
43rd Louisiana Attorney General
In office
January 12, 2004 – January 14, 2008
GovernorKathleen Blanco
Preceded byRichard Ieyoub
Succeeded byBuddy Caldwell
Sheriff of Orleans Parish, Louisiana
In office
1974–2004
Succeeded byMarlin N. Gusman (elected 2004)[1]
Personal details
Born
Charles Carmen Foti Jr.

(1937-11-30) November 30, 1937 (age 86)
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
Residence(s)New Orleans, Louisiana
Alma materUniversity of New Orleans (BA)
Loyola University New Orleans (JD)
ProfessionAttorney
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1955-1958
Battles/warsVietnam War

Charles Carmen Foti Jr. (born November 30, 1937) is a lawyer in New Orleans and a politician who served a single term from 2004 to 2008 as the Democratic Attorney General of the U.S. state of Louisiana, United States. Prior to becoming attorney general, Foti had been repeatedly reelected and served for thirty years as Orleans Parish criminal sheriff.

Foti won the attorney general's office when the incumbent Democrat, Richard Ieyoub of Lake Charles, ran unsuccessfully for governor in the 2003 primary. Foti defeated the Republican candidate, Suzanne Haik Terrell, also of New Orleans, 689,179 votes (54 percent) to 597,917 (46 percent).

Foti failed in his bid to win reelection as attorney general, having finished last in the three-way nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007. The leading candidates were the Republican lawyer, Royal Alexander of Shreveport, and the Democratic District Attorney, Buddy Caldwell, of Tallulah. Caldwell won the general election[2] and was sworn in to replace Foti on January 14, 2008. Caldwell later switched to the Republican Party in 2011, to secure his second term.

On February 1, 2014, Foti ran again for the Orleans Parish sheriff's position; he finished second in a four-candidate field. He polled 23,676 votes (28.6 percent). Foti's fellow Democrat and successor as sheriff, Marlin N. Gusman, with 40,557 votes (48.9 percent), nearly won the position outright in the nonpartisan blanket primary.[3] Foti and Gusman entered a runoff election on March 15,[4] in which Gusman handily prevailed, 40,068 (66.7 percent) to Foti's 19,996 (33.3 percent).[5]

  1. ^ "Louisiana general election returns, November 2, 2004". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  2. ^ "Results for Election Date: 11/17/2007". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  3. ^ "Louisiana election returns, February 1, 2014". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  4. ^ "Jarvis DeBerry, Sheriff Marlin Gusman's re-election bid thwarted by Quentin Brown, lawn-care guy, February 3, 2014". New Orleans Times-Picayune. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  5. ^ "Results for Election Date: 3/15/2014: Orleans Parish". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved April 24, 2014.