Art Sour - Defeating Frank Fulco

Defeating Frank Fulco

When a single-member district plan took effect with the general election held on February 1, 1972, Sour, who was committed to the gubernatorial candidacy of fellow Republican David C. Treen of Jefferson Parish, upset Democrat Frank Fulco, a protégé of the Longs and a former member of the Share the Wealth Club, to win the first of his five terms in the legislature. Sour, in District 6, defeated Fulco, 5,564 (53.2 percent) to 4,886 (46.8 percent). Shreveport political observers said that Fulco had ignored his fellow Roman Catholic Sour, already a two-time loser for the legislature, and concentrated instead on lining up commitments to become the next Speaker of the House, a position which ultimately went to Fulco's fellow Democrat, E.L. "Bubba" Henry of Jonesboro in Jackson Parish. Other Republicans elected with Sour were B.F. O'Neal, Jr., of Shreveport, Clark Gaudin of Baton Rouge, and Charles D. Lancaster, Jr., of Metairie in Jefferson Parish.

In 1975, when Sour was reelected, he had only four Republican colleagues, and one of those, A.J. McNamara of Jefferson Parish, was actually elected as a Democrat but switched affiliation in 1977.

In the October 24, 1987, nonpartisan blanket primary, Sour had a close call. He defeated Democrat Greg Barro, later a state senator, by only seventy-seven votes. Sour received 5,744 votes (50.3 percent) to Barro's 5,667 (49.7 percent). That election provided a warning to Sour, who was a leading conservative among Republicans in northwest Louisiana.

Like his Louisiana legislative colleague Louis E. "Woody" Jenkins, Sour was a member of the Council for National Policy, a conservative alternative to the Council on Foreign Relations. The CNP, which meets in Washington, was begun by either Texas billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt or Virginia direct-mail operative Richard Viguerie as a potential balance to the CFR. CNP members included the conservative spokespersons Phyllis Schlafly and Paul Weyrich.