Posted on 11/03/2004 1:22:20 PM PST by Theodore R.
Holden apparent winner in mayor-president race
By SCOTT DYER sdyer@theadvocate.com Advocate staff writer
With 100 percent of East Baton Rouge precincts reporting, state Sen. Kip Holden was apparently on his way Wednesday to becoming the first African-American mayor-president in Baton Rouge history. Holden, a Democrat who made two unsuccessful bids for mayor-president before Tuesday's successful showing, had 94,802 votes, or 54 percent of the ballots counted, with all 300 of the parish's precincts reporting.
Meanwhile, incumbent Mayor-President Bobby Simpson, a Republican, was a distant second with 81,142 votes, or 46 percent.
In his acceptance speech late Tuesday, Holden urged Baton Rougeans to "put their differences aside and join together to move forward."
Holden pledged to use his new office to work to promote economic development and education, while fighting crime.
"We cannot prey on one another, we must pray for one another," Holden said.
Meanwhile, Simpson was slow to concede the election, noting that he had never failed to finish on top in any previous election.
"But if the numbers remain as they are, it looks like Baton Rouge has chosen a new mayor -- and I want to congratulate Kip on a lifelong dream of his," Simpson said.
Tuesday's showdown was a rematch of the 2000 mayor-president runoff, which Simpson won with 57 percent of vote.
But while the 2000 campaign was relatively amiable on both sides, this year's Simpson-Holden contest took on a nasty tone.
In this runoff, Simpson focused much of his ads on Holden's legislative record, especially on tax votes and controversial social issues.
One Simpson television ad hammered Holden for supporting every tax bill in the 2002 and 2003 legislative session, fighting the ban on gay marriage and taking in thousands from video poker in his bar before the poker machines were outlawed in East Baton Rouge Parish in mid-1999.
And a Simpson newspaper ad reminded voters that "while Kip Holden was raising our taxes, he raised his own pay in the Legislature twice."
Holden said Simpson was distorting his voting record in the ads, trying to unfairly paint him as an anti-business liberal.
As proof of his business support, Holden pointed to his endorsement by Democratic booster Jim Bernhard, president and chief executive officer of The Shaw Group, Baton Rouge's only Fortune 500 company.
Holden also complained that by attacking his voting records, Simpson broke his promise to steer clear of any negative campaigning.
Simpson countered that he wasn't running a negative campaign, but merely exposing Holden's record.
Simpson said Holden didn't need to run any attack ads, because a local political action committee, BRNEXT, was already running an "anybody but Bobby campaign."
In its latest campaign finance report, BRNEXT reported raising $59,743 in donations between Aug. 30 and Oct. 13, including a $50,000 contribution from The Shaw Group.
For the same period, BRNEXT reported a total of $80,100 in loans from sources related to Lane Grigsby, who chairs the political action committee.
In all, Grigsby-related sources have loaned BRNEXT more than $300,000 this year.
Simpson complained that BRNEXT ran several ads and e-mails that unfairly smeared his record as mayor-president.
While BRNEXT was blasting Simpson on the airwaves and over the Internet, Holden was showing off many endorsements that he had received from high-profile Democrats, including Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
One of Holden's endorsements came from a Republican, former Gov. Buddy Roemer, who said Tuesday that Holden has promised to hold the line on taxes.
Roemer called Holden's election an exciting opportunity for Baton Rouge.
"We have a chance to pull a city together. We'll do more together than apart," Roemer said.
in LA are there still some undecided congressional seats in a runoff?
LOL!
Only in Louisiana.
You hit the nail right on the head. My family still lives in Baton Rouge and they were very upset about this election. The campaign was very negative but Holden used others to do the hatchet job on Simpson.
Very bad news for Baton Rouge.
As much as I dislike this result, it is about time that Baton Rouge elected a Mayor-President who does not live in Baker. When I lived in Baton Rouge it sickened me that the Mayor-Presidents were from Baker, and seemed to ignore opportunities to improve conditions in areas of Baton Rouge that did not impact the Baker area.
As far as Holden being able to accomplish much, I have serious doubts since the tax base is not there for any grand projects, and it will be difficult to attract the businesses necessary to improve the tax base without significant improvements in the public education system. All that will occur is that priorities will be shifted as to where current fund levels will be spent.
The City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge have had a combined city-parish government for many years. The presiding executive is called the "Mayor-President."
For many years in the 1960s and maybe the 1970s this position was filled by a popular Democrat named Woody Dumas.
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