Four candidates for East Baton Rouge Mayor-President will takepart in a forum tonight at Pennington Biomedical Center.
The Federation of Greater Baton Rouge Civic Associations isholding a mayoral candidate forum from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. to letcandidates share their policy platforms and answer questions fromthe audience.
The forum is the first formal debate to include the fourcandidates.
Forum Chairperson Cynthia Wilkinson said former Registrar ofVoters Nat Bankston, State Representative William Daniel, StateSenator Kip Holden and incumbent Mayor-President Bobby Simpson haveconfirmed attendance.
Former candidate for Insurance Commissioner John B. Fontenottold The Reveille he had planned to attend, but will be unable tobecause of a death in his family.
He also said he has not officially decided to run, but isstrongly considering it.
Former State Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle said he wasconsidering attending, but will not because he has not formallydecided to run in the election.
Wilkinson said the Federation, which is an umbrella group forhomeowner associations throughout East Baton Rouge Parish, wantedto have the debate early so citizens can participate in thecampaigns.
“We will provide the audience with as much information aspossible, so people can decide who to support,” Wilkinson said.”Also [they can] decide if they want to get involved or volunteeron the campaign.”
Wilkinson said moderator John Pastorek, WBRZ news correspondent,will give a brief biography of each candidate, who then will havefive minutes to make opening remarks.
Audience members can submit index cards with questions forcandidates throughout the debate, Wilkinson said.
Daniel’s campaign manager Glenda Parks said Daniel is”absolutely attending,” and intends to address issues regardingtraffic problems, police pay and Daniel’s proposed inner and outerhighway loop in Baton Rouge.
Bankston’s political consultant Gary Wiener did not return callsby press time.
Holden said because the Federation, which often is concernedwith neighborhood zoning and development, is sponsoring the event,he will focus mostly on economic development and traffic.
Holden said if elected, he plans to hire an urban planner with aprove track record dealing with developers and home owners.
“We have to develop a sensible way to reduce the friction thatexists in [commercial] planning and zoning cases,” Holden said.
Holden also said he plans on hiring a professional trafficengineer to work with the planner.
The current administration has not addressed either of theseissues, Holden said.
Simpson’s campaign confirmed he will be attending, but did notreturn calls regarding his political platform by press time.
Simpson’s Web site says his featured issue is the BlightElmination Team. The team is designed to make cleaning up “problemproperties” around Baton Rouge easier by contacting one centrallocation that can solve the problem.
The forum is free and open to the public. Doors will open at6:30 p.m.