A good pair of tennis shoes, a handful of loyal volunteers and afew thousand push cards seem like all it would take to run asuccessful campaign for local government.
Or does a candidate need $60,000 in cold cash, business ownerstatus and access to the most influential leaders in town?
Either way Jason Wesley, management senior and former StudentGovernment Vice President, has hit the campaign trail this summerand is seeking a victory in the Metropolitan Council election inSeptember.
Wesley is running for the District 12 seat, currently held byout-going councilman Jim Benham.
Wesley finalized his decision to run in late April and since hasdedicated nearly all of his time to his campaign.
Although Wesley is not yet officially on the ballot, he said hisgoal is to collect 300 signatures from registered voters by thefirst week of July. To officially be on the ballot, a potentialcandidate must pay $230 if they are a Republican or Democrat, orhave 100 signatures.
The “student candidate”
At age 22, some question Wesley’s ability to convince oldervoters he is not too young to sit on the Metro Council.
“I don’t want to be cast aside as the student candidate,” Wesleysaid.
Wesley said he has lived in Baton Rouge his entire life and isconcerned with the issues surrounding it.
William Dickerson, owner of Plank Road Dry Cleaners, is advisingWesley on his campaign and helping to put him in contact with localbusinesses.
Dickerson said Louisiana has a history of electing young,capable officials into office.
“We could go back in history,” Dickerson said. “StateRepresentative Woody Jenkins was 22, Cleo Fields was 23, JohnBreaux was 26, and they all did a good job during theirtenure.”
But Councilman Benham said his son James ran for city councilwhen he was a student at Texas A&M in College Station and lostby a great margin.
The junior Benham was 22 when he ran — the same age as Wesley.But he said even though he was in graduate school and owner of asoftware development company, he still could not escape the stigmaof the “student candidate.”
But James Benham also said Baton Rouge is much bigger thanCollege Station and has a much better voter turn out.
“There are more people that vote in Baton Rouge,” he said.”Typical turnout in an election [in College Station] is 5percent.”
The timing of the election in Texas also played a large role, headded.
The city council elections are held one week after final examsand one week before summer term starts.
“Five students voted on the day of the election,” he said.
The younger Benham said the best advice he could give Wesley isto find out who the real voters are and focus on them.
“The improper strategy to employ is to count on the studentvote,” he said. “The real people that care pay property tax, andthey have a much bigger interest in city politics.”
Issues
On issues, Wesley is most concerned with the council’s lack oflong term planning.
Wesley cited traffic flow as one of Baton Rouge’s biggestproblems.
The Advocate reported in May that a poll conducted by theChamber of Greater Baton Rouge concluded that voters feel trafficis a major problem, too.
According to the poll, 81 percent of voters said they wereunsatisfied with traffic conditions.
“Nothing is being done to shape traffic.” Wesley said. “Theythink it will solve itself, but it will not.”
Wesley said the next logical solution would be to widen BurbankDrive to four lanes.
With commercial and residential developments being built onother main roads, Wesley said Burbank Drive is one of the few thatcan still be widened.
“The council can start laying the foundation now,” Wesley said.”The parish must buy the land, then come up with the plan to payfor [the widening].”
Wesley is also concerned with the communication between theLSUPD and the BRPD, and said a cooperative plan between theorganizations should be established.
Although Wesley said it will not affect all of his district, itis still a crucial issue to the community.
Wesley said better communication could have benefited incapturing both serial killer suspects in a more timely manner.
The Metro Council has control over the police budget — a toolWesley said the council should use for bargaining.
Poor mass transit is another issue Wesley said the council hasignored.
“It is the most ineffective transit system I have ever seen,”Wesley said.
Although Wesley acknowledged that people like to use their carsbecause Baton Rouge is spread out, people within the city stillrely on the bus system.
Wesley said part of the solution is to adapt the bus route tomeet the city’s needs.
“The city needs to stop running huge buses,” Wesley said. “Theyaren’t being used.”
Smaller, more gas efficient buses that run out of several depotsaround town are more practical than the current system, hesaid.
He also said more routes would help travelers get to theirdestinations faster.
To direct the changes, Wesley said the city parish governmentshould hire a city planning engineer to develop a mass transit planfor Baton Rouge.
 
An expensive venture
Chuckling for a moment, Wesley said for the first time in hislife, this campaign has put him in a good amount of debt.
But Wesley also said he thinks his opponents are too concernedwith raising and spending money.
Wesley said opponent Greg Accardo said it will cost around$50,000 to fund his campaign, while Wesley only intends on spendingabout $10,000.
“It’s the Metro Council — take it for what it is,” Wesley said.”Go out and knock on a few doors.”
Now that his bank account is registered with the electionscommission, Wesley said he will begin to solicit money fromcampaign donors.
“I want to print out some push cards, and have some money to buysome pizza and Coke for my volunteers,” Wesley said.
Whether it is raising money or talking about issues, Wesley saidhis main campaign strategy is to get out and get to know thevoters.
“Skyring and Accardo are getting the power players withinfluence,” Wesley said. “My whole game plan is to get [to thestreets] before they do.”
Wesley said if he can contact enough voters, it will not matterhow much money he spends.
Councilman Benham said when he ran twelve years ago for theseat, he spent about $35,000 to $40,000.
“I’d imagine the price right now would be about $50,000 or$60,000, if you want to run an effective campaign,” he said. “Butyou can trade that if you have a real strong grassrootscampaign.”