It isn’t often public officials get involved with Student Government, but Monday night was different.East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden spoke in front of a crowd of about 60 students Monday night before an organizational meeting for the Unity ’09 Student Government ticket.Holden was invited to speak by Ari Krupkin, SG presidential candidate. Krupkin worked with Holden while the mayor-president was still in the state legislature, where Krupkin was a page.Krupkin contacted Holden through his son, Brian Holden, who is running for College of Engineering Council president on the Unity ‘09 ticket. Kip Holden spoke to the group about his history of public office campaigns and the importance of having a unified electorate when seeking office. He also stressed the necessity of remembering the voters following an election.”When you talk about campaigns, it’s good to say ‘I,I,I,'” Kip Holden said. “But if you don’t have the ‘we,’ then you’re going to fail.”Though he was familiar with Krupkin and hopeful for his son’s success, Kip Holden said he wouldn’t endorse a particular party in the University’s SG election.”I will not get involved with party politics,” Holden said. “But I have my son and a great friend here, and I wish them the best of luck.”Kip Holden related stories of his past experiences in the Baton Rouge political scene and said the ideals of the Unity ‘09 ticket mirrored the way he ran his campaigns.Krupkin said after years of knowing Holden, he looked to him as an example of what good politics can be and hopes to emulate the mayor-president’s political qualities.”I want to show the students how uniting as a body, whether Baton Rouge or LSU, is fundamentally beneficial to the community,” Krupkin said.Both Krupkin and Holden spoke about their excitement about having a diverse ticket. They discussed the importance of having a group of supporters which is diverse — both racially and politically.Campus political groups have already taken notice of the Unity ‘09 campaign. Members of both the College Democrats and the College Republicans attended the meeting.Kevin Guillory, College Democrats president, said the executive board of the College Democrats had officially endorsed the Unity ‘09 ticket. Though members of the organization are working on other campaigns as well, the officers have decided to back Krupkin and Melanie Oubre based on previous encounters with the pair.Before the campaign season began, Oubre was the vice-president of the College Democrats, and the organization worked with Krupkin when he was president of Tigers for Isreal.Though the College Republicans have chosen not to officially endorse any particular SG ticket, Chuck Fontenot, College Republicans president, was there to show his support for Unity ‘09.Fontenot said while his organization was not supporting the ticket, he chose to personally back Krupkin and Oubre because he agreed with their budget-trimming policies.”Unifying the campus is something that needs to be done,” Fontenot said. “This is a non-partisian race, it’s about who has the best ideas.”—-Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]