Former East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Councilman Byron Sharper has added his name to the list of candidates seeking the Baton Rouge mayor’s office.
Sharper officially announced his campaign today at a press conference in front of City Hall downtown. He joins former state Sen. Sharon Weston Broome and current Metro Councilman John Delgado as the only announced candidates so far.
Current Mayor Kip Holden is term-limited and cannot run again.
Sharper, who lost his Metro Council seat to current state Rep. C. Denise Marcelle in 2008, is running on a platform that is highly focused on reviving and directing resources to north Baton Rouge as a means to uplift and bring balance to the entire parish. He says if elected he will focus on rebuilding northern part of the city and parish during his first two years.
“In order for Baton Rouge to be great, we’re going to have to bring balance to other parts of the parish,” Sharper says in a telephone interview.
While Sharper says he open to engaging Baton Rouge’s business community in building up north Baton Rouge, he says it’s necessary to make sure all stakeholders have “a seat at the table” when it comes making decisions about the city and its direction rather than a privileged few.
Sharper says he has quietly spent the last two and a half years preparing to run for the mayor’s office and has been meeting with students and civic and social groups.
To that end, Sharper says he has spoken to other Baton Rouge mayors and wants to be a mayor who has open lines of communication with officials inside and outside of the parish.
“I think it’s a shame that we’ve had a mayor-president who hasn’t had an open line of communication with those mayors,” Sharper says of Holden, who was Sharper’s political adversary when Sharper was a member of the Metro Council.
A long list of potential candidates remains, including but not limited to, State Sen. Bodi White, former Baton Rouge Police Chief Jeff LeDuff, state Rep. Steve Carter, and attorney Marty Maley. State Rep. Edward “Ted” James and former Planning Commission member Sarah Holliday-James have said they will not seek the office.
—Alexandria Burris
