Kip is really very accomplished. He was able to get White Republicans to vote for him and feel relatively good about it. It has been impossible to live here without bumping into him all over town and his old-school Pol instincts are impeccable. He returns calls, kisses babies, attends ribbon-cuttings, patronizes businesses, etc. He probably makes 5 football games per Friday night each week. So people admire his optimistic energy.

His primary appeal is that he actually likes the people of Baton Rouge and he is a BIG TIME Cheerleader/ Advocate for Baton Rouge. People sense that he honestly wanted the best for Baton Rouge.

The problem is that over time, he has been on the wrong side of so many issues that he has lost support.Many People (for right or wrong) now view him as largely indistinguishable from other black Democratic -Machine Mayors-minus The Hate Whitey Shtick. And there is a sense that just below the surface there lingers a scandal in the making as often happens in these parts.

Almost every person I know likes Kip on a personal level. And I'm talking people that may not even vote for him. On a message board he'll get the typical Blue-Velvet-Baton-Rouge-Sucks-level- broad criticism. But I really like Kip. Doubt I'd ever vote for him above the local level under any circumstances though.

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Posted by LSURussian

Member since Feb 2005

126962 posts

Posted on 12/16/14 at 1:22 pm to Lsupimp

quote:
Many People (for right or wrong) now view him as largely indistinguishable from other black Democratic -Machine Mayors-

I'd like to know who these "many people" are, excluding anyone who lives in what would be St George.

Kip takes the lead on beating down the race baiters on the CP council. When the Katrina trash moved to BR following the storm, he called them "thugs" and said the BRPD was not going to allow them to run the city. The "70802" policing project has been more successful than I ever thought it would. Baton Rouge still has crime, as does any city, but it's mainly confined to certain known areas and arrests are made almost daily.

Kip is no Eric Holder.

He has been very fiscally conservative, as evidenced by Baton Rouge being the only Louisiana city with a triple A credit rating, the highest rating possible.

He even turned against his own previous chief of staff who was running the redevelopment agency after Monsour requested guaranteed CP funding for his agency while he was making over $350,000 in total compensation. Monsour resigned and his resignation was precipitated by Holden's very critical comments of him, including saying Monsour never got his hands dirty working anywhere but would only just hold them out for money.

I voted against Kip's Downtown Disney tax proposals as did a majority of voters who voted. And I voted for Mike Walker in the last mayor's election mainly because I didn't want a lame-duck, term limited mayor in office.

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