The Freeman Report

Sid Edwards never intented to run for political office. People had asked him to run for Mayor of Central and Parish Council in East Baton Rouge, but as he said "I am a head coach, not an assistant coach."

Given the current political climate he considered running for Mayor and finally qualified on the last day. Not many gave him a chance and, in fact, several prominent Republicans decided to support one of the two major Democrat candidates. Just before election night the polls had Coach Sid running third at 23% while the two Democrats were at 28% and 29%. Although I thought he might make the run-off, even I was stunned when the final numbers of primary were in and Sid was leading with 34% and the current Mayor was at 31%. The Republican supported Democrat who was at 29% never moved from that number. Seems both nationally and locally pollsters did not get it right.

What impressed me about Sid was he came in first with just $80,000 in campaign funds while the other two spent around $1.3 million. Sid's thought, along with many others is 70% of East Baton Rouge Parish voters voted for a change. I had never met Coach Sid until we did this podcast. I have followed him for years as both a football and basketball coach and he has had success at every school he has coached. He is currently coaching in one of the most impoverished areas of Baton Rouge and believes it is a calling.

Just after we recorded this podcast, the democrat who came in 3rd endorsed the current Mayor which to me was a big surprise as the two went after each in several debates. The current Mayor put out an attack ad that was secretly recorded by an associate of hers. Guess party outweighs the nastiness that occurred between the two. Sid took the high road in the primary and also during the podcast.

Personally, I think it comes down to - do we want four more years of the same as the last eight years or try something new. I believe we need to try something new. For the current Mayor to say during the last debate as part of her campaign "...You have someone who knows about a budget, who can craft a budget.." is not a great platform to run on. Homecides up in Baton Rouge and we need new leadership.

Enjoy,
KF