A young Democrat

• By ED CULLEN
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jul 2, 2008 - Page: 1E - UPDATED: 12:30 a.m.

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At the Scott dinner table in Shreveport, politics often arrived before dessert.

“Since I was a little girl I watched the political conventions,” said Ashley Scott, who at 24 will be one of the youngest delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28.

Scott, a Southern University graduate student in public administration, was just finishing her third session’s work in the Louisiana Legislature and packing for a vacation trip to Chicago.

Scott was chosen as an at-large delegate for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama at a May Democratic Party gathering in Baton Rouge.

“The party was trying to get more young people involved, and I think they were impressed by how much I’d done at my age,” she said.

“Health care is one of my top priorities” for the Democratic convention “and education.”

“Sen. Obama has talked about (former) students doing community service to pay back their student loans,” Scott said.

A tight job market, rising gasoline prices and Republicans and Democrats not working together are concerns for young voters, Scott said.

“Gasoline prices are important when you’re barely making ends meet,” she said.

Delegates to the national convention pay their own way.

“You’re responsible for transportation, food and lodging,” Scott said. “My family’s helping me.”

Scott’s master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in public policy will give her “a background in legislative law and how different departments — example — use those laws and how the laws affect people.”

As an aide in the Legislature and, this last session, working for a lobbyist, Scott said she saw “behind the scenes” first from the viewpoint of elected officials and, then, from lobbyists.