Other candidates seeking votes

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Apr 23, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:10 a.m.

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Three candidates outside of the major political parties are pushing hard for attention in their bid for 6th U.S. Congressional District seat.

Two third-party candidates, Peter Aranyosi of Hammond and Ashley Casey of Baton Rouge, and Constitution party candidate Randall Hayes of Winnfield, will be on the ballot May 3.

Because the three are not running on the Republican or Democratic ticket, they did not have to run in the primary elections held by the two major parties in March and April.

State Rep. Don Cazayoux, D- New Roads, and Republican Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge, a former state representative, are the major party candidates in this election.

Casey has been the most vocal of the three candidates not affiliated with a major party.

Casey equates a seat in Congress to a position as “board member of the United States.”

She is pursuing votes as actively as her Republican and Democrat opponent, visiting local government meetings, mingling in community events, even shaking hands as people mailed off their taxes last week, she said.

Casey disapproved of the assistance that Jenkins’ and Cazayoux’s campaigns are getting from the state and national parties.

“I believe the race should be run here in the Baton Rouge area, in the district,” she said. “It doesn’t take all that money to win a campaign like this.”

Casey said she now qualifies to disclose her campaign finances to the Federal Election Commission. She asked Jenkins and Cazayoux to drop their party support.

“Whoever donates to your campaign, donates to your party, should not determine the course of policy in America,” she said.

As of Tuesday, no report of her spending or contributions was available online by the commission.

Education, health care and transportation are big topics of discussion in the district, Casey said, but the major issue she sees is reigning in government spending.