Holden touts his travel on behalf of BR

• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 24, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 1 a.m.

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In his inaugural address nearly four years ago, Mayor-President Kip Holden acknowledged his reputation as the most-traveled member of the Louisiana Legislature, and vowed to continue hitting the road to sell Baton Rouge.

“I said that I would go anywhere to promote Baton Rouge, and I’ve done just that,” Holden said.
 
Two of Holden’s opponents in the mayor’s race have submitted public records requests for his travel vouchers, which total about $50,000
during his first three-and-a-half years as mayor.

Metro Councilman Wayne Carter, a Republican challenging Holden, got the travel records, and is in the process of pulling together the pay
records of the police officers assigned to protect the mayor.

“If you add up his travel and his bodyguard expenses, it’s more than his salary — by far,” Carter said.

As a first-term mayor, Holden initially was paid $106,925, and has received a 3 percent pay hike each year since taking office.

Records released by the Mayor’s Office to The Advocate show that Holden never had any more than three bodyguards assigned to him,
and only one protecting him at a time.

The salaries paid to the officers to protect and drive Holden totaled $219,513 in 2007.

But police payroll records also show that the officers assigned to Holden could have made more on other assignments.

For example, a former homicide sergeant assigned to Holden earned $68,175 last year. That’s less than the $83,768 that another homicide sergeant made that year, according to the payroll records.

Another Republican contender for mayor, Dan Kyle, also pulled Holden’s travel records, but declined comment on them.

Besides Carter and Kyle, Holden faces fellow Democrat Ron Johnson in the Oct. 4 primary election. The runoff election, if necessary, is Nov. 4.

Johnson said he recognizes that some travel is necessary to network and to sell Baton Rouge.

“But I think you have to have a strategic plan that targets certain types of businesses,” said Johnson, a Democrat.