225BatonRouge.com

This fall, attorney Jerry Arbour finally came up a winner. After five failed bids for judge, he found an elected position so overlooked, so jejune, that he was almost unopposed: East Baton Rouge Parish school board.

His opponent, J. Cooper Harrell, told supporters to donate to Hurricane Katrina relief instead of his own campaign. But he opted into the race at the 11th hour to help implement a strategic plan he and fellow board members approved in June.

Talking to The Advocate just days before the election, Arbour, a former chairman of the parish Republican Party and the Alcohol Beverage Control and Gaming Enforcement Board, admitted he had not yet read the plan.

What does it say about our school board when only two candidates sign up for the race, and then only one of them actually campaigns?

Arbour will serve out Pace's term, which expires Dec. 31, 2006. Then he may run a type of campaign next fall that's new for him: re-election.