Tim Burns: He Finds Segway To Beat Odds
by Cindy Chang - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

During his first run for public office in 2003, Tim Burns hit on an idea for attracting attention to his underdog candidacy in Louisiana's 89th House District.

The Mandeville lawyer and accountant had built a solid private-sector resumé. But he possessed little political experience beyond a stint as a lobbyist, and influential Republicans in the conservative district were supporting one of his opponents.

Burns began performing his door-knocking rounds on a Segway, the two-wheeled, battery-operated device vaguely resembling a scooter. At the time, it had been available to the public for less than a year, and Burns says he was the first U.S. politician to use it on the campaign trail.

"That's how I was known. I was the guy on the Segway," he recalled.

Burns pulled off the upset in that election, and he attracted no opposition when he signed up last year for a second term.

Now his fleet of Segways has grown to four, for himself and staffers, and he again hopes to ride to victory over an opponent with heavyweight backers, this time as one of four Republicans vying to succeed Bobby Jindal in the U.S. House.

His geeky brand of attention-getting, combined with a knack for churning out controversial bills even as a newcomer, has kept Burns, 50, in the spotlight as he begins his second term in the Legislature. While pursuing a socially conservative and small government agenda, the Republican lawmaker also published his third book, a self-help treatise called "Midlife Tune-Up" that was inspired by his own midlife crisis.

"I'm not fazed by it. It was the exact same scenario when I ran before," Burns said. "All the heavy hitters were lined up behind my opponent. They were all at a party at Sal and Judy's, and 10 days later, I won the election."

To make up ground, Burns has been going on the attack with verbal salvos at candidate forums and elsewhere. He accuses Scalise, a 12-year state representative before moving to the state Senate on Jan. 14, of kowtowing to business interests and engaging in dirty tactics during the current campaign.

"I've been independent and run against the grain. I do what I think is right," Burns said. "When you're totally independent, you sometimes don't end up with a lot of endorsements."