An Iowa State professor filed his petition Sept. 18 to run for the fourth ward seat of the Ames City Council with a total of 19 signatures, the bare minimum required for filing.

Joseph Viles, associate professor of genetics, development and cell biology, said some of the signatures he collected didn’t count because people signed his petition who thought they lived in the fourth ward, but actually lived in the third ward.

If any of those 19 signatures are not eligible, “his name will not be on the ballot,” said Mayor Ted Tedesco

“[The auditor] has to determine if they are registered, eligible voters,” Tedesco said.

Viles, who has labeled his campaign “Students are Real People,” is not worried.

“If I don’t make it through the auditor’s office, I’ll survive and so will the ‘Students are Real People’ campaign,” Viles said. “If I’m not running, I would suggest the students vote for students.”

Viles said he is running because the city of Ames “abuses” students, particularly through ordinances like the couch ordinance and over occupancy restrictions, because they are not represented on the City Council.

“ISU students are the disenfranchised majority here in Ames, Iowa,” he said. “On the other hand, they’re the economic engine that drives the city of Ames.”

Students are also burdened through parking fines, Viles said.

“The city has doubled the parking fines but they’re only enforcing it in Campustown,” he said.

Ames Police Cmdr. Jim Robinson said the Ames Police are not “just keying in on one specific area.”

“I can assure the citizens of our community that parking fines are not being enforced in select areas,” Robinson said. “They are being enforced city-wide.”

Viles also accused the police of going after specific bar owners.

The police send an underage person into a bar with a fake ID and have them buy alcohol, he said.

“The city of Ames has an interesting way of enforcing this underage ordinance — entrapment,” Viles said. Robinson said the police will conduct “compliance checks” and use other means to determine if bars are following the law.

Compliance checks include having a cooperative underage individual go into an establishment.

“If the individual is stopped at the door and refused service, then [the business is] in compliance with the law,” Robinson said.

The police also use more “proactive” ways of preventing underage individuals in bars, Robinson said. The Ames Police send officers into an establishment to check identification and watch for actions that may tip them off to underage individuals.

Policing, however, is not Viles’ only concern. Student representation on the council is a major part of his campaign. Students have enough votes to take the third and fourth ward, both at-large seats and the mayor, Viles said.

“There’s enough student votes to split it and still elect a student,” he said.

Tedesco said to his knowledge, there has never been a student mayor, at least not in the last 50 years. The next mayoral election is in November 2005.

“Certainly the job of mayor would take a lot of time away from the school requirements,” Tedesco said. “I think it would be very detrimental to [a student’s] school work.”

Viles said his campaign is “history in the making.”

“Essentially, what I am doing is advocating a [student] rebellion,” he said. “The student body at this university has not realized their political clout.”

Viles made headlines in September 2002 when he was found guilty of beating his dog in his car parked on Welch Ave. May 11.

He was fined $500 and was barred from owning or maintaining dogs in the state of Iowa. Later the same month, Viles pleaded guilty to two counts of animal neglect.

Viles said he doesn’t believe his history of animal neglect will have a significant effect on voters.

“The people who are going to vote against me are going to vote against me regardless,” Viles said.

— Daily staff reports contributed to this article.