Public forum to address citizen concerns, office-seekers' platforms and measure z
Robert Rogers, SB Sun Staff Writer 092606
SAN BERNARDINO - The three candidates vying for the city's vacant 3rd Ward City Council seat will square off tonight in a public forum in council chambers.
The Chamber of Commerce- sponsored event begins at 7 p.m. and marks the first time the three candidates for the seat, which was vacated by Gordon McGinnis, will address the public and explain their positions on issues.
The format will provide each candidate a three-minute opening statement and two minutes to address each of six questions. Candidates also have two minutes for closing statements.
"This is our way of ensuring that citizens may be informed about the candidates and able to make wise decisions come November," said chamber Executive Assistant Susan Kitchen.
The candidates for the 3rd ward are: Gwen Terry, 48, a secretary who has served on the city's telecommunications and police commissions; Tobin Brinker, 38, a Rialto teacher and former Colton School board member; and Randy Lally, 31, a fleet manager for JB Hunt and graduate student at Cal State San Bernardino.
Each candidate has been provided the six questions, which Kitchen described as "business- related," and span the spectrum of issues from what candidates would do to address crime to how to attract businesses and what to do to rebuild blight.
But, knowing that Tuesday night's forum will be one of their few opportunities to address a wide audience, candidates said on Monday they were eager to differentiate themselves from their opponents by touching their own central issues.
"I'm going emphasize that my heart is deeply in this, that I am the grass-roots candidate who best represents this community," said Terry, who has garnered endorsements from McGinnis, 6th Ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson, the Democratic Luncheon Club and a coalition of leaders of local black churches.
Brinker said Monday that he was confident in his ability to present himself as the candidate of "new ideas," and said he would tell potential voters that he would push for greater cooperation between local police and schools to crack down on truancy.
"Our schools have a very high rate of dropouts and truancy," Brinker said. "The schools could benefit from a partnership with police to help reduce the number of kids who are not going to school."
Brinker has been endorsed by Councilman Neil Derry and the police union.
Lally, who has no major endorsements, paints himself as an outsider and an alternative to his opponents, who he said are destined to be party-line voters who will join one of two camps on the council.
The City Council is regularly divided on issues, with councilmember Derry, Chas Kelley and Wendy McCammack on one side and Johnson, Esther Estrada and Dennis Baxter on the other. Mayor Pat Morris, who owns the tiebreaker, generally sides with Johnson, Estrada and Baxter.
Both Terry and Brinker brush aside suggestions that they will tip the council's power balance one way or the other.
"Let's be honest. I am clearly the only true swing vote in this race," Lally said. "The voters in my ward want someone who brings what I bring, an independence that is accountable only to them and who will shake things up a bit in City Hall."
Kitchen said that after the candidate forum, speakers may speak for and against Measure Z, the quarter-percent sales tax increase Morris says is critical for public safety.
Joseph Turner, who gained notoriety in the city with an anti-illegal-immigration measure, said he would be the speaker against Measure Z, but Kitchen said late Monday that it was unclear who would speak.
BS Ranch Perspective:
This is the great time of Politics, the only bad part is that I cannot watch the debates because I don't get the local channel for the City of San Bernardino, Debates. On the other hand I can read about them in tomorrow's paper, and I can say that I hope that the guy or persons that swing more to the right, like way over to the right wins the debate. After all I am a right thinker, I am not one to think with the left side of my brain!
So what ever your politics, please think that they are to the right! or conservative, because that is the only way to fly! as they say straighten up and Fly "RIGHT"! Never fear, the RIGHT is here. see there are many rhymes that are great and work this way, see you when the polls open!!
BSRanch
BSRanch
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