Mayoral Townhall at Harrison Sets the Tone for the Upcoming Campaign
The race for Mayor of Evansville got a jumpstart today at William Henry Harrison High School in a town hall style of forum where candidates Lloyd Winnecke and Rick Davis answered questions posed by students of Evansville’s high schools. The format of the day was a one minute opening followed by twelve questions to which each candidate had two minutes to respond to.
The demeanor of the candidates toward one another was candid and respectful with no personal barbs as has become routine in American politics. The City County Observer was on the premises to report and would like to congratulate and thank both candidates for the respectful manner that they treated each other and the various ideas that each campaign has put forward to improve Evansville.
The first question addressed what a Mayor should and can to keep Evansville safe. The candidates agree that public safety is the number one job of government. Mr. Winnecke expanded with an intention to address the maintenance issues within the City of Evansville’s fleet of police and fire vehicles which has been a nagging concern during the Weinzapfel administration with parts being scavenged from one vehicle to keep another rolling.
Next up was a question on “how to get the people of Evansville involvedâ€. Mr. Davis was first to answer to tout his proposal to hire 50 young people per summer to keep the parks clean but to also leverage the new $128 Million Ford Center to have more young person friendly events than Roberts Stadium has been holding. He particularly cited Roberts for only having 10 concerts in the last year and committed to hold VenuWorks feet to the fire. Mr. Winnecke in a departure from what may be expected acknowledged the litter problem in Evansville and stated an intention to hold monthly neighborhood cleanups that he will personally participate in. He stated that this program while easy is the type of thing that instills civic pride in the community which is missing in some areas.
The subject of consolidation was breached in what was the biggest point of difference of the day. Mr. Winnecke stated his agreement with the theory of consolidation along with his support for the referendum process to allow the people of Vanderburgh County to choose their form of government. Mr. Davis came out as emphatically planning to vote no for consolidation based on the fact that no real savings has been identified in the current plan and stated his support for the so called “threshold rejection†that requires both the city and county to pass this independently for consolidation to be enacted. In an animated moment he referred to the current situation where the city has enough voters to effectively annex the county at the ballot box as a “shotgun weddingâ€.
The next student inquisitor asked what may be done by 2016 when he will be graduating from college about creating a job that he can come back to. Mr. Winnecke used this question as an opportunity to tout some elements of the jobs plan that he released in June like the technology transfer agreement between GAGE and the Federal Labs Consortium and to state that the Mayor should be the chief salesperson for the City of Evansville. He also stated that he would like to eliminate local government red tape so that permitting is simplified. Mr. Davis also touted elements from the jobs plan that he released today with particular preference stated for business retention and expansion. Using a metaphor of growing a one pound bass into a two pound bass as being a very effective way to grow sustainable jobs for Evansville.
Meth was the next topic that was brought up with Mr. Davis expanding on his plan from the previous week that would work to make pseudoephedrine based medicines require a prescription. He told the crowd about how an elementary school child explained to him how the meth dealers in a house that recently exploded would alert the “meth heads†that they were open for business by strategically placing a bicycle in a place that meant “openâ€. In the only barb of the day Mr. Davis mentioned that Mr. Winnecke was only calling for education on this subject. Mr. Winnecke then countered that by stating that he had never been criticized before for supporting education and continued to expand on how meth is a serious problem and that using law enforcement and education are critical tools to use to fight this battle.
In a quirky question the next student asked “what is something about your own party’s position that you do not personally agree with� Mr. Winnecke candidly and quickly stated that he disagrees with the Republican Party position with respect to gay rights. For those who do not know that would mean that Mr. Winnecke supports the rights of gay people not to be discriminated against. Mr. Davis stated that even though he is a staunch Democrat that he departs from the party position on the subject of gun control and is himself a member of the National Rifle Association.
The remainder of the questioning was directed at more traditional campaign topics like “tell me why I should vote for youâ€, “who influenced you mostâ€, and “what will you do first when you take officeâ€. Of course both candidates spoke the truth when talking about their educations, their many years of board membership, and of course giving credit to family and teachers. Mr. Winnecke did mention that one of his biggest influences was President Ronald Reagan.
The townhall closed with a one minute appeal from each candidate to the students to register to vote and to be a part of the election process as a volunteer and to be sure and vote in their first election.
From the City County Observer we thank both candidates for keeping it respectful, being well prepared, and for sharing where you depart from your party’s positions. The CCO supports both gay rights and the 2nd amendment so these “break from the pack†positions were welcomed and appreciated. We are looking forward to the next two debates.
EVANSVILLE, IN. – For the 37th year, the Frog Follies return the Vanderburgh 4-H Center in Evansville this weekend for the annual E’ville Iron Street Rod Club car show. This event draws approximately 12,000 people and 3,500-4,000 vintage cars from throughout the United States to participate in what has become our most successful leisure market event of the year. August 26th, 27th, 28th, 2011
