Monday, April 26, 2010

League of Women Voters Hosts Candidate Showdown

Although one DarkeJournal fan called the evening a "bust," a good crowd of citizens was able to become better acquainted with its primary candidates Monday evening at the Greenville American Legion.

State Senate candidates Joe LeMaster and Bill Beagle started the debate portion of the evening, both acquitting themselves well.

Judge Mike Hall and George Reynolds were next. The consensus was the Reynolds is analytical, while Hall is very well-spoken.

And that led to the much-anticipated debate of the commission candidates. Ed Huffman said: "I think our greatest asset is our citizens." Bob Robinson noted: "I've gotten a good feel for what the people want in Darke County." And Mike Stegall commented: "Darke County has been good to me. I want to give back."

A significant disagreement was established over the building of a new courts facility. Robinson favored refurbishing the existing buildings. Huffman said you don't be a new car when you have a used car budget (i.e. no new courts building). Stegall, however, favored the new courts complex and argued that it could be built with no new taxes through grants and other sources.

The quote of the night went to Bob Robinson, who said: "I'm not a crime fighter, I'm a crime supporter." Haha - Robinson quickly corrected his slip of the tongue.

There were no knockout blows, each candidate left the forum ready for the final week of the campaign.

Prior to the debate portion, unopposed candidates (or their representatives) were allowed to give short statements. John Kasich's representative knocked it out of the park, while Josh Mandel's rep was also excellent.

Huffman, Robinson, and Stegall as seen through a low-quality phone camera

13 comments:

  1. I think Elvis is in that picture somewhere as well. I just can't make it out for sure.

    Bad shot when the front two tables are apparently completely vacant. Says a lot, unfortunately.

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  2. I think this blog and/or the Advocate should find and report the truth about an important question asked and answered at last night's forum. Two commissioner candidates oppose the $9-10 million courthouse addition because of the required debt. One candidate favors it and said it can be built with no debt. Although most political issues are shades of gray, this is either black or white. Very simple. How much is required to be borrowed, all or none?

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  3. too bad the "gritty" questions weren't asked! It was rather bland.

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  4. For those of you who don't realize it, all politicians are dishonest and liars. They say what they want to get your vote, then later recant on promises they made. Simple enough.

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  5. True enough, Dick. But when you get a chance to openly disprove an obvious lie and do not take it; then who is the fool?

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  6. The questions come from the audience.

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  7. Not all the questions are accepted. for instance---shouldn't commissioners own land in Darke County? One doesn't.

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  8. I would have to say that not being a land owner is one of the poorest excuses I've ever heard for not voting for a candidate. Talk about drawing at straws.

    You don't have to own land in the United States to be President. You don't have to own land in Ohio to be governor. Renters are not lessor residents.

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  9. I think it is the fact that the commissioners control the property taxes and having a commissioner not affected by having to pay property taxes gets under some people's skin. Kind of a "do as I say, not as I do" scenario. You know, like a treasury secretary telling people to pay their taxes and collecting delinquent debts, but having not paid his own. Yes, enforce something against someone else, not yourself. That sort of thing. Just to a different extent.

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  10. Qualifications for County Commissioner are: at least 18 years of age, a resident of the County, and a rectal temperature of 98.6 degrees.

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  11. The vacant table was my idea. I moved all the chairs away but one. That was for a poster that wasn't filmed after all. We decided less was more. I think that the thought of dragging more chairs up to that table to sit beside a crazy women holding large signs was more than most people wanted to deal with that night. : ) And what were the "gritty" questions that didn't get addressed?

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  12. Holly, I thought that the "taxing" of Eldora might have come up?

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  13. Wow. The Eldora thing didn't even come up? Geez. So glad I didn't waste my time.

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