Springfield City Council elections will be held in two weeks -- on April 3rd.
The League of Women Voters held a forum for the candidates on Tuesday night.
Not counting media and organizers, 8 people showed up to listen.
There are 3 contested seats up for grabs. Here are the match-ups and the best lines of the night from each candidate . . .
Council Seat C
(Incumbent) Conrad Griggs vs.
(Libertarian) Doug Burlison
"Personally, I'd rather roll the dice on nuclear power," said Griggs, in response to a question about whether last year's passage of a coal power plant was the best way to deal with the city's energy needs.
"The perception exists that by the time they meet, they've already made up their minds about the issues and the people there to speak are just talking to the wall," said Burlison, on what residents are telling him about the current City Council membership.
Council Seat D (Open Citywide)
Dan Chiles vs.
Jack Steck
"We should turn off the plant on Lake Springfield, and put the emphasis on building a cleaner plant in Southwest 2," said Chiles, in response to a question about the pending construction of the new power plant.
"It's scary," said Steck, on the cool relations between the City Council and police officers.
Zone 2
(Incumbent) Sheila Wright vs.
Cindy Rushefsky
"Don't expect me to be a go-along girl," said Rushefsky, who said she's not afraid of confronting controversy if elected to the Council.
"Residents of Zone 1 were serious about removing Denny Whayne from his council seat if we did not weaken the law we originally proposed. We wanted to keep Denny," wrote Wright, in a letter to the League of Women voters about her accomplishments. Wright could not attend Tuesday's forum because she was out of the country. But she provided a 3-page written statement which listed her accomplishments, including a push to eliminate tobacco in public buildings. She said the "anti-smoking" ordinance in Springfield is not as strict as many on the council preferred because political pressure against the ban grew too big, and members wanted to protect a colleague.
This was a just to give you an initial flavor of Tuesday's forum. I'll have more on what the candidates said at the forum in future posts . . .
6 comments:
Question, Dave:
This is a non-partisan race. Why mention Burlison's political party? You left out those of the other challengers and incumbents...
The honest answer is I couldn't pin down the others political parties in writing anywhere. On the other hand, I saw Burlison's affiliation on his website.
I wasn't aware he'd put that on his website, David. And that's Doug - he's proud of his political leanings, and he hopes to bring libertarian principles to Council - small government, accountability to the people, no abusing the position for personal gain... all of which are qualities we need in Council.
Just had to ask, as I can not recall ever seeing any political affiliation in a Council or Mayoral race.
Hey,
Lib. I helped Doug start the audit and I helped talk him into running for city council the first time.
A few weeks ago I gave him a list of regular votes in zone 2 with phone numbers. He said only raised $75. Rather than writing stupid comments on your 417 site about me --- what have you done for Doug lately.
Also your buddy Cindy paperwork with the Missouri Ethics says she is a Democrat.
Sorry David that running again guy in zone 2. Why don't you and Lisa run next time and see what it is like---you would last a few days!
Have a good weekend---Does anybody read this blog? Can you put a counter up?
First off, Steve... I didn't write any comments about you, as I do not have a "417 site".
Second, you did have a hand in starting the audit, and you may have helped talk him into running against Collette, but other people were involved in both scenarios. You got your credit.
Third, I helped Doug yesterday, and have many days in the last few weeks. We regular folks have to work around our jobs and home lives; incumbents always have an advantage.
I've helped Doug with ALL of his campaigns. He's a longtime friend and one of the few people I'd trust with public office.
Mr. Lib.
Sorry I was wrong.
I do appreciate what you have done and what you do. Please keep up the good work!
slr
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