Sat, May 17 2008
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The six remaining candidates vying for City Council seats said their private-sector positions would not conflict with their public-sector roles should they be elected.
That revelation came during a candidate forum sponsored by the Muskogee Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Some candidates explained how their livelihoods rise and fall with Muskogee’s economic health. Others said their private-sector profiles would be a benefit to the city and its citizens. All of them dismissed the idea that a conflict of interest might exist.
The forum provided all six candidates a chance to distinguish themselves from their opponents in the presence of their opponents and the audience of about 45 people who attended the Thursday evening debate.
Cedric Johnson, president of the NAACP’s Muskogee Branch, said he believes the candidates and their claims, but citizens must be the watchdog that makes sure no conflicts develop.
“There is the opportunity for conflict — that’s always going to be there,” Johnson said. “But it will be up to the electorate to make sure that doesn’t happen after the election.”
Johnson said while the debate among the candidates was interesting, he was disappointed with the turnout and the apparent lack of interest within the community.
“Especially from the standpoint of the African-American community,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of people who are sitting here and not getting involved, not asking questions about the issues. I get a lot of people who say, ‘Why vote? They are just going to do what they want to do anyway.’”
Even so, all six contenders were eager to respond to concerns, answer their questions, and secure their shares of support. In return, voters who were there peppered the candidates with questions about economic development and jobs, public education and infrastructure, race relations and city policies.
John Tyler Hammons and Hershel McBride, the two mayoral candidates to emerge from the field of six filers, touted their willingness to listen to the voters and work with the community.
“A leader helps you get where you want to go,” Hammons said, promising to be open and accessible to all residents. “A boss tells you where he wants to go — that won’t work anymore.”
McBride cited his record of openness and accessibility during his previous terms as mayor — the initiation of televised meetings and open dialogue — but criticized comments about a charter mayor being a ceremonial figure.
“You’ll never get anything accomplished working as a charter mayor,” McBride said. “You’ve got to be mayor 24 hours a day if you’re going to get anything done.”
Other candidates who took part in Thursday night’s forum at the Martin Luther King Center were Ward II candidates Shawn Raper and Frank Borovetz Jr., and Ward IV candidates Jackie Luckey and Troy Stoutermire.
Raper, a local real estate broker, said his vision for the city includes improved opportunities for more and better jobs. He also questioned the city’s spending practices when it comes to improvements to roads and industrial development.
“Have you ever heard anybody say they would like to have something but they don’t have the money and then they show up wearing new clothes or with a new iPod?” Raper said. “Sometimes I wonder if the city doesn’t sometimes do the same thing.”
Borovetz, the Ward II incumbent against whom Raper is campaigning, argued that change will occur even if the City Council membership doesn’t.
Borovetz said he has seen change almost continuously during his longtime tenure as city councilman. Some of that change, Borovetz said, came about as a result of his “hard work and persistence.”
“Change for the sake of change is pure folly,” Borovetz said. “Change to meet new needs is absolutely essential.”
To meet the demands of the future, Borovetz said the city needs to assemble a strategic plan that charts the direction of Muskogee’s future. It is essential, Borovetz said, that the entire community be involved with the plan’s development.
Luckey, a longtime law enforcement officer who now works with Green Country Behavioral Health Services at Youth Central as youth programs director, said the city must address poverty at its core level.
In order to do that, Luckey said there must be a system in place that gives all people the chance to develop he social and life skills necessary to find success at home and in the workplace.
“For many years I have protected you, I have been an advocate for your children. Now I want to be a voice for you on the City Council,” Luckey said, citing the need for collaboration. “It can’t be I or me. It’s got to be us and we. If we don’t do it, nobody will.”
Ward IV incumbent Stoutermire said the community also said there is a need for the community to come together in order to tackle any difficulties that lie ahead. The top two issues on Stoutermire’s agenda are better education and safer neighborhoods, both of which Stoutermire said can be realized if the city partners with its citizens to address the important issues of the day.
“We have difficult times ahead, but they can be dealt with if we come together,” Stoutermire said. “We have to get out there and live the dream.”
Voters will go the polls May 13 to decide which three candidates will be seated to serve on the next City Council.
Reach D.E. Smoot at 918-684-2903 or Click Here to Send Email
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