Suffolk mayoral campaign starts with roundtable

SUFFOLK

The city's inaugural mayoral campaign kicked off in earnest Tuesday, as six candidates took questions on a wide variety of topics.

The event, organized by a local group called SMART Women, drew about 200 people to a nearly packed banquet hall at the Hilton Garden Inn and Suffolk Conference Center.

Voters will choose the city's mayor for the first time in November. Until now, the City Council has appointed someone from its ranks to the position.

A question about candidates' thoughts on the role of women in the workplace drew some of the loudest reactions. A majority of the crowd was female.

Mayor Linda Johnson, the only female candidate on stage, drew applause as she wrapped up an answer in which she said local government has done a good job including women.

"Women are used to juggling roles, and I think we're good at it," she said.

That followed an answer by Roger Leonard that received a mixture of laughs and murmurs. He said he has two daughters and tried to encourage female pilots at his aviation company.

"I focused on the fact that women actually outnumber us," he said. "We have to have good relationships with them, and we have to encourage them."

The organizers gave out the questions in advance and the candidates often appeared to be reading off prepared answers.

With six candidates on stage, the organizers asked the same question to only half of them. A strict time limit that sounded with a bell cut off several responses in midsentence.

Mike Debranski, a School Board member, said he would encourage the City Council to meet more with the board to improve communication and ultimately the school system.

Dwight Nixon, a pastor and member of the city's Economic Development Authority, was asked what he would have done in response to complaints about real estate assessments. He said he would have called an emergency meeting and insisted that collection on assessments be suspended while the affected residents were notified and the problems fixed.

When asked what expense he would cut if he had to pick one from the city budget, Andy Damiani, a former mayor, said he would cut evenly across departments, with the exception of education, police, fire and emergency services.

Asked how he could improve volunteerism in the city, Tom Powell said he leads by example as a longtime volunteer. The most important thing is to ensure people know where they can participate, he said.

After the event, attendee Linda Jennings said she hadn't decided on a candidate, but the answers she heard Tuesday helped.

"This was an introduction," she said. "I need to know a little more from some of the candidates."

Organizers for SMART Women, an acronym for Successful, Motivated... And Really Tired, decided not to welcome a seventh candidate, Deborah Wahlstrom, because she is running as a write-in.

At least three other candidate forums are planned over the next several months.

Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com