Candidates’ Night

Last night I had the luxury of attending the local Candidates’ Night because of my AP Government class.  Much to my surprise I actually found some interesting points in between periods of extreme boredom.  There were only three competitive races and only two of them may directly affect me. Overall I took it all as a good learning experience.

                The night started with all of the candidates running for reelection that didn’t have anybody running against them. They all basically gave the same speeches explain what they do and did over their last term. They also thanked voters for their support. No big deal. At one point in this I did ask myself “well what if no one votes for them? Do they just get the spot anyway?” I am assuming they would but I do think that would be pretty funny if no one did vote for them.

                Following the agenda the school board was next. This was the most interesting part of the event. There are three spots open with seven people running. Two of whom are running for re-election. This race also has some of the more interesting people running in it.

                Running for election are two bankers, two current board members, a retired pediatrician, and two educators. It made for an interesting debate. Overall everyone had similar ideas for the schools except for the doctor and the one banker who is a Tea Party member. All the other candidates were talking about keeping up our good education, introducing technology, and keeping teachers.  There were a couple very good presenters who know how to publicly speak and I personally respect that.  One of the educators was very nervous and it affected her presentation.

                The two most interesting comments came from the Tea Partier and the doctor. The doctors only concern was health and that was it. The Tea Partier was worried only about money and how everything costs too much. He was concerned with that fact that two brand new school busses cost a lot of money (I forget the exact value he said…but it was a lot).  What he failed to mention was that the schools will use that bus for the next twenty years.

                The next debate was for a chair in the city council. I really didn’t pay attention to this because it wasn’t the ward I live in.

                The final debate was between the three candidates running for mayor. The candidates are the current mayor, the former mayor, and the council president.  In my opinion, there were no real surprises in this debate. The former mayor has taken a pretty radical stance on issues, and the current mayor and the council president have similar ideas for the city. This will be the closest race and it will probably cause a run off.

                Overall the biggest thing I learned at this event was don’t run for public office. To me it simply seems to be a bad idea. I honestly have no idea why anyone would want to do that.