Key West The Newspaper

HOMETOWN! is pleased to announce its third event of the 2016 political season

A QUESTION AND ANSWER FORUM FOR
CERTAIN CANDIDATES ON THE AUGUST 30 BALLOT

The Studios of Key West, 533 Eaton Street, Key West, Florida
MONDAY, July 25,2016, FROM 5:00 – 7:30 PM

Hometown’s First Primary Question and Answer Forum is approximately one month before the August 30, Election and shortly before ballots will be mailed to voters. Key West and Monroe County voters will have to make important judgments regarding City Commissioner–Dist. 6, Mosquito Control Board members, Districts 3 and 4, members of the Utility Board, Group 3, County Commissioner–Dist. 5, and the Mayor of Key West.

Hometown’s Second Primary Forum will be on Monday, August 8, 2016, also at TSKW. We will make an announcement about this Q. and A. Forum within the next week.

The panelists for the July 25, Forum will be Larry Kahn, Editor, the Keynoter,; Naja Girard of Key West The Newspaper (The Blue Paper-https://thebluepaper.com/ ; Kay Harris, Editor, Key West Citizen newspaper; and Bill Becker, popular newscaster of US1 Radio, 104.1 FM and moderator of the highly-rated Morning Magazine program.

For further and much more complete information on all voting matters, please call the Supervisor of Elections at 305-292-3416 or visit the office at 530 Whitehead, Suite 101, Key West.

Doors open at the TSKW at 5:00 p.m. Voters will have 30 minutes to have some free hors d’oeuvres, frequent the cash bar, and meet and talk to the candidates.

The candidates and races featured at this forum are listed below: Please note that this is not the order in which the candidates will be called to the stage. Hometown will not announce the candidates’ order of being called to the stage until that night–changes in candidates’ schedules, and other matters require that flexibility in scheduling. All candidates should be at TSKW at 5:30 pm, ready to go. The fireworks begin at 5:30 p.m. for what is predicted to be a fast-paced question and answer set before a politically savvy audience.

A. Utility Board-

Timothy Root (Incumbent –Group 3)
Carol Schreck
Vidal

B. Monroe County Commissioners–District 5

Sylvia Murphy, Incumbent (Rep.)
Robert Majeska (Rep.)

C. Mosquito Control Board- District 4

Janet Wood (Rep.)
Larry Zettwoch (Rep.)

WINNER OF THE PRIMARY RUNS AGAINST DR. STANLEY ZUBA (Dem.) IN THE NOV. 8 GENERAL ELECTION

D. Mosquito Control Board–District 3

Brandon Pinder (Rep.)
Stephen Hammond (Rep.)

WINNER OF THE PRIMARY RUNS AGAINST STEPHEN SMITH, INCUMBENT, (Dem.) IN THE NOV. 8, GENERAL ELECTION

E. Mayor of Key West

Craig Cates, Incumbent
Randolph “Randy” Becker
Ed “Krane” Karsch

F. City Commissioner–District 6

Clayton Lopez-Incumbent
Nathan Brock

Please note that the races for the County judicial positions, Utility Board and Monroe County School Board should not be considered by the voters as primaries. These are non-partisan elections and, accordingly, these elections are held on the same date (August 30) as the Primary Election. Judicial, Utility Board and School Board candidates do not run as representatives of any political party.

Important: There are three candidates seeking the Mayoral position and three candidates running for Utility Board, Group 3. Where there are three candidates for a specific office, and if none of the three receives a majority vote (50%+1) then, the top two vote getters go to the General Election (November 8) for a run-off.

SPECIAL NOTE: At this time, there is one August 30, race between candidates of the same political party only. When that occurs, it is called a Universal election and all voters may vote in that “primary.” That race will be decided on August 30. The election involves County Commissioner-Dist. 5, (Sylvia Murphy (R) and Robert Majeska (R)).

Hometown!

Hometown’s objective is to encourage qualified residents to run for elected office, to provide a platform for the candidates to explain their goals, and to encourage higher levels of voter participation in the election. Membership in Hometown! for the 2016 year is $40 for individuals ($55 for households), and gives Key West and Monroe County residents and property owners a voice in how their city and county elections. Be a Friend of Hometown for $100, a Benefactor for $500 and a Political Maven Member for $1,000.

If any declared candidate has questions about the event, please call Hometown Board Member and Corporate Secretary Sheldon Davidson at 305-295-3560 or email him at [email protected]

UNABLE TO ATTEND?

For those who can not attend the Meet the Candidates Rally, FloridaKeys.com will be recoding the event. The event will be streamed live on Hometown’s YouTube channel. You can watch the live event by going to www.hometownkeywest.com (Home page) and clicking on the LIVE ONLINE icon. The recording will remain on the YouTube channel for those who cannot watch live. The YouTube video will remain available on the same YouTube channel throughout the campaign season.

For a full list of all known candidates and their pictures as well as other campaign information regarding registration and videos of prior Hometown events, visit our website www.hometownkeywest.com. You’ll find direct links to YouTube, all of the other items and much more.

JOIN HOMETOWN

There is no charge to attend this forum. We hope, however, that you will join the majority of those interested in good government and our local elections and join Hometown in 2016. Membership in HOMETOWN! is on a calendar year basis.

To join, please visit our www.hometownkeywest.com. Then click on the “JOIN HOMETOWN” Icon at the top of the Homepage. By doing that, you can use your credit card through PayPal.