This year’s Lewiston council race features three contested races.
LEWISTON – This year’s candidate forum will have room for all 12 candidates for the Lewiston City Council, including the shoo-ins.
Voters will elect a new mayor and fill seven city council seats next month, and Chamber of Commerce President Chip Morrison said every candidate should get a chance to speak.
“That’s why we’re including the unopposed candidates this year,” Morrison said. “I think anybody willing to donate their time for public office deserves to take part in a public forum. I respect all of them. I might not agree with any of them, but they all deserve a chance to speak.”
This year’s Lewiston forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 23 in L-A College room 170.
Two years ago, the forum featured just the candidates for mayor. Morrison said the chamber experimented with having every candidate appear at last year’s Auburn City Council forum. That worked well, he said.
This year’s Lewiston council race features three contested races. Three candidates are vying for the mayor’s chair, Lionel Guay of 318 East Ave., Nathan R. McCarron of 35 Fairlawn Ave., and Charles Soule of 170 Bartlett St.
John T. Butler of 20 Ware St., and Stavros Mendros of 506 Main St. are contending for the Ward 1 seat. In Ward 5, incumbent councilor Marc Mason will square off against Robert V. Connors of 23 Charles St.
All of the other races feature returning councilors who are unopposed. They include: Ward 2’s Renee Bernier; Ward 3’s Lillian O’Brien; Ward 4’s Ron Jean; Ward 6’s Mark Paradis; and Ward 7’s Norm Rousseau.
“The unopposed candidates, they’ll get a chance to talk but I won’t address any questions to them,” Morrison said. “That would be silly, wasting time focusing on them when we have candidates in contested races.”
Morrison will take written questions from the audience for the debate, he said.
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