Council candidates polite as they spar

LEWISTON – The only thing not respectful Thursday night was the sound system.

Seven candidates for the two contested City Council seats and the mayor’s chair were respectful, polite and even friendly as they squared off at a Chamber of Commerce sponsored candidate forum Thursday at L-A College.

“It’s tough running against someone you really like,” said Ward 1 candidate Stavros Mendros about opponent John Butler.

Ward 5 candidates Marc Mason and Robert Connors traded private jokes throughout the forum and congratulated each other on well-made points. Members of mayoral candidate Norm Guay’s committee complimented opponent Nathan McCarron on his intelligence, saying he’d be a fine mayor in a few years, after their candidate was finished with the job.

Only the sound system acted up early on. Master of ceremonies Chip Morrison struggled to find a working microphone that would have allowed the candidates to talk from their seats. Failing that, he had the candidates speak from the podium.

“We’ll just have to do a bit more walking,” he said.

About 30 people attended to listen to the forum live. A tape of the program will be shown on Great Falls Television beginning next week.

Issues

Warm friendly moments weren’t the only things many of the candidates shared Thursday. Many of their opinions were close, too. Most said the city had moved beyond any racial tensions. Mendros blamed the furor over Mayor Larry Raymond’s letter to the Somalis last year on two opposing national groups eager for headlines.

“On one hand, we had a hate group and on the other the tolerance preachers,” Mendros said. “I think we are proud of our differences.”

Ward 5 candidate Connors agreed.

“Our history is not entirely free of conflict,” he said. “When I was young, we had a conflict that I think many of you remember, between the Irish and the French. But we worked that out. It was a question of process and time.”

Most agreed that it was time for the city to get out of the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex.

“I don’t think the city should be competing with private business, and that’s what we’re doing,” incumbent Ward 5 Councilor Mason said. “My opinion, it should have been put up for sale long ago and we should have let private developers take care of it.”

The city has spent $32 million redeveloping the mill, according to mayoral candidate Lionel Guay.

“Some of that will be recovered,” Guay said. “It’s now time to get out.”

But there were differences. All but mayoral candidate McCarron said the city should steer clear of providing ambulance service or emergency medical response. Response time is what matters, he said. He supports it if the city can do better than United Ambulance.

“Wherever you are in Lewiston, the response time for an ambulance is between four and 11 minutes, depending on the distance to United Ambulance’s center,” McCarron said. “How much time is your life worth?”

Mason compared a city ambulance service to the Bates Mill.

“I didn’t think the city should be in the landlord business and I don’t think it should be in the ambulance business,” he said. “I don’t think the city should be in any business.”

And most candidates disagreed about November’s ballot Question 1. The ballot offers three options. Option A would require the state to fund 55 percent of all education costs beginning next year. Option B would fund education to the same extent, but beginning in several years. Option C is a none-of-the-above answer.

Mendros urged voters to support option A and send a message to the Legislature that education is important. Option B would give the legislature time to stall.

“If 1C does happen, your telling them that education is not a priority and they can continue doing what they want,” Mendros said. “Only support 1B if you like to be lied to.”

Mason and Connors agreed, saying they supported option A as well.

McCarron urged voters to pass the “None-of-the-above” option C.

“It is the lesser of three evils,” McCarron said. “Hopefully, you will elect people who can go in and do the job right.”

Ward 1 candidate Butler and mayoral candidate Guay kept their opinions to themselves, with Guay saying he had not decided yet.

Soule factor

Mayoral candidate Charles Soule had a few surly moments. Soule answered the ballot Question 1 by offering his support for a southern Maine casino and holding a handmade “1C” sign while Mendros was speaking in support of question 1A.

Most of Soule’s antics occurred before the forum, however, when he sparred with Morrison over placing his campaign flag behind the candidates and handed out glass roses to the women attending the forum.

Soule spoke in support of building an Eiffel Tower in Lewiston to help spur economic growth and creating community suppers three times per year to meet with taxpayers. The city-sponsored spaghetti dinners would provide everyone in Lewiston an opportunity to eat, dance and discuss politics. If elected Soule promised he would star in the first skit performed as part of those suppers.

“Wait until you see what I’ve got planned,” Soule said.


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