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Few Fireworks in First Mayoral Debate
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| Parent(s) |
Race
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| Contributor | RBH |
| Last Edited | RBH Apr 06, 2008 10:35pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Saturday, April 5, 2008 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In the end, the largest applause of the first full mayoral debate of the election season wasn't won by Mayor Jerry Sanders or businessman Steve Francis. It was incited by the 25-year-old in a white t-shirt sitting between them, the guy who said he lives off of about $6,000 a year and boasts a head of robust dreadlocks that fall down nearly to his waist.
The question: How much public money should be spent on keeping the Chargers in town?
The answer from Eric Bidwell: "Is this really what America and this city have come to that we have no better things to talk about than football?" If they can't find a chunk of land and throw a ball around, he said, well, that's life.
That the resounding applause that followed was the night's largest could be due to Bidwell's charisma. Or it could speak to the relative disinterest that has greeted this year's mayoral race to date. Regardless, it seemed to be the winning moment in a night in which the leading candidates stuck to their few talking points, broke little new ground and offered few political punches, whether the topic was city finances, illegal immigration or water.
For the sitting mayor, it was his first debate of the season. Sanders opened up by reminding the audience of city government's condition 28 months ago when he first took office. There were numerous investigations going on, he said, and the city didn't even know how many employees it had.
"We were in the midst of the worst financial crisis the city ever had," Sanders said. |
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