Last night's "Meet the Candidates" event at the Quartzsite Senior Center was the best show in Town. Of course, the FACT that incumbent Councilman Kelley's wife Carol runs the center had many anticipating a rigged Q & A...
The stars of the show, more or less in the order of appearance:
Appointed incumbent Patricia Anderson was inarticulate and befuddled as usual
Deena Blythe admitted to the felony charges (in front of her parents no less) when asked directly!!! She never actually denied lying, but insisted "I did nothing wrong" (after bragging that she was the only candidate that would tell the truth - HAH!)
Chaunce Hamilton was humble and well received.
What Bob Kelly lacked in specifics, he made up for in volume, while insisting that he recused himself from voting on conflict of interest issues (no denial about influencing the vote of the others though...)
Erik Larson failed to appear and the word around Town is that he was shook down and scared off by the powers that be at Town Hall...
Jose Lizarraga defended the rate increase - too bad, so sad, not a good campaign strategy to endorse such an unpopular policy change
Jerry Lukkasson claimed that he was not getting preferential treatment on his business construction, but no mention of how he rose to power so quickly
Bill Moore was was concise and asked the people to decide his fate, now that the majority will actually be in Town to vote
Russell Sias made a good showing, pro vendor and pro "snowbird" but needs to elaborate on planned high tech solutions to tele conferencing over the weeks of unbearably hot summer weather
Brad Trainer neither wowed nor offended and still holds more promise than any of the current regime
As far as the Mayor's race candidate responses:
Former Councilman Hal Davidson confessed to having only a high school education with a trade certificate, and focused on his cost cutting plans.
Ed Foster cleared the air over filing a writ of mandamus to get the incumbent council to abide by the law.
http://www.quartzsitenews.tv/news.htm
And seemed to be the favorite, if you are polling by the number of cars in the parking lot with his campaign signs.
Bumbling appointed "mayor" Wes Huntley publicly admitted to having only a seventh grade education!!! As if it weren't blatantly obvious by the fact that he could neither read, nor understand, nor answer the questions put before him. He lost any remaining chance of re election by promising lots more out of town retreats (vacations to casinos). He did disclose inside knowledge about a secret land development deal that may be on the horizon, but failed to elaborate...makes you wonder who's going to reap the potential profits!
Charlie Kukral made a good showing with his knowledge of finances and he has a like able demeanor.
After the mayoral climax, Town Manager Alex Taft was overheard chastising the moderator for making "mayor" Huntly look like an idiot...sorry to have to point this out to Ms. Taft but Huntly does that all by himself. As a former 1-800 number fortune teller, Taft should have seen it coming...
As a final note, the PAC money raised by Former Town Manager Dan Field and his protege current Town Manager Alex Taft (and her cronies) appears to be wasted. The effort to keep the incumbent appointee PUPPETS is going down like the Titanic, as being associated with "mayor" Huntly after his debacle last night will surely sink the chances of the standing council members. Citizens are poised to take back control of their Town. Revolution is in the air and I wouldn't want to be the Police Chief when the dust settles...gee, the poor delusional man actually believes that he's running the town behind the scenes. Of course, it's rumored that he registered to vote with a Rainbow Acres street address but a town zip code...so, will Vederman go after him with the same enthusiasm that he's prosecuting Deena Blythe with?
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