Candidates meet voters at rec center forum
With early voting then looming for the August 26 primaries, area voters got an opportunity to inquire about the candidates running for local and state offices as the North Fort Myers Recreation Center hosted its first candidate’s forum Thursday night.
Roughly 15 of the candidates for the county commission, school board and circuit judge came to speak with the people on their views of the issues and give a presentation in one of the auxiliary rooms.
The forum, put on by the North Fort Myers Civic Association and the Chamber of Commerce, gave voters perhaps their only opportunity to see the candidates and hear what they had to say.
The civic association has been a main sponsor since starting the event in 2006, with the chamber joining in 2012.
Gregg Makepeace, president of the civic association, said he only wished more people could come to events such as this.
“I think people are becoming more lethargic. They don’t pay attention or dig into it, especially in the primary,” Makepeace said. “I do hope they vote. A lot of people died so we can have that freedom.”
Indeed, the first forum, at North Fort Myers High School in 2006, had only slightly more than 200 people, with 150 of them either candidates or supporters, Makepeace said.
And this year, many of those in attendance were either and candidates or those campaigning for them. That didn’t mean they couldn’t listen to hear what the others had to say.
After an hour of meet and greet in the hallway, the candidates took to the microphone and gave the voters four minutes of their time to talk about themselves, their platforms and why they should be elected.
Deanna Pipher of North Fort Myers was listening, taking notes and reading the campaign literature.
“I’m a voter and I need to get a perspective besides the media and Facebook,” Pipher said. “A handshake means a lot to me, as does how they answer a question.”
Four minutes wasn’t much time to get deep into the issues, and only one candidate had the time to take questions from the audience, but it gave people a chance to get a little more informed about the candidates.
That was especially true in the District 4 school board race, which looks to be the most hotly contested of all of them. It featured an incumbent, a former school board member, a 50-year veteran of Lee County schools.
Cindy Kucharski of North Fort Myers said she would have loved it if the candidates had more time to talk.
“I try to go to one of these to meet the candidates. I would have liked more time for them, maybe even a debate format,” Kucharski said. “I’m a political animal, so I know who I’m going to vote for.”