Mayor forum heats up in closing moments

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

An otherwise sedate forum featuring six of the seven mayoral candidates got heated at the end on Thursday when former Jim Owen went on the attack in his closing statement.

Speaking fourth and limited to 30 seconds due to television constraints, Owen opened both barrels.

“I’ve always told you the truth, even though you didn’t like to hear it sometimes,” Owen said. “I told you the truth about (former mayor) Kevin Jackson. I’m telling you the truth about this council. I’m telling you the truth that (District 6 city council candidate) Todd Hathorne is part of the (Mayor Mike) Williams and (District 4 city councilor Howard) Balmer clique. (District 6 councilor) Marilyn Salzman participated in the illegal firing of (former city manager) Jim Palenick. And on the other hand (mayoral candidate) Tom Swisstack has already he wants Mike Williams as his deputy mayor.

“So what can you say to that? Just remember: Birds of a feather flock together. And it’s time to clean house.”

The audience sat in uneasy stunned silence for a moment before candidate Tim Crum made his closing remarks.

Swisstack, speaking last, responded without naming Owen. After thanking both the live and television audience for watching, he said, “What it tells me is that we care as a community when you take your precious time out (to watch). I can promise you one thing: I promise you I will find out what connects us and not what separates us. I promise you I will move our vision as a community together forward with a measurable plan. And I promise you I won’t do it at the cost of other people’s reputations.”

Hathorne, Balmer and Salzman could not be reached for comment due to the lateness of the hour. Williams, who happened to be in the audience, offered a one-sentence response to Owen’s closing: “He’d better look in a mirror first.”

The forum will be aired every day through Monday as part of a rotation of three-one hour candidate forums aired on community access cable channel 15. The rotation is scheduled to start at 2 p.m., with the mayor’s forum beginning at approximately 4 p.m.

Mayoral candidates will have their final public forum tonight at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1650 Abrazzo N.E.

More to come on this story.