Candidate Forum needs your help!

As mentioned in earlier posts, the 2006 Central Tampa Candidate Forum will be held on October 10th at 7:00pm at the Stetson Law School, 1700 N. Tampa Street. The forum is being sponsored by Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, South Seminole Heights Civic Association, Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association, Tampa Heights Civic Association, Riverside Heights Civic Association, Sulphur Springs Action League and B'Gosh - Business Guild of Seminole Heights.

There will be a meet and greet period from 6:00 - 6:55 with the formal question period running from 7:00 - 9:00. Candidates for County Commission in Districts 3, 5 and 7, State Representative in Districts 47, 58 and 58, State Senate in District 18 and the gubernatorial race were invited. There are currently 11 confirmed attendees (see list below). Presubmitted questions will be asked by the moderator, Rob Lorei, news director of WMNF, and will be addressed to either the state or county candidates. Each candidate from that group will have a chance to respond. The questions will alternate between state and county. We are leaning towards fewer questions with more time to respond in order to encourage candidates to expand upon their stock campaign responses. If there is time remaining after the presubmitted questions, the candidates will take questions from the floor.

Forums such as these are more successful when they respond to the specific concerns of the audience and the area in which they live. We specifically invited only candidates from local races that actually represent all or portions of the associations sponsoring the event. These are the races that can most directly impact our neighborhood. To that end, we need to hear from you. What topics would you like covered? Do you have any specific questions to submit? We will be reviewing the questions on Thursday and finalizing them over the weekend.

Invited Candidates:
Governor - Jim Davis (D) - No response
Governor - Charlie Crist (R) - Declined
State Senate 18 - Arthenia L. Joyner (D) - No response
State Senate 18 - Eric T. Suntich (WRI) - No response
State Rep 47 - Kevin Ambler (R) - Accepted
State Rep 47 - Daniel Suarez (D) - No response
State Rep 58 - Alfred Ruiz (R) - Accepted
State Rep 58 - Michael Scionti (D) - Accepted
State Rep 59 - K.C. Bowick (R) - Accepted
State Rep 59 - Betty Reed (D) - Accepted
County Comm. Dist 3 - Kevin White (D) - Accepted
County Comm. Dist 3 - Ken Anthony (R) - Accepted
County Comm. Dist 5 - Jim Norman (R) - No response
County Comm. Dist 5 - Joe Redner (D) - Accepted
County Comm. Dist 5 - Yamel Christina Arronte (NPA) - Accepted
County Comm. Dist 7 - Mark Sharpe (R) - Accepted
County Comm. Dist 7 - Thomas Scott (D) - Accepted