By Ryan Miner
About 100 people gathered last evening – July 11 – at the Brunswick City Park Building for a candidate forum that featured all seven Brunswick City Council candidates and two mayoral candidates.
The forum, sponsored by the Greater Brunswick Area Chamber of Commerce and the Brunswick Citizen, was moderated by former New York federal prosecutor and House and Senate Judiciary Committee attorney John P. Flannery.
As advertised, the event was not a debate; however, that did not dissuade some candidates from taking overt and sometimes veiled pot shots at their council and mayoral opponents.
Beginning promptly at 7:00 p.m., Flannery called to order the forum and set the ground rules for the candidates, explaining that each forum participant must provide their verbal response within the boundaries of the time allotted. Mr. Flannery’s wife, Holly, was the forum’s timekeeper.
The candidates participated in four rounds of questions.
The first round lasted approximately 20 minutes; each candidate had two minutes to answer any one of the nine prepared questions (see attached document below).
Round two lasted approximately 24 minutes; each candidate had 3 minutes to answer another question or comment on an answer from the first round.
The third round last approximately 55 minutes; candidates answered written questions from the audience (the moderator exercised his discretion to ask certain questions). Candidates had one minute each to respond to any question; and, according to the rules; candidates were given 2 minutes to respond to specific candidate questions.
Round 4 ended the debate, lasting approximately 18 minutes. Candidates were each given one minute to wrap-up.
Brunswick City elections will be held on Tuesday, August 2.
The following candidates participated in the forum:
Eric Beasley
Ginger Cayo
Laura Dvorak
Amanda McGannon
Vaugh Ripley
Tom Smith
Angel White
