Politics at its finest

Politics happens sometimes in the weirdest of places — like city council meetings.
Following a meeting Tuesday that was pretty much controversy free, Councilman Steve Brewer took the opportunity to lash out at his colleague Mike Stone.
Stone is running for election to the at-large seat on the council (he was appointed to the board in 2006) and seems to enjoy his role as the rabble-rouser on the board. To wit: At Monday’s candidates forum, Stone cast himself as the board’s outsider and said he’s the only councilman willing to ask “the tough questions” and “hold government accountable.”
At the next night’s council meeting, though, Brewer took Stone to task on some of those stances by reading a three-page list of some of the things the council has accomplished in the past 18 months and stating that for Stone “to publicly call (the council) average-at-best, self-serving and inward-thinking is offensive.”
“You may be running for office, Mr. Stone, but you don’t have to drag this council through the mud,” Brewer continued. “I can’t think of a leader doing such a thing.”
I’ve gone over our video of Monday’s candidates forum and my notes from the event a couple of times now, and to be fair to Stone, I can’t find where he said the exact things Brewer accused him of. But here are some things Stone did say that didn’t make my story (unfortunately, that’s the way these things work sometimes):

*”When I was appointed to this council 18 months ago, there were no questions asked, nobody looking out for the citizens. It was already a rubber stamp on everything and then out the door.”

*”The ’same-old’ (my note here, he’s referring the other six members of the council, as best as I could tell) won’t speak up for the community, they don’t listen to the people in the community.”

Stone responded to Brewer’s remarks by saying he thinks the council does “a good job, but more can always be done.”
Although Brewer and Stone aren’t pitted against each other (Brewer represents Ward 1 and is not up for re-election while Stone covers the whole city and is battling Lora Wright for a second term), it’s pretty safe to say that they’re political adversaries. Stone’s election opponent is fairly closely aligned with Brewer, so it’s not too much of a stretch to view this election as a battle between the two.
I think the race between Stone and Wright may be a little too close to call, but in any case, I think that while political drama can get a little nasty sometimes (and who am I kidding, a little entertaining too), I don’t doubt that everyone I’ve discussed in this blog entry has the best interests of Sanford, or what they think are the best interests of Sanford, at heart.
And what I think is most important is that this kind of debate is good for Sanford. It’s the best thing about elections. And when political debate spills over into public settings like city council meetings, it’s even better. People need as much information as they can get, and as a newspaper reporter I only have so much space to use in getting you that information. So if you’re a citizen of Sanford and you’re still wondering who to vote for, I encourage you to do two things (beyond reading my political coverage in The Herald, of course):

* Click here and then here to see our videos of Monday’s forum. As I said earlier, there was just so much said, and whittling it down to a readable piece that can fit in the paper means leaving a lot out. You can see most or all of it by taking the time to watch the clips we’ve uploaded.

* Watch the Sanford City Council meetings on TV. They televise them at 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. every day on Channel 11. Amy Gordon with the city of Sanford also said she posts digital files of the meetings on Google Video, so technically, the meetings are accessible any time to anyone with an internet connection. Again, you can hear every word as it’s said.

Also, make sure to vote. Do it early. See my post below about how to do that.

Early voting

The following brief about early voting appeared in today’s (Wednesday, Oct. 17) edition of The Herald. Make sure to vote:
Early voting polls will be open at the Lee County Board of Elections beginning Thursday at 8 a.m. They will remain open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays as well as on the final day of early voting, which is Saturday, Nov. 3, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Four seats on the Sanford City Council, two seats on the Broadway Board of Commissioners and the office of mayor in Broadway are up for election this year.
The Lee County Board of Elections is located at 225 S. Steele St. in downtown Sanford.
Anyone with questions about early voting is asked to call the elections board at 775-0515.

It’s also important to note that same-day voter registration will be available for voters this year — but only when it comes to early voting. So if you’re not registered but want to vote, get down to the board of elections before election day.

Golf and money

I’m typing up a story right now about tonight’s Sanford City Council meeting, but I’m putting the word out now that it won’t contain any information on the good financial fortune the city’s golf course experienced in the first quarter of fiscal year 2007-08.
Why? I’ll be writing about it for Thursday’s paper. It’s after 9 p.m. already and all I have is a one-page financial report about what money the golf course has brought in and what money the golf course has spent in the first three months of the year. Give me some time Wednesday, and I’ll be able to contextualize the numbers I already have — and speak with city officials who can say how they feel about what I’ll say is a better looking forecast than in recent years past, when the course posted losses of as much as $250,000 annually.
So pick up The Herald Thursday to find out exactly how good things are looking and how golf course staff plan to deal with the winter season, which typically sees golfers go into a kind of hibernation — and is right around the corner.