Published: April 28, 2008 07:45 am            

Floyd County candidates gather for forum

The historic white rotunda at the entrance to the Carnegie Center for the Arts in New Albany was the setting Saturday evening to remember the 40-year anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s campaign in Indiana. And for this year’s primary candidates to gather in a non-partisan forum.

“It’s a great idea to connect the present to the past,” said Ray Boomhower, author of “Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary, and the speaker for the event following the candidate forum. “Politics is still politics.”

Destinations Booksellers owner Randy Smith organized the book signing and discussion, with the candidate forum in mind. The anniversary of Kennedy’s visit, Boomhower’s book, and the Floyd County primary elections gave Smith the opportunity to be “more than a regular retailer,” he said. “I ask questions, and the more questions I ask the more I discover needs (in the community), and this was a need.”

There is a lack of non-partisan candidate forums in Floyd County, and the event was an opportunity to do something, Smith said. “All Indiana booksellers are free speech zones — first amendment zones — freedom to assemble and freedom of press are represented here.”

Candidates for all three Superior Court Judge seats were on hand, along with candidates for county council, county commissioner, treasurer, recorder, and coroner. Tables set up at the center gave each candidate the opportunity to give out information about themselves, and it gave voters the opportunity to ask candidates any question they liked.

“It’s like one-stop shopping,” said Dana Fendley, candidate for Floyd County Council At-large. “You can come in here and meet any candidate from any party.”

Longtime incumbents like coroner Greg Balmer, who served Floyd County for 20 years, and think experience can only show the voters how a candidate will perform.

“Until you’ve been involved in politics, you really don’t know what to expect until you experience it,” Balmer said.

And there are newcomers, like 24-year-old County Council candidate Larry Summers, who echoes the presidential candidates in his desire to shake up the political system in the county, and the country.

“I‘m the youngest person on the entire ballot this year,” Summers said. “This position offers me the best chance at this moment to bring change.”

        

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