Mayoral candidates court younger voters in forum

To all voters under the age of 30: The future of Wichita is in your hands.

That was the message multiple mayoral candidates delivered at a forum Tuesday night sponsored by Women for Kansas and the League of Women Voters of Kansas.

“It’s up to us as city leaders to reach out to our youth. We can’t keep deciding what we need for youth unless we decide to invite them to the table,” said Lavonta Williams, a City Council member and candidate for mayor. “It takes a village to raise a child. Wichita has got to become that village in order to create the workforce we need.”

Investing in youths was a common refrain at the forum, as many candidates cited Wichita State University’s upcoming Innovation Campus as a means of attracting people to the city.

In fact, said Sean Hatfield, 32, investing in youths is why people should vote for him.

“We’ve heard a lot tonight about the importance of bringing in the new generation of Wichita – I’m here to tell you the new generation of leadership is here,” he said, garnering chuckles from the crowd.

Candidates spoke at length about their qualifications for the position.

City Council member Jeff Longwell talked about his experience chairing boards, saying, “I want to bring my experienced leadership to the office of mayor.”

Sam Williams, a retired executive with Sullivan, Higdon and Sink, said he has a strong history in Wichita.

“I don’t have a list of things I’ve done in the past that is a witness to you that I can do things with your money, but what I can give you is show that I can do things to create jobs so that we can have the revenue we need to create a beautiful place to live,” he said.

Jennifer Winn’s remarks on increasing transparency and accountability in government drew applause on more than one occasion.

“There are some that would even go so far as to say I’m a loose cannon and I can’t be controlled; quite honestly, folks, that’s what we need,” Winn said of her candidacy. “I’m looking to expose and make things transparent in our government. I want accountability.”

Fran Jackson, 75, was a hit at the forum, attendees said. She joked about her age at one point, saying, “every time you read something about me, you read my age first.”

When moderator Susan Peters asked Jackson how she would resolve conflict, “for example, working with other City Council members,” Jackson replied, “I think I’d call (Secretary of State Kris) Kobach or (Gov. Sam) Brownback to come help us, I don’t know.” The audience erupted with laughter.

“Particularly tonight, I just loved listening to Fran Jackson,” said Nancy Wilhite, who attended the forum. “She has a sense of humor. That should be one of the prerequisites for the mayor or any elected official. That’s what gets us through some of these trying times.”

Sam Williams responded to a question about The Eagle’s reporting of his use of the CPA title in campaign literature when he has not held a CPA license since 1990 in Utah.

“I did not keep the license current, but the volume of knowledge and everything I have done in my life has been limited to the ethics of being a CPA,” he said. “In an effort to show my qualifications, I showed that I had the CPA qualifications.”

Shortly after he finished, organizers proffered an apology to him, saying the question should have been pulled, prompting protest from the audience.

“It was a personal attack and shouldn’t have been asked,” one of the organizers said.

Some attendees found fault in the structure of the forum, which was organized such that every candidate had a chance to respond to a few questions across the board, such as: “What strengths do you see the city has” and “What is your vision for the future?”

“It was a nice event, but the attempt to moderate things in some ways took away from the event,” said Russell Fox, a political science professor at Friends University. “Look, we’ve got 10 candidates coming into a primary. It’s going to be a mob scene, so let it be a mob scene.”

The field of 10 mayoral candidates will be narrowed to two in the March 3 primary. The general election is April 7.

This story was originally published February 25, 2015 at 6:10 AM with the headline "Mayoral candidates court younger voters in forum."