What the candidates will debate

MCYR and The Edmonton-Herald News team to bring debate to you

By Jennifer Moonsong

Central Division

General Manager

Jobe Publishing, Inc.

 

What inspired a public debate for this special election?

Thanks to the efforts of the Metcalfe County Young Republicans, on October 10th, the candidates for Metcalfe County Sheriff will partake in a public debate at the Barnlot Theater, and the voters of our county have a strong sense of what is important to each candidate.

“We believe there is a need in local elections to provide a healthy debate. It is our belief that it is important to provide the community with an informative platform, where constituents can watch candidates answer questions in real-time,” said the Metcalfe County Young Republicans (MCYR)*.

So that everyone in the county can watch the debate, the Edmonton Herald-News will be live-streaming the event via Facebook.

“This is an opportunity for the newspaper to showcase some of our online capabilities,” said Jeff Jobe, owner, and CEO of Jobe Publishing.

It is important to the MCYR’s standpoint, that the debate be unbiased. “We also hope to show the community, while we both as individuals and as a group, have varying political ideologies and may endorse candidates in the future, unlike those organizations we see in the national media, we are able to put our personal beliefs to the side and provide an impartial, objective event, solely for the benefit of Metcalfe County.”

All of the candidates were invited, however not all will be present.

“Write-In candidate Chris Turner will not be able to attend due to a prior scheduling conflict. He has allowed us to schedule a one on one interview with him, where he will be asked the same questions as the debate participants. Mr. Turner’s interview will be aired immediately following the debate.

Democrat nominee Allen Huffman has made us aware he will be unable to attend the debate.”

The topics chosen for the debate were carefully selected and are reflective of issues the committee feels are important and timely.

“All candidates will be given the same amount of time and asked the same exact questions. Candidates will be provided a two-minute opening statement, where they are expected to explain why they want to be sheriff and why the residents of Metcalfe County should vote for them.”

Following the opening statements the candidates will be asked questions pertaining to deputy selection, local crime, school shootings, sheriff department budgets, the 2nd and 4th amendment, and civil asset forfeiture.

“We received questions from the community, our moderators, and our group members. As a group, we shaped everything we received into eight questions we all agreed would be ideal for the debate,” said the MCYR committee.

In addition to providing the community with information about the candidates and their ideals and values, the organization also hopes to change the view of Republican youth.

“We believe that young conservatives are currently an underrepresented group. It seems that the Democratic Party, from the national level down to Metcalfe County’s local party, make it a priority to incorporate younger party members. We believe, the Republican Party, from the national level to the leadership of our own local party, do a poor job of creating a home for young conservatives. We hope that we can be an example to our community that the same principles that guided our founding fathers still hold true today. We hope to show that in 2019 there is still a silent majority of young Americans whom still believe that our country was founded in Judeo Christian values, values that acknowledged self-evident, unalienable rights, not endowed from a government that could retract them, but granted by our Creator. Ultimately and simply, we want young Americans to know its okay to believe that the Light that guided America’s founding, should still be the Light we seek today.”

As far as what they hope to accomplish for Metcalfe County’s citizens, those involved hope that they have started a tradition for both parties, not only the Republicans, that will help voters make informed decisions in future elections, as debates and public forums become commonplace.

“The MCYR hope to create a tradition here in our hometown, providing Metcalfe County with debates for decades,” said the MCYR committee.

Coverage will begin at 5 PM on October 10, and the debate will begin at 6 PM. Tune in to the Edmonton Herald-News Facebook page to follow the debate