Last night the Joshua Star hosted a candidate forum at the Joshua Fire Station to allow the public a chance to get to know the candidates and hear directly from them their plans for Joshua, their past performance in their present duties and a general feel for the candidate's personalities. Johnson County Precinct 2 Commissioner, Kenny Howell, did a great job moderating the event.
Joshua Mayor, Joe Hollarn, performed just as I expected last night being on point with good information and a zest in his role as our current mayor. Joe and I spend a lot of time together attending meetings both in Joshua and beyond and a variety of other functions. I've gotten to know him well and appreciate him as the mayor of Joshua and as a friend. He's a great mayor, the best person for the job and I encourage Joshua voters to re-elect him on May 11th.
Councilman Gary Smith is Mayor Hollarn's challenger this year and Gary's candidacy came as quite a shock to many people. Gary has not been one of our more outspoken council members which I think is why so many people were surprised when he threw his hat into the ring for the top dog position. Gary's primary campaign point has been getting the public more involved with input in the decision making process for the city. That is completely admirable and valid. I think we do a pretty good job of that now, but that's a task that will always have room for improvement and new ideas are always welcome. It's actually a lot harder than one might think. I ran on a platform of accessibility, public input and interest and put my contact information on everything I put out and still the phone rarely rings with citizen inquiries. The number is 817-426-1641, by the way. Gary kept on that point, but he demonstrated something more important last night; courage. Gary is not a comfortable public speaker. I think he would agree with me on that. I think Gary knew that when he filed for mayor and he knew that when he agreed to participate in last night's forum. He knew that when he stepped up to the podium and the words he may have had in his head didn't come out of his mouth. That didn't stop him though. He took his time to gather his thoughts even though 40+ people were sitting in deafening silence and watching. It took a lot of character and perseverance for Gary to continue on through 90 minutes of questions. I don't think Gary Smith gained an edge on being elected Mayor of Joshua last night, but I do think he gained a lot of people's respect. I know he gained mine.
A.J.
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