Candidates set for mayoral debate

Candidates set for mayoral debate

Community will have a chance to hear from candidates seeking to fill vacant Earle mayor’s seat

news@theeveningtimes.com

The race to fill the job of mayor in Earle is off and running, with the special election less than three weeks away.

In an effort to allow voters to make a choice from the crowded field of seven candidates — including two former mayors — there will be a Mayoral Debate on Monday, Feb. 27. The forum is being hosted by The Community Rebirth Committee and Concerned Citizens of Earle, and will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Earle Elementary Auditorium, located at 802 Barton, in Earle. Being held under the banner of “A New Day, A Fresh Start,” all seven candidates who seek election next month have been invited. The election is being held to fill the office of Mayor of Earle, which was vacated when Carolyn Jones was recalled in a city-wide vote late last year.

The list of candidates includes Jesse Booker, Otis Davis, W.H. Johnson Jr., James Perry Jr., Frederick Pitchford, Sherman Smith, and Judy Wiley.

Jones was recalled from office in November after a stormy two years in office marked by controversy and strife.

Former Mayor Otis Davis, who was defeated in his 2014 re-election bid by Jones, told the Times last month that he thought long and hard about running again and decided that he had some unfinished business that he would like to complete.

“I had quite a few people talk to me about running again,” Davis said. “I think we were headed in the right direction and there are some things I feel I didn’t complete.”

Sherman Smith, who was mayor from 1985-2006, said the city is in desperate need of experienced leadership.

“It is critical at this time or it is going to go down, down, down,” Smith said.

Jesse Booker, a general contractor, said he is running for mayor to help people and to save the city from financial ruin.

Candidate James Perry Jr.

said one of the main reasons he is running for mayor is to turn around the city’s declining finances and to bring more jobs to Earle.

Johnson, who runs W.H.

Johnson Funeral Home, said Earle needs new blood at the top and some new ideas in order to move the city forward.

Wiley, a longtime resident of Earle, now retired, said she decided to give politics a try because she wants to see the city regain its respectability and prosper again.

Pitchford has taken the city to task over several issues at council meetings and by filing a lawsuit last year against the city for filing an illegal budget.

The forum is open to the public and the community is invited.

By the Evening Times News Staff