Herald editorial board split on Ward 5 race

The following editorial appeared in Saturday’s Herald. We’ll announce our endorsement decision in the Sanford City Council at-large race Sunday.

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This Tuesday, one of the three candidates for Sanford City Council Ward 5 will have more votes than the other two. This wasn’t the case when The Herald’s editorial board voted on its endorsements for the upcoming municipal election.
Half of our four-man board chose incumbent Linwood Mann, while the other half selected challenger Earl Barker. Challenger Ervin Fox did not receive any votes.
For years, The Herald has endorsed candidates in local races, and for the first time in recent memory, it came away with no clear-cut candidate in mind. We feel each candidate has his positive attributes and his faults. Our indecision came about because nobody on the board could get over the faults of the candidates they did not choose. When our board endorses a candidate, we do so confidently. That said, we’re confident in this decision as well, because we feel many voters agree that this isn’t a particularly strong race.
So instead of sharing with you whom we feel would make the best candidate, we will list the positives and the negatives of each candidate. And we challenge voters to hold whomever they choose accountable over the next four years, because ultimately, they’re working for you.

Incumbent Linwood Mann
Those on our board who favored Mann agree he outperformed his opponent in the recent political forum hosted by The Herald, and we feel his experience on the board and familiarity with Sanford are solid attributes.
Mann has been the Ward 5 councilman for three terms (12 years), and this is his first challenge since being appointed to office. He is extremely hard-working — during this whole process, Lowe’s Home Improvement (where he is an employee) has been the best place to find him — and he has a common-sense approach to local government.
“My main motive, really, is to continue (and hopefully to completion) some programs we started for revamping and overhauling East Sanford,” Mann told The Herald recently. “That’s really where many problems are, and this is coming about from age and neglect. It’s taken time getting all the pieces together and getting all the organizations to work together.”
Mann is also a good listener, and he seems genuinely concerned about issues people in the city are facing.
“That’s one of the greatest things I’ve learned,” he said. “Listen to people and give them respect.
One of the reasons Mann did not get our full support is his recent voting record. We have disagreed with his stance on the business privilege tax, which he supported and defended during the forum. Then when asked in our questionnaire about what the city should do to help local businesses, Mann said he had no clear answer for that, other than maintaining infrastructure and keeping streets and sidewalks in good shape. These help, yes, but the council needs men and women who come into an election with plans and goals.
In public meetings, Mann has not been outspoken and he has done little to spark debate or brainstorming among his fellow councilmen. Some have even questioned his ability to “stay alert,” to put it nicely, during meetings, which should concern voters.

Challenger Earl Barker
Our views on Barker were almost completely opposite of our views on Mann. We are encouraged by stance on some important issues the city is facing, but his lack of experience and poor performances at recent political forums are cause for concern.
Like Mann, Barker is a working man, owner of Head Hunters Barber Shop on South Horner Boulevard in Sanford. He is friendly, and he’s in constant contact with people — most of them are his customers at the barber shop. It’s those customers, Barker says, who encouraged him to run for office and make a difference.
As a business owner, Barker seems to have a good grasp of what it may take to help local businesses in the future.
“It starts with asking tough questions about government efficiency instead of passing more taxes,” Barker told The Herald. “A more efficient and less taxing city is always more favorable to businesses. We need to make Sanford a great place to start and own a business. This will enhance growth and help fill the vacant business spaces. Start-up businesses need incentives, not up-front business privilege taxes.”
Barker, like Mann, is also for finding ways to “spruce up” Sanford with more beautification efforts and stricter codes.
One concern we have, however, is there seems to be two different Earl Barkers — the one who comes off as a quality candidate in questionnaires and on his Web site, and the one who appears less prepared and more hesitant to talk issues in a public forum or with the media. Perhaps he’s uneasy speaking in public, or maybe he’s better at composing his thoughts before sharing them … either way, a public official needs to be more confident in a public setting. We want candidates who won’t be afraid to speak up during a council meeting, who won’t shy away from speaking their minds.
Barker does not seem to possess this quality, and those who were against endorsing him on our board fear he will follow the votes of whichever “side” he chooses rather than make decisions based on his own information and beliefs.
His hesitance can be attributed to his lack of experience, which is always a concern for a newcomer.

Challenger Ervin Fox
Recent arrests and charges of falsifying documents have certainly hindered Fox’s campaign for the Ward 5 seat.
It hasn’t helped that he also hasn’t been seen much by the voting public, and little is known about what Fox would bring to the board if elected.
In his questionnaire, Fox was wishy-washy on some issues, though we liked his answer concerning crime. Fox said getting the public to really know their police force and do away with the negative perception some have of the police is a good first step toward helping fight crime. We agree.
If Fox decides to run again, we hope to see more of him and to read less about his troubles with the law.