Less than three weeks from election day, the candidates vying to replace 20-year Albany mayor Jerry Jennings met Monday evening at the main branch of the Albany Public Library. It marked the first time since WAMC's and the New York League of Conservation Voters’ well-received forum at the Linda back in July that every candidate had a place at a debate. Nathan LeBron, Chairman of the Hispanic Coalition, moderated the Monday night colloquium.
The Hispanic Coalition of New York and LULAC, the League of Latin American Citizens, hosted the six candidates vying for mayor. The theme: Latino issues are Albany's issues.
The candidates:
- Independent Democrat Marlon Anderson, running as a write-in.
- Republican Jesse Calhoun.
- Also a write-in, Independent Democrat Valerie Faust.
- Green Party hopeful Theresea Portelli.
- City Treasurer and Democratic party candidate Kathy Sheehan.
- Conservative Party candidate Joe Sullivan.
Questions for the candidates covered a range of topics including diversity, neighborhoods, home ownership, family, youth, veterans, racial profiling, community policing and the inevitable: taxes, education and the student debt crisis. At one time or another during the evening, each candidate managed to connect for better or worse with members of the audience.
Passions and issues took center stage at the forum: the true test comes on November 5th, when voters have their say.