City of Kissimmee Candidate Social

Today is the first candidate social put on by the Kissimmee Chamber of Commerce. Today's gathering will focus on the City of Kissimmee candidates who will be asked a series of media driven questions from our local celebrity media personalities on what they believe are important issues to the community. Our recommendation is to skip the event and catch this one on your favorite government access channel, Access Osceola. What you will save on the cost of admission and the roll of Tums you will need after eating another rubber chicken dinner will justify the expense of the converter box to get channel 199. That is of course if you have not already wisely cut your cable package. If you have cut your cable package, then we recommend you still save your money and don't waste time on this social event.

The real problem with this event is that the "questions" asked by the celebrity interviewers are typically open ended generic "questions" that have nothing to do with the struggles our citizens face every day. The "questions" rarely give insight into the true knowledge and depth of a candidate. The "questions" also drive an agenda that is many times at odds with what the community has in mind. Questions on economic development are almost always asked as if there was some magic pot of money in which to draw from. And when candidates give the same old tired answer of "I think we should revitalize downtown and it would be nice if their was some night life down there," the celebrity interviewers nod their collective heads without ever asking the follow up of "Why?", "How do you intend to pay for it?", or the question that should be asked, "What are you going to cut to pay for this?" Incumbent candidates will tout their experience and the people that they know as reasons for the citizens to re-elect them and again the celebrity interviewer will not make them expand on these answers. "Is a round-about fountain paid for with gas tax money a wise decision when the city commission keeps cutting funding for public transportation?", "Is it wise to make commissioner backed changes to the City Charter with limited public input, and then table changes made by the actual charter review committee?", and "Since we now have a strong Mayor form of government, do we still need to employ the city manager?" Local governments have not had a great track record over the past couple of years, but this will not factor into the questioning because it is not proper to discuss failure at a social event.

Our advice to the voters is to call the candidates and talk to them yourself. Ask them about the questions that are important to you. If they blow off your questions then, you know what they are going to do if they are elected. Social events, like these forums, are not designed for the public, but one on one you will get a better idea of what a candidate is all about.