LAHARPE With six days left before Tuesdays general election, contenders for two Allen County Commission seats stated their positions at a forum hosted by Allen County Farm Bureau.
The five appeared Tuesday evening in front of a crowd of about 20 in the LaHarpe City Hall gymnasium.
Voters in Allen Countys First District will choose between either incumbent Jerry Daniels, a Republican, and Democrat Mike Bruner to represent the southern half of the county.
Meanwhile, District 3 voters, in and around the southern half of Iola and areas of the northwest quadrant of town, will choose between either Republican Bruce Symes and Democrat Steven Henderson. John Brocker, appointed to the seat in March, is running as a write-in candidate after he was defeated by Symes in the August GOP primary.
Symes and Henderson provided the closest thing to any sort of fireworks, both disputing comments made by Brocker.
Symes was highly critical of a mailer Brocker had recently distributed claiming that neither Symes nor Henderson had a vested interest in what happens in the county simply because they do not carry mortgages.
The claim, Symes said, was ludicrous on its face, noting that he has purchased three homes in Iola in the 32 years hes lived in town.
Ive made this county my home, Symes said, recounting his career first as an Iola Register reporter, and for the last decade as an educator at Allen Community College. I spend my money here.
Brocker did not respond to the comments, or those of Henderson, who accused Brocker of trying to run Bruce Symess and my name through the mud.
This place will be a ghetto or a goldmine, Henderson said of Brocker. The choice is yours. It sounds to me like I know which path hed like to go down, and hes taking us all with him.
Symes and Brocker also sparred briefly on another element from the flyer, in which Brocker promised to reduce the countywide mill levy and reduce taxes overall.
Id like to think he knows how budgets work, but one doesnt necessarily lead to the other, Symes said, noting that while Brocker did vote for a mill levy decrease for the 2019 budget, the levy still raised an additional $160,000 because of increased property values.
I do understand budgets, Brocker replied. I can look at a budget and can tell whats going on. My concern is looking at everything and being responsible for the funds weve got. Weve got a lot of issues we need to address. Id like to talk about a tax reduction, but only after all the issues have been addressed.
IN THEIR introductory comments, each candidate spelled out why he chose to run for the County Commission.
