Tuesday, Gainesville voters will decide the city’s next mayor, and residents who live near the UF campus will also decide who will fill a City Commission spot.
For commission, The Editorial Board endorses Randy Wells, who supports the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, equal rights for domestic partners, diversity training and city support of annual Pride Days.
He also supports environmental protection and closing the Cabot/Superfund site. Wells serves on the City Planning Board, chairs the Bicycle Pedestrain Advisory Board and the city’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. Wells would make an excellent commissoner, and we trust him to represent us.
For mayor, The Editorial Board strongly supports Craig Lowe. In his three terms as a commissioner, Lowe earned our trust and proved he cares about people and the environment.
His platform includes pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the Koppers Superfund site, developing the local economy, supporting small businesses and defending the jobs of the city’s first responders, so firefighters and police can focus on helping people. He also serves as chair of the city’s Equal Opportunity Committee and led a successful campaign against the discriminatory Charter Amendment 1 last year, which would have deleted protection for transgenders. He’s also involved in and has received awards from several local human rights and environmental organizations.
While amendments to the anti-discrimination ordinance will not appear on ballots this election, candidates’ positions on the issue are a way to gauge their ability to represent Gainesville.
Richard Selwach opposed the anti-discrimination provisions and supported the amendment that would have deleted them. According to an e-mail sent out by the Human Rights Campaign, Monica Cooper proved she wasn’t familiar with the amendment or the ordinance. When the interviewer asked Cooper’s stance, it was clear she didn’t know Charter Amendment 1 failed or even existed. Don Marsh plans to “fix the transgender bathroom ordinance.” When the HRC interviewer asked to speak with him, he said Craig Lowe would “probably represent [the campaign’s] interests better than [Marsh] could.”
These candidates’ ignorance of or insensitivity to such an important civil rights issue is alarming, and Lowe’s record of supporting equal rights assures us he is the right candidate.
The fifth candidate, Ozzy Angulo, supports the city’s antidiscrimination ordinance and has good ideas about supporting small businesses and protecting the environment, but he opposes the Project Grace one-stop homeless center, which is a necessary step in helping Gainesville’s homeless. He also lacks Lowe’s experience and positive political history.
Don Marsh also opposes the center, saying it would attract “societal malcontents.” We won’t elect a mayor who feels that way about the homeless. Lowe has supported the center and worked to convince the commission to support it.
His experience in city government and his continued support of human rights endeavors make him the clear choice.
Lowe would be the city’s first openly gay mayor. Gainesville has already established its reputation for being a progressive city, and electing a gay mayor would be a step in the same direction. Of course, we would not suggest that this is the reason voters should choose Lowe, but it is another advantage to a candidate we would support regardless of his sexual orientation.
Lowe has also reached out to students and encourages their involvement in the political process, as opposed to Cooper, who said UF students “act like little children.” We admit students don’t always make the best decisions, but we don’t to be represented by someone who doesn’t respect or understand us.
We’re certain Craig Lowe does both, and we wholeheartedly endorse him and Randy Wells for tomorrow’s election.
