The Great Debates

Next week, the community has the opportunity to attend two forums, where our candidates for mayor, both Republican and Democrat, will be squaring off.

On Monday night, from 6pm until 7pm, the League of Women Voters will be hosting a debate at the Massillon Public Library featuring Republican Andrew Oser and Democrats Kathy Catazaro-Perry, and the Extraordinary One, our beloved Mayor for Life, King Francis the Eternal, Lord Sovereign of the City.

The moderator will have prepared questions, but the League will accept written questions from the audience.

On Thursday night, April 21, there will be an "Ask the Candidates" event at the Lion's Lincoln Theatre, scheduled to start at 7pm (doors open at 6pm). It is scheduled for two hours. Republicans Andrew Oser and Lee Brunckhart are scheduled to appear, as well as Kathy Catazaro-Perry and our Eternal Leader, Frank Cicchinelli.

Massillon historian Rudy Turkal will call on the audience to ask questions.

There are concerns that Rudy will stack the deck for the mayor. We can only hope he will be fair.

So be prepared to bring questions.

Perhaps folks will ask why money meant for parks and recreation was hijacked to pay the debt on the golf course.

Maybe someone will want to know why our tax dollars are used to pay the mortgage for a privately owned hotel.

Someone might want to know why the mayor doled out 4% pay raises for the city's unions when he knew the city was broke, and his claim about "the dollars will be there" was false.

Whatever happened to the hockey arena? Is it true the proposed financier is still sitting in a Florida prison?

How come many of our city streets look worse than downtown Baghdad?

Yes, there are just so many questions to ask.

Because if you don't ask questions, the Mayor for Life's supporters will ask them all.

The mayor is famous for stacking these candidates' nights with his loyalists.

They hoot. They howl. They boo, and they cheer on command.

A similar event was held four years ago at the Lincoln Theatre, and the mayor's crew made quite the scene as they booed Tim Bryan.

One woman in particular "Whoo Hoo'd" all night. You would have thought she belonged in Jerry Springer's audience.

We shudder to think what they have in store for Kathy Catazaro-Perry.

The mayor's supporters will be out in force, performing at their dramatic best.

Will the mayor's devotees dominate the audience?

We shall see next week.