Free County hosts Bennett and Gilmore at candidates? forum

    Free County held a meeting at the Pizza Ranch in Washington Monday which was attended by two supervisor candidates, a sitting state senator and 30 to 40 residents. Republican Ron Bennett and Democrat Richard Gilmore are candidates for Washington County?s fifth district, and both of them spoke at the meeting. Democratic State Senator Becky Schmitz also spoke at the meeting about work she has done in the Iowa Legislature.

    Bennett and Gilmore spoke about themselves and their backgrounds before taking questions from the audience. Bennett said the atmosphere of the meeting was very casual. He said he was pleased with the audience participation.

    ?The meeting started at 7 p.m. and didn?t get over until about 9:30 p.m.,? he said.

    Bennett said he and Gilmore did not ask questions of each other but rather fielded questions from the audience.

    ?I talk to people every day, trying to learn more and more,? said Bennet. ?If I?m elected, I?ll be ready to step in there.?

    Gilmore said he was glad to see so much interest in the supervisor?s race from people in the county. He said he and Bennett did not talk about their differences, and that the two were amiable to one another.

    ?There is no animosity between us or anything like that,? said Gilmore. ?Monday?s meeting was just a way for residents to find out where we stand. It was an interesting forum, because the same questions were not asked to both candidates.?

 Gilmore said zoning dominated the discussion. Both he and Bennett have expressed opposition to the county zoning ordinance passed by the supervisors earlier this year.

    James Graham, the spokesman for Free County, said he was happy to learn both Bennett and Gilmore oppose zoning. He said the meeting went very well.

    ?I thought it was a great time, and we had such a good audience,? said Graham. ?People got involved in the discussion, and it never got out of hand. I?m pleased that not only are Bennett and Gilmore opposed to zoning, but that both are willing to continue opposing it.?

    Graham said Free County will invite candidates to speak at other meetings. Independent candidate Jim Rosien was not invited to the event. Graham said he just found out Tuesday that Rosien was running.

For more, see our Sept. 15 print edition.