The Herald Bulletin - 10:27 p.m.: Mayoral candidates debate issues to packed crowd in City Hall

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The Anderson City Building auditorium was packed with voters wanting to hear what the mayoral candidates had to say during their debate.
John P. Cleary / The Herald Bulletin

The City Building auditorium was packed with voters.
John P. Cleary / The Herald Bulletin

kevin Smith-R responds to one of the questions during the mayoral debate.
John P. Cleary / The Herald Bulletin

Robert Jozwiak-I responds to one of the questions during the mayoral debate.
John P. Cleary / The Herald Bulletin

Kris Ockomon-D responds to one of the questions during the mayoral debate.
John P. Cleary / The Herald Bulletin

Robert Jozwiak-I addresses the crowd as Kris Ockomon-D and Kevin Smith-R wait to give their response to the question before the group.
John P. Cleary / The Herald Bulletin

Published October 18, 2007 01:14 am - City Hall auditorium was filled Wednesday night during the mayoral debate sponsored by The Herald Bulletin.

10:27 p.m.: Mayoral candidates debate issues to packed crowd in City Hall

jessica.kerman@heraldbulletin.com

City Hall auditorium was filled Wednesday night during the mayoral debate sponsored by The Herald Bulletin.

Three of the four candidates running for mayor — Republican Kevin Smith, Democrat Kris Ockomon and Independent Robert “Roofer Rob” Jozwiak — spoke about several issues, including development on the west side of Anderson, bringing jobs to the community and other controversial topics.

Write-in candidate Antony “Ty” Bibbs was invited to participate in the debate, but had another commitment at the same time.

Throughout the evening, the candidates were posed with eight questions — six created by The Herald Bulletin editorial board and two suggested from the audience.

When asked about attracting jobs to Anderson, candidates offered several theories as to how to do it.

“The first thing we’ve got to do is understand why we lost our jobs,” Jozwiak said.

Throughout the night, Jozwiak talked about his stance on illegal immigrants working in Anderson. Jozwiak said businesses that hire illegal immigrants were to blame for the unfairly competitive work force in the region.

“If you continue to vote Republican or Democrat, we’re going to get the same thing,” he said.

Jozwiak said he’d try to change federal policy to be stronger on illegal immigrants.

“I’m going to go to Washington, D.C., not China, not Japan,” he said.

Smith said jobs were the most important issue four years ago when he was elected, and they are still the most important issue in this election.

“Now we have a new attitude,” he said. “We worked to change our reputation around the state, the nation and globally.”

Smith said partnerships and an aggressive approach to economic development helped Anderson grow and would continue that process.

Ockomon agreed with Smith that an aggressive approach to economic development was the answer to the jobs problem in Anderson. However, he said, the kinds of jobs coming into the city should be more important. He said better education and lower crime rates would attract more businesses to Anderson.