The First of two political forums was held on Oct. 1

Candidates for the Mayor of Mountain Home, Jimmy Schipani, Rich Sykes and Tim Standish were amongst the candidates who gathered at the Elks Lodge last Tuesday for the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce’s Political Forum.

On Oct. 1, the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce held a political forum, giving the community a chance to get to know the candidates up for election on Nov. 5. All candidates were in attendance for a total of three individuals running for Mayor of the City of Mountain Home and six people running for two City Council positions.

It was a packed room to start the evening as people came out to hear about each candidates platform and ask questions of the individuals vying for a chance to lead Mountain Home. The Chamber's forum is a question and answer based event, allowing attendees to ask questions of either the mayoral candidates, the council candidates or the whole panel. The process was off to a slow start, with only seven people signing up to ask a question at the time the forum was set to start. After asking for more participation to make the event worth everyone's time, the moderator soon had a long list of people waiting to ask questions. During the forum, candidates are not allowed to ask questions of each other or to make rebuttals of others statements.

The event began with the candidates introducing themselves to the crowds. The candidates for mayor began the night with Tim Standish going first.

Standish owns a plumbing business in the community and said he is running because "he was asked too." He added that "people here already know me and what I'm about."

Incumbent Rich Sykes was up next saying that he truly appreciated the audience for being "part of the process" He went on to introduce his family and city employees who were in attendance.

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