{"id":10431,"date":"2012-07-08T22:42:36","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T03:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=10431"},"modified":"2012-07-28T17:49:43","modified_gmt":"2012-07-28T22:49:43","slug":"politics-in-the-park-lets-candidates-stomp-for-votes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2012\/07\/politics-in-the-park-lets-candidates-stomp-for-votes\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics in the Park Lets
Candidates Stomp For Votes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lehigh Acres Gazette Staff
\nPhotos by RJ Photography<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by RJ Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A wide range of political incumbents and hopefuls gathered at New Life Assembly Church in Lehigh Acres Saturday, July 7, 2012, attempting to make a point, get noticed and garner votes in this year\u2019s upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

The event was sponsored by the Lehigh Acres Community Council with many local residents vying for their neighbors\u2019 votes running for local governing entities such as the water and fire district as well as county, state and federal positions.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jacqueline Danis, running for LAFD Seat 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Local hopefuls included Jacqueline Danis, running for Seat 5 on the board for the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District. \u00a0She started the long line of speakers for the event\u00a0 quoting Bob Dylan claiming \u201cthe times they are a\u2019changing.\u201d Danis was obviously making reference to what she said was a reason to vote for her because she said she would bring a fresh set of eyes and ideas to the local fire district. \u201cIt\u2019s time for someone new with fresh ideas,\u201d Danis said. \u201cThat someone is me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat someone is me\u201d theme ran all through the night since the main goal was persuading the voters in Lehigh Acres to \u201cpick me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moderators were on hand to make sure each politician limited their address to three minutes.<\/p>\n

More than 50 political hopefuls were on hand for the Politics in the Park at the New Life Assembly of God, sponsored by the Lehigh Acres Community Council and the Kiwanis Club of Lehigh Acres. Politics in the Park\u00a0 is normally held at Veterans Park or at a local school. It was moved to the campus at the New Life Assembly of God do to scheduling issues.<\/p>\n

Republican congressional hopeful Byron Donalds praised the forum\u2019s organizers but expressed disappointment at the relatively sparse attendance. About 100 people listened to the candidates\u2019 short speeches in the sanctuary, while about the same number of candidates, staffers and volunteers worked their tables, which were laden with cookies of all sizes, shapes and flavors.<\/p>\n

To see the straw poll taken click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
School board candidate Robert \u201dBob\u201d Chilmonik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

School board candidate Robert \u201dBob\u201d Chilmonik\u00a0said that \u201cBottom line is the bottom line.\u201d He said\u00a0 that some of today\u2019s children are \u201cunable to read at the most basic level.\u201d\u00a0He spoke of early childhood programs, and that English language must be taught.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Edd Weiner candidate for ECWCD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Edd Weiner who is a candidate for East County Water Control District Seat 5, said \u201cLehigh Acres was not prepared for catastrophic storms like those seen elsewhere if one of our bridges goes out. Our current reserves will be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Fry contributed to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lehigh Acres Gazette Staff Photos by RJ Photography A wide range of political incumbents and hopefuls gathered at New Life Assembly Church in Lehigh Acres Saturday, July 7, 2012,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}