Members of the Cleveland Heights Neighborhood Association heard from three candidates for mayor and both sides of the strong-mayor debate in an election forum tonight. Here is video from the event; the audio peters out toward the end, so you may want to switch at that point to this version.
With election campaigns relying increasingly on social media, LkldNow introduces the Lakeland Election Wire, a single place to track all of the local candidates’ Facebook posts.
In an editorial-page column in The Ledger, Mayor Howard Wiggs calls for “collectively crafted solutions” to divisive issues such as the Confederate memorial in Munn Park. While not explicitly taking sides in his column (he’s defended the monument when it’s been criticized by members of the public at City Commission meetings), he singles out anger seen in “shameful name-calling and attacks on those who view the statue as their history and heritage.”
Mayor Howard Wiggs is backing Ben Albritton, currently a Florida House member facing term limits. The Wauchula Republican is the only candidate declared so far in the 2018 race. Incumbent Denise Grimsley plans to run for state agriculture commissioner.
Lakeland campaign contribution reports for July aren’t a whole lot different than June’s tally. While reports from the two groups on either side of the strong-mayor debate haven’t been posted online yet, it’s probably safe to say that the Strong Lakeland group still has the largest pot. City Commission candidate Larry Durrence has collected the largest number of contributions, while Scott Franklin has the largest dollar total among commission candidates. Many thanks to Michael Maguire, for keeping campaign reports accessible and searchable on The City Zen Ship and for providing the chart below of contributions to date:
A handful of local businesses and executives (donors) have pooled $121,000 to form Lakeland First (Facebook | web), a political action committee that has spent $29,735 (recipients) and plans to support business-friendly City Commission candidates. The organization is aligned with the interests of the Lakeland Economic Development Council, the Ledger article says.
