Flagler Tiger Bay Political Forum for Palm Coast Council and County Commission Candidates Live

The Flagler Tiger Bay Club is hosting a political forum this evening for the Palm Coast City Council and Flagler County Commission candidates in the August 18 primary. The two-hour forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center. It will be simulcast on WNZF and available live on YouTube below.

School Board candidates are not part of the forum. “Time element,” Jay Scherr, president of the Flagler Tiger Bay Club, said. “we have 13 candidates participating. In order to have a meaningful forum where you have meaningful questions and responses, we just could not do that with the school board members as well.” He said there are other forums where the School Board candidates will participate, but this will be the only Tiger Bay forum of the election season.

The five-member panel represents the faith-based, student, nonprofit, business, and public affairs sectors:

Pastor Charles Silano, founder and chair of Grace Community Food Pantry and Grace Tabernacle Ministries International. (Some of his grants are from the county, so he will be asking questions of potential grantors on the County Commission.)
Wilhemina Anderson, who is working on a master’s in library sciences at the University of South Florida. (She is the daughter of Danielle Anderson, who is among the organizers of the forum.)
Lovie Haley, a public affairs specialist in Flagler County government and a Flagler Tiger Bay Club Board Member.
Trish Giaccone, executive director of the Family Life Center and a Flagler Tiger Bay Club Board Member.
Ryan Anderson, a consultant with Atlantic Benefit Consultants and the president of the Palm Coast Business and Professional Group.

The panelists are mostly not asking their own questions. They will merely be reading questions provided to them by the Tiger Bay membership.

Candidates will make opening statements and face just three rounds of panel questions, with some opportunities for rebuttal and closing remarks. According to the release, questions were developed through “community interviews, public submissions, Tiger Bay member input, and panelist contributions.”

The candidates include Denise Calderwood, a write-in who has not had to expand the efforts, resources or money fellow-candidates have had to in order to qualify. Calderwood’s candidacy closed the District 4 County Commission primary, where only Republicans are running. Had Calderwood not filed, all voters of all parties and those of no-party affiliations would have been eligible to vote in that race. In effect, the write-in ploy disenfranchised more than two-thirds of the electorate.

“This forum is designed to give voters an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates and make informed decisions ahead of the election,” Jay Scherr, president of the Flagler Tiger Bay Club, was quoted as saying in a release announcing the forum. “Our panel reflects the broad perspectives of our community and will ask thoughtful questions rooted in the issues that matter most to Flagler County residents.”

The forum will be moderated by Brie Cunniff, who chairs the Candidate Forum Committee as a member of the Flagler Tiger Bay Club Board of Directors.

Candidates participating in the forum include:

Palm Coast City Council District 2