Cahnman says the workers who would have been laid off were actually revenue-generating positions, and laying off workers should only be done by a mayor who was elected.
Mayor Edwards is not an elected mayor,” he says. “I felt like that is a decision should be made by a mayor with a mandate from people.”
Additionally, Tozer says he was troubled by Cahnman’s August 2009 arrest on a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a paid sex act from two female undercover police officers. Cahnman was acquitted in December 2010, but Tozer feels Cahnman should have resigned anyway.
“The appearance was horrible,” Tozer says.
“Guilty or not, he should have resigned immediately. … I think that was selfish.”
Cahnman responds that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and it would have been “irresponsible to resign from the job the voters elected me to do.”
“The people of Ward 5 elected me because I’m a fighter and not a quitter,” he continues. “I have a proven track record of being independent, fighting hard for my constituents and not giving up when the going gets tough.”
If reelected, Cahnman says he will continue to push for better enforcement of building code violations against abandoned houses and fixing rundown streets and sidewalks, among other goals.
Tozer says the city needs to streamline services to save money, while issues like garbage disposal and homelessness should be handled by private entities. He supports mayor candidate
Mike Houston’s proposal to hire two city attorneys devoted to addressing abandoned houses, as well as increased fines on absentee landlords and better code enforcement. Though he support’s Houston’s plan, he says he is backing candidate Mike Coffey for mayor.
Tozer also touts the support he has received from unions, as well as his father’s and grandfather’s union memberships. His campaign has filed three contributions with the Illinos State Board of Elections totaling $3,500 – all from labor unions. Cahnman received an endorsement and a $2,000 contribution from the Southern Central Illinois Laborers Political League, which also gave Tozer $1,500.
“Being a public servant is like running a marathon,” Cahnman says. “You have to keep a steady pace and never slack off. I think the fact that I was a marathon runner has helped me keep my nose to the grindstone to keep plugging away at what needs to be done. I don’t take no for an answer if it’s something that we really need in Ward 5.”
– Patrick Yeagle
Ward 6: Three candidates, one campaign In the second week of March, well into his write-in candidacy for Ward 6 alderman and less than one month away from election day, 36-year-old Cameron Counts volunteered to Illinois Times that he had not once looked at the city of Springfield’s budget. While early on he built a campaign website and a Facebook page, now with 33 “likes,” earlier this month he didn’t have any campaign signs, and he hadn’t raised any campaign funds.
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