Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 13, 2007 "MEET THE CANDIDATES" FORUM

From the Southeast Missourian...

Cairo mayoral hopefuls say their priority is business

By Rudi Keller ~ Southeast Missourian

CAIRO, Ill. -- Reconciliation and reconstruction were the top themes for Cairo's mayoral candidates at a candidate forum just five days before an election that will replace at least four of the city's seven elected officials.

Both Judson Childs, a retired prison warden, and Karl Klein, a retired utilities manager, said they will seek to bring harmony to the relationship between the city council and the mayor. For the past four years, Mayor Paul Farris has been locked in a bitter battle with council members over issues as mundane as meeting minutes and as basic as the legal powers of his office.

They both said attracting industry to the economically depressed town of 3,600 at the southernmost tip of Illinois would be their top priority during the coming four years.

Childs and Klein were the only two opponents in Tuesday's election who both attended the forum, sponsored by the Concerned Citizens for the Recovery of Cairo. No incumbent council members took part. Under Illinois election law, the entire council and the mayor are on the ballot in the same election every four years.

"The mayor and the aldermen are going to have to work together to get our community back together," Klein said. "We've got to get the city moving forward."

Childs said his administrative experience as a state prison warden will give him the foundation to start the rebirth of Cairo. To attract jobs, Childs said, Cairo has to be attractive. That means addressing the dozens of dilapidated homes and commercial buildings throughout the city. "We need industries," Childs said. "At home, when we are expecting company, we clean up."

The two agreed on other items as well, with both calling for up-to-date audits -- the city hasn't approved an audit since 2002. But they differed somewhat on the pay issue for council members and the mayor. Klein said he would serve for nothing, while Childs said some compensation was needed to defer costs for travel on behalf of the city but indicated the current salary of $1,000 a month is too high.

While Klein said he wanted to operate the city under laws that give the mayor veto power over council actions, Childs said he needed to study the issue and would work for consensus with the council. A state court ruled last year that state law gives the mayor veto power, but the conditions of a federal consent decree creating the city's government could make that ruling subject to challenge.

In other contests on the ballot, former Cairo High School coach and teacher Bob Conroy told the 60 people gathered for the forum that he believes corruption is undermining the election. A first-time candidate, Conroy said his race has revealed a sordid side of Cairo. "Nice guys who run against the machine get hurt along the way," he said.

Conroy is running for councilman-at-large, the only other citywide office, against incumbent Councilwoman Linda Jackson.