This morning at the Allen County Republican Headquarters, Fort Wayne Firefighter Jerome Gaines announced his candidacy for the Fort Wayne City Council 2nd District seat.
The seat is currently held by Democrat Karen Goldner who has not officially announced whether or not she will seek re-election.
Those in attendance included: Indiana State Senator Tom Wyss, Indiana State Representative Bob Morris, Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters, Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown who introduced Mr. Gaines and former Allen County Sheriff Joe Squadrito.
httpsv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoxiliIeG6U
In the above video, Councilwoman Brown introduces Gaines, who takes the podium at the 1:04 mark. Â Gaines then answers questions from the media beginning at the 6:30 mark.
Toward the end of the questions, I asked about the possible conflict of interest with Gaines being a city employee and voting on city issues. Â It was followed by a question from another media outlet about the possibility of the State Legislature moving to prevent public safety employees from holding elected offices. Â This was a recommendation from the Kernan-Shepard Commission in 2008 and most lawmakers will tell you it’s not a high priority. Â If you’ll remember back to 2009, it was the reason the Republicans did not elect Councilman Marty Bender as Council President. Â Only after the issue lost traction, was Bender given that position this year.
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