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Date Published: October 27, 2004
Senate, mayor candidates square off
Several challengers for other offices not able to attend
event
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Chris Moore / The Item
Sumter County Council candidate Eugene Baten speaks
to the crowd gathered for a forum Tuesday evening at the
South HOPE Center on South Lafayette Drive. Also
pictured, from left, are sheriff candidate Anthony
Dennis, Mayor Joe McElveen, mayoral candidate Whit
Whitaker and state Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter. |
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By BETHANY FULLER
Item Staff Writer
bethanyf@theitem.com
Not all of the candidates invited to the political forum
sponsored by the Sumter Alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
were on hand Tuesday, but that didn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm
of the more than 100 people who attended to hear them
speak.
State Senate District 35 challenger Dickie Jones was
the only Republican present at the event at the South HOPE Center.
He and his opponent, Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, occasionally
traded barbs when responding to questions concerning a variety of
issues, including the status of the University of South Carolina
Sumter, taxes and education.
Jones defended his portrayal of
being an ally of Gov. Mark Sanford despite Sanford's opposition to
USC Sumter becoming a four-year institution.
"I'm for Sumter
and Lee County," Jones said. "I have never said I was running to
support the governor."
Jones also said Leventis didn't ask
for USC Sumter to become a four-year institution until January, but
Leventis, with 24 years in the Senate, countered by saying the fight
started 13 years ago. Jones told the audience that if he had been in
Leventis' position he, too, would have fought the governor's veto.
Leventis and the General Assembly overturned Sanford's veto of the
Life Sciences Act that granted four-year status to the local campus.
A lawsuit by an Upstate resident against the Legislature is keeping
officials from moving forward with the
transition.
Dr. Brenda Williams, a local physician,
asked the candidates how they would address certain issues dealing
with the state Department of Social Services, families and the time
given to parents to prepare for a court hearing after the state
takes a child out of a home. Williams said these parents are often
poor, uneducated people who are not equipped to deal with the
proceedings in a court of law.
Both candidates said the
matter needs to be studied more in order to give it a fair
analysis.
Missing from their assigned seats at the event were
Clerk of Court Deborah Mathis, Robbie Baker, the GOP candidate for
sheriff, and Allen Johnson, candidate for county
council.
Sumter County Republican Party Chairman Jimmy Byrd
said Baker and Johnson had scheduling conflicts and Mathis was
ill.
Byrd said organizers were nice about it when they
canceled, despite a comment from the moderator, lawyer Charles
Boykin, that the candidates who cared about the forum were the ones
who were present.
Some of the questions directed at the two
candidates for mayor, a nonpartisan race, included how to make
Morris College a bigger part of the community, what their opinions
are on consolidating city and county governments and how to improve
economic development.
Challenger Whit Whitaker, a local
businessman, said he would like to see an end to the "turf war"
between the city and the county for a more unified government. Mayor
Joe McElveen, a lawyer, said many of the programs in the city of
Sumter and the county are already consolidated.
"We do have
an awful lot of consolidation," McElveen said.
Bringing new
jobs into the area was also a point of concern. McElveen said
economic development was something he and city council were working
on.
"We are ready and we are working hard," he
said.
Whitaker said economic development could be split into
two parts, retention of jobs and getting new ones. He said he wants
to put more of an emphasis on economic development.
Sheriff
candidate Anthony Dennis, Sumter County Council District 7 candidate
Eugene Baten, and Jamie Campbell, a clerk of court candidate, all
Democrats, also participated.
Campbell said his four
objectives are to enhance technology in General Sessions court, hold
criminal domestic violence hearings more frequently, improve family
court security and improve collection of alimony and child support
payments.
Dennis pointed out his 22 years of service in the
sheriff's department. He said drugs are the No. 1 problem facing
Sumter County.
Baten focused on education. He said he wants
to work closely with the Sumter County Career Center and wants to
make sure children are motivated in schools.
"We have to
invest in a good, quality education," he said.
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October 27, 2004 
