Six candidates for Coral Gables elected office met with students Monday night at the Faculty Club in the University Center.
Monday’s mixer was the first of three events organized by Student Government’s Get Out The Vote campaign, originally organized before the 2004 presidential election.
Two of the three candidates for mayor, incumbent Don Slesnick and Richard Namon, as well as all candidates for the two commission seats up for election this year (Group 4 and Group 5) were on hand. George Corrigan, the third candidate, attended a mixer Tuesday night in the UC lower lounge.
Also in attendance were Wayne “Chip” Withers (incumbent for city commissioner, Group 4), Omar Pasalodos (candidate for city commissioner, Group 4), William “Bill” Kerdyk Jr. (incumbent for city commissioner, Group 5), and UM graduate and current employee John Gottshalk (candidate for city commissioner, Group 5)
After opening statements from the candidates, moderator Dan Kalvig, GOTV’s Residential College outreach chair, proceeded to ask questions tailored to individual candidates as well as general questions.
The relationship between the university and the city dominated the discussion, often touching on the contentious efforts to pass the university’s UMCAD master plan.
“In life, there are blips in the road,” said Slesnick. “The main thing is to find a way to overcome that, and to move forward.”
The Coral Gables city election will take place on April 10.
Matthew Bunch may be contacted at m.bunch@umiami.edu.