THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503090173
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Four hundred twenty thousand residents of Virginia Beach, at least a third of them registered voters, and City Council could find only eight nominees to succeed departing Councilman-at-large John Moss?
It could have been worse. By law, Council could have closed the door and arm wrestled or cut for the high card to select a successor to Mr. Moss; and the public be damned to ignorance, guesswork or gossip as to whom Council considered and rejected. Initially, that seemed to suit most Council members fine. And the appointment - which goes to whoever gets six of 10 votes on Council - may yet be settled by arm twisting and vote swapping far from public view.
But, pressed, Council decided to let each member nominate a candidate and let the public in not only on the list but on the premiere of ``Council and the Candidates,'' personal interviews conducted on Friday, March 17, and televised from the Council conference room.
Those interviews would count more if wannabes and their sponsors on Council hadn't started lobbying Council colleagues a hundred lunches ago. Councilman Branch had a point Tuesday: Who on the list do Council members not already know? Since no one of the eight has yet sent six Council members shrieking ``Eureka!'' in the streets, why expect one of them to galvanize majority support on the 17th? And if none gets majority support? The search starts over, from scratch.
Still, citizens who want to lay eyes on the crop of Council's favored candidates for their next representative will get a chance. Good. Outside of the few hundred who's who privy to what's what in this city, most of the nominees are widely unknown. And some whose faces are familiar as former Council members or aspirants may have wised up since their defeat.
The more Council members know about these eight candidates, the better. The more the public knows, the better it can assess Council's choice. To add to that knowledge, The Beacon invites each of the eight candidates to answer, in no more than 300 of their very own words, why they should be appointed to City Council. We also invite citizens interested in the appointment process to submit questions they'd like Council to ask the candidates.
Responses from candidates and citizens must be in The Beacon editorial office by noon Tuesday, March 14, for publication on Friday, March 17.
Our address: 4565 Virginia Beach Blvd., 23452.
Our fax: 490-7235. by CNB