I saw Juan Rangel at the League of Women Voters’ Forum in October and was very impressed with him. I found him knowledgeable and passionate. After that event, I must say that I was disappointed that his campaign decided to use the Trinity Trees mailing list for election purposes. I was also disappointed when he compared a fellow Democrat to Karl Rove in another campaign mailer.

However, I believe that this is an important election and I am approaching Tuesday’s vote with an open mind. I am interested to hear what Juan has to say. Juan was gracious enough to respond to an e-mail interview dealing with this campaign’s most important issues. I hope you will take a few minutes to read Juan’s responses before going out to vote on Tuesday.

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Back on Election Day in November, I ran into Joel Burns outside the polling place at Lily B. Clayton Elementary. Although I have had issues with the tone of his campaign, he said that it was really a misunderstanding — he’s really not a bad guy. After listening to his explanation of the URL issue and checking out his side of the story, I came to believe that I had been unfair to Joel on this issue. Joel asked for a second chance and I believe he deserved one.

And I have been pleased with the way he has run his campaign in the runoff. I believe he has tried to run on the issues and I applaud him for that. Joel was gracious enough to respond to an e-mail interview of this campaign’s important issues. So take a few minutes to read Joel’s responses before going out to vote on Tuesday.

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