City Council Candidates Address Residents at Forum

Candidates for the District 3 seat on Menifee City Council addressed residents Monday during a candidates forum.

By Daniel Millhouse

Candidates for the vacant Menifee City Council District 3 council seat, opened up with the passing of Wallace Edgerton, met at the Bell Mountain gym for the Menifee 24/7 Candidates Forum Monday night.

By a 3-1 vote in June, council members voted to have a special election and let the citizens of District 3 (southeast Menifee) vote rather than appoint a council member to fill out the remaining year of Edgerton’s term.

All four candidates were present for the forum and answered questions submitted by readers of Menifee 24/7. Questions were posed to the entire group and candidates also answered specific questions directed at them individually.

Darcy Kuenzi, a city council member from 2008-2012, emphasized her experience as one of the top reasons to vote for her.

"I’m invested in this community," Kuenzi said in her closing statement. "I care. I’ve been in the job, I can hit the ground running, I won’t have a learning curve, and I’ll be there to keep the city moving forward and see that we prioritize the things that need to be done and find the money that we need to find to make our city the best city in Riverside County."

An individual question posed to Kuenzi showed concern about what the reader described as a confrontational attitude toward public commenters at council meetings -- including one instance when she turned her back on resident Greg August while he was addressing the council. August is now a City Council member.

"Mr. Greg August, we had a little bit of a confrontational environment at that time based on some issues," Kuenzi responded. "So for that, that’s in the past and moving forward I believe that I can work with Greg. We share a lot of concerns about the seniors and the homeless and animals, so I know I can work better with the colleagues on the city council."

Candidate Stu Blaze, a past business owner in Menifee, cited his years of business experience as a key factor to vote for him.

"People are looking at business people to come and save the country," Blaze stated. "We have business people running for president. We have business people who are running for political offices all over the country because they feel they have the experience, the expertise, the knowledge to make things happen differently."

Blaze was asked about a flier that his campaign team distributed with the City of Menifee’s logo on it, which according to the City is not allowed on campaign literature. The City issued a news release recently reminding residents it does not endorse any candidate. Blaze was asked whether he knew use of the City logo was not allowed.

Holding up paperwork that he received from the City when he signed up to run for District 3, Blaze said, "The answer to that is absolutely not. I’m very proud of Menifee and I thought the logo was kind of cool so I put it on my paper," Blaze responded. "This is what we were given when we went in to get papers. Once I was called out on the logo, I went through this with a fine-tooth comb. There is nothing in here that says anything about using the City logo on anything, whether you can or you can’t."

Blaze said the mistake was corrected "within an hour" by placing a sticker over the logo on subsequent fliers that were distributed.

Neil Winter, a retired senior manager in software development and sales, emphasized his concern for issues he believes in over his lack of political experience.

When the group was asked about their specific areas of concern for District 3, Winter responded by saying, "The whole process of how I look at it is we talk about bringing white collar jobs, we talk about corporations coming, we talk about business parks, we talk about that. I talk about that as a perimeter and that perimeter also comes with private security linked to it as well.

"Most major corporations have their own private securities patrolling those parking lots at all times. It also helps to cut the taxes. If you bring big insurance companies in, if you bring biotech in, now you have industries where people can actually work and live in the city."

Winter was directly asked about his different strategy in running for city council, with virtually no campaign signs around town, no prior experience in city government, and whether he really believes he can win by standing at street corners and waving at traffic all day.

"I have no visions of winning this race, but I do want to change things," he said. "I want people to wake up and realize it’s not the number of signs, it’s not the number of banners that should win an election. They should be able to see that candidate out there working every day. That’s what I do."

Another reader question was directed at both Winter and fellow candidate Lesa Sobek, asking the two whether they had opportunities to vie for the endorsement of the Riverside Sheriff’s Association, which has backed Blaze. The reader also asked the same question regarding the Building Industry Association, which the reader claimed has backed Kuenzi.

"I personally did not want to go after any endorsements other than the Republican Party," Winter answered. "I wanted to run this race on my own. I didn’t want to take any money from anybody, which I did not. I’ve only spent my capital, my cash, and promised not to spend more than $900. I’m at $873 right now."

Sobek had a somewhat different response.

"I first heard of the (Sheriffs' Association) endorsement when I saw it in Menifee 24/7," Sobek responded about Blaze’s endorsement. "And I was really surprised by what it said. It said that unanimously through the Sheriff’s Department through the interview process, they chose to support Stu Blaze. I was never invited to participate in an interview process. They didn’t even know me."

Sobek went on to say about the BIA endorsement, "I gave Mr. Blankenship (CEO of the Riverside BIA) a call the day our applications were due, introduced myself as well because that’s the kind of person I am. He told me on the phone that the day our applications were due, he had already written a check to one of my opponents."

Kuenzi didn't address that issue during the forum but later told a reporter she was not endorsed by the BIA and has taken no money from them.

Sobek, a member of the planning commission of Menifee, stated during the forum that her biggest priority was to create a public safety and traffic commission.

"The traffic issue isn’t just on Newport Road and Scott Road overpass," said Sobek, a member of the Menifee Planning Commission. "They are in the neighborhoods where people driving down maybe Antelope Road at 50 to 55 miles an hour and turning into a neighborhood that is 25 miles per hour. The traffic commission will make recommendations to the city council such as speed zones, stop signs, signals."

The intent of the forum was to give Menifee residents a better idea of who the candidates are and what they stand for. Those who were in attendance were able to meet with the candidates after the forum and discuss their concerns for the city.

The District 3 City Council election will take place on Nov. 3 and only residents of District 3 will be allowed to vote for their council member representative. A video of the entire forum will be available for viewing on Menifee 24/7 on Wednesday.