Issues Discussed, Debated at Menifee Candidates Forum

All candidates running for Menifee City Council positions participated in Thursday night's Menifee 24/7 Candidates Forum.

By Daniel Millhouse

Candidates for Menifee City Council district seats and the position of mayor discussed their campaign platforms and answered questions submitted by residents Thursday night in the Menifee 24/7 Candidates Forum at Paloma Valley High School.

All nine candidates were in attendance, including write-in mayoral candidate Darci Castillejos, who participated via speaker phone from Afghanistan, where she is stationed with the U.S. Navy. Some questions were posed to the entire group and others were directed toward specific candidates.

Several candidates disputed an opponent's stated claim and some traded verbal jabs with each other, but overall, the information provided appeared to give those in the audience a better understanding of what the candidates stand for.

Paul Wiggins (right), one of three candidates for mayor, said he got into the race because he believed that someone needed to run without the help of special interest groups.

"What’s the vision of the city?" he asked. "Whose vision is running the city?"

A question submitted directly to Wiggins asked him to clarify his position on high density housing, rezoning industrial property and overall growth in the city.

"Industrial zoning is critical to the health of the city for our tax base," Wiggins said. "We don’t want to be rezoning it to high density housing. That’s the opposite way we need to go. We need to really work on our tax base to support our public safety budget and right now we don’t have enough police as we need. That’s something we really need to focus on."

Mayor Scott Mann focused his message on the need for strong leadership, getting Menifee back on track and attracting more businesses to Menifee. To do this, he addressed the need to better the city infrastructure, build new roads and add traffic signals at key intersections. He added that during his administration, the city budget was balanced and the revenues from taxes are increasing.

Mann (left) refused to directly answer the question of whether he paid for or had any part in fliers distributed as a smear campaign against his opponent in the 2012 election -- an accusation made recently that he has several times declined to address.

"That was 2012, and I'm focusing on 2014," Mann said. Several in the audience protested the lack of an answer. When Mann was asked to respond yes or not, he repeated the phrase "2012 is over."

Mann also was asked about a 2012 campaign promise to ensure that the Holland Road overpass would be built soon. Work on that much-anticipated project still has not begun.

"It wasn’t obvious to me that the bridge wouldn’t be built soon because when I was on the inaugural council, I helped get the Holland Road overpass on the county transportation improvement plan and when I left the council and came back during the campaign trail for mayor, I hadn’t realized that the council between me being there and now kind of let the ball drop," said. "We got it on our capital improvement plan and it’s scheduled to go into construction in 2016."

Addressing the crowd via speaker phone, Castillejos (right) emphasized her role in the community and her desire to bring back integrity to the leadership of Menifee. Castillejos also made clear that she would be back in time to assume the role of mayor, if elected.

"Currently, the city council is divided," Castillejos said about the culture of the current city council. "They don’t work together; there’s constant power struggles. They don’t present a positive public image favorable to the city."

John Denver (left), the incumbent council representative from District 4, brought up his experience as the primary reason he should remain on the council. Denver’s experience includes being one of the original council members of Menifee when the city incorporated in 2008 and serving as the city’s mayor from 2011-2012. His platform is based on "wise and balanced development" and he believes that the citizens of Menifee like the city the way it is.

When asked how he has improved his district, Denver replied, "The water course project is going to change my whole district dramatically. We’re going to be the upper crust of Menifee. There’s going to be more new businesses in Romoland in two years than there are in the city of Menifee totally."

Opposing Denver in the District 4 city council race, Gloria Sanchez (right) emphasized her years of community involvement as a factor in being qualified for city council. In the past, she had been on city, county, and state boards and had three appointments by county supervisors and from Mann. Sanchez said she is the type that when something needs to be done, people call her for help.

Sanchez was asked how she planned on bridging the gap between seniors and young families with children.

"We are an intergenerational city," she said. "We have a large majority of seniors and we have young families moving in. We should be able to accommodate each generation with a type of housing, with a type of entertainment. We need parks. We need people who are willing to come together and meet and discuss those things that are important to their families."

Tom Fuhrman (left), the incumbent in District 2, focused on the dedication he would bring if he were re-elected. He cited that he was retired and would be available for the needs of the city anytime of the day, compared to his fellow candidates who have day jobs.

"I don’t deal with developers," he said. "I don’t even talk to developers. I don’t take their contributions. When it comes to the final product that they want me to decide on, I have to see if it fits."

Also running in District 2, former council member Sue Kristjansson cited her activity within the city as her strength. Examples she gave included participating in all Chamber of Commerce events, volunteering at the Quail Valley Volunteer Firefighter pancake breakfast once a month, serving as a board chair for two non-profit organizations, and her role in bringing in the Boys & Girls Club to Menifee.

Kristjansson (right) said of serving the younger population, "Parks obviously, activities for kids obviously. Measure AA is going to serve the younger people of this community. Having our kids go through school here, graduating from Paloma or Heritage and moving over to college and getting a proper education that is now creating jobs in the community and completing that cycle ... that’s how we’re going to serve the younger generation of this community."

Matt Liesemeyer, another of the candidates running for the District 2 seat, cited his involvement with the incorporation committee to form the city of Menifee and being appointed to the city’s planning commission in 2009 and chairing it three times. Accomplishments during his time include bringing businesses to the city such as Five Guys and Applebee’s.

"I am a big proponent of ‘If you build it, they will come,’" said Liesemeyer (left). "The biggest problem we have in our city right now that is holding back light industry is our infrastructure. If we get those interchanges done, Scott Road, Newport Road, McCall, that light industry would be able to come here. Right now, we don’t have the capability of servicing those uses. We absolutely need them because we need to build a tax base that will help our city grow."

District 2 candidate John Baker talked about his desire to help the city grow the right way instead of serving the needs of special interest groups. He went on to tell the crowd that his vote is not for sale to the highest bidder and that his actions would be in the best interest of the city.

"I’ve coached with Menifee Valley Little League in the city of Menifee for eight years," said Baker (right). "I live on this side. Trying to get to the parks over there at Wheatfield, it takes me 45 minutes to get there with my son. We need more fields over here. We need good fields over here. We only have one really. We need more over here for the kids."

Election say is Nov. 4. Voters who have requested mail-in ballots will be receiving them in the next week.




Although we experienced some technical problems with our video recording of the forum, Menifee 24/7 will post a presentation of video and audio highlights of the forum as soon as possible.