6 Attend Chamber’s Candidates Forum
Six City Council and mayoral candidates vowed their commitment to business development at a candidates forum breakfast Thursday.
Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez and Councilmen Bedford Pinkard and Andres Herrera were joined by challengers Oscar Karrin, who is running for mayor, and John Zaragoza and Emmett Whatley, who are running for the two council seats. Council challenger Roy Lockwood and mayoral candidates Anthony De La Cerda and Robert Randy Taylor did not attend.
In the one-hour forum sponsored by the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, candidates discussed ways of making Oxnard a business-friendly city. Except for Karrin, who listed combating crime and revitalizing the downtown as his main focus, each candidate cited business outreach and economic development as a priority.
The three incumbents had been endorsed by the Greater Oxnard Political Action Committee, whose founders include members of the Chamber of Commerce, before the debate. That prompted some audience members to ask why the forum was even scheduled.
But chamber President Kevin Bernzott said the forum would increase publicity for those candidates who arerelatively unknown.
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