Tag Archives: Columbia mayor's race

Special elections

Councilman E.W. Cromartie has not officially resigned, and the city cannot move forward with an election to replace him until he does. Here’s what the state law says about special election: A vacancy in the office of mayor or council shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term at the next regular election or at [...]
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How can convicted felons be on the ballot?

This question has come up recently because of my colleague Dawn Hinshaw’s reporting that mayoral candidate Irwin Wilson and City Council candidate Antonio Williams are both convicted felons. The state Constitution prohibits a convicted felon from being elected to office until 15 years have passed since he or she got out of jail and was released [...]
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Benjamin picks up police, firefighter endorsement

Mayoral candidate Steve Benjamin picked up the endorsements today of the Columbia Firefighters Association and the Police Benevolent Association. Never heard of the PBA? That’s because they’re new, and endorsing Benjamin was their first official act. The Firefighters Association has been around for awhile, and they’ve been growing restless with City Council members because of budget cuts, [...]
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Audio clips from last week’s mayoral debate

Last week, I wrote about a mayoral debate at the Capital Senior Center. My story mostly focused on how the candidates would pay for public safety, but the candidates touched on a number of other issues I didn’t have space to write about. On the city’s finances: Steve Benjamin Kirkman Finlay Steve Morrison On the proposed Main Street homeless center: Steve [...]
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Overtime at the police and fire departments

Mayoral candidates Steve Benjamin and Kirkman Finlay disagree with each other on how the city should fund public safety — an argument that was on full display at last night’s debate at the Capital Senior Center. The argument, in a nutshell, is that Benjamin laments the budget cuts at the fire and police departments, while Finlay [...]
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