Mayoral, council candidates debate Saturday

The public is invited to the 2012 Candidate Debate 1-3 p.m. Saturday in the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board meeting room, 44150 W. Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway.

Candidates for the March 13 primary election will be asked four questions supplied by readers of InMaricopa.com and the Maricopa Monitor, which are sponsoring the free forum in conjunction with the Maricopa Women in Business.

Additionally, candidates will put one question to their fellow candidates. Each candidate will give a closing statement.

The council candidates, who are competing for three seats, will be in the spotlight first.

They are Marvin Brown, who is running for re-election, Bridger Kimball and Leon Potter. The fourth council candidate Rosalin Sanhadja will not be able to attend because of an emergency root canal, but will send a representative to make her closing remarks.

Next up will be the mayor’s race. City Councilman Carl Diedrich is running against Christian Price.

The debate will be video recorded for playback on the city’s government-access channel Maricopa20. City officials said it will played 9 a.m., Feb. 1; 9 a.m., Feb. 3; and 6 p.m., Feb. 4. 

“Saturday is a great opportunity for voters to see the candidates up close and personal to get a feel for their knowledge, conviction and passion for leading a city,” said Christia Gibbons, InMaricopa associate editor and co-moderator of the event.

As of this week, there are 20,208 registered voters in the city. The deadline to register is Feb. 13.