Mayoral Candidates to Debate at UK

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 24, 2010) – The race to the city of Lexington’s highest elected office will make a stop at the University of Kentucky at the end of this month. All four candidates for mayor of Lexington will be on hand to debate the issues at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, at the Cats Den. The event is free and open to UK faculty, staff and students and is hosted by UK Student Government and the Student Center Cats Den.

This debate will feature candidates current Vice Mayor Jim Gray, Skip Horine, Teresa Isaac and current Mayor Jim Newberry answering prepared questions, questions from the audience and questions posted via Twitter. Unlike traditional debates, new forms of media for broadcasting and questions will complement the traditional forum style. The debate will be streamed live online on UStream and some of the questions from the audience will come from a Twitter feed created at the event. To join the conversation, use the hash tag #ukmayor for comments or questions during the debate for the panelists.

The topics to be discussed will range from local housing laws as it pertains to UK students, fostering the "town and gown" relationship between the city of Lexington and the university and how Lexington can help UK with their mandate of becoming a Top 20 public research institution.

“We want to make sure that UK is included in the Lexington conversation so we can ultimately become an all-inclusive community where everybody feels welcomed,” Russ Caldwell, Cats Den coordinator, said.

The goal for the debate is for students, staff and faculty to be better informed on the candidates and their positions on different issues to assist them in making the best decision possible when voting. April 19 is the last day to register to vote in the primary elections in May and the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. will be on hand at the debate to register interested new voters.

This debate is being run with assistance from the UK Student Center Director’s Office and the School of Journalism and Telecommunications. For more on this event, please contact James Davidson at (859) 257-2523 or via email at jddavi6@uky.edu.

For more information about the candidates, visit their Web sites:

Jim Gray, www.jimgray.org

Skip Horine, www.skiphorine.com

Teresa Isaac, www.Teresa2010.com

Jim Newberry, www.mayornewberry2010.com