In a race fraught with issues, the biggest one of all came up right before a mayoral debate held in Knoxville’s Auditorium, last month. The issue of free speech. Four of the five candidates for mayor (Harmon, Rogero, Hultquist, and Padgett) of Knoxville were present at the Knoxville Coliseum on July 28th which was televised by WBIR and as a radio broad cast by Citadel Broadcasting.
The fifth candidate, Bo Bennett had completed all of the requirements to be a candidate in this race and had even preformed well in a Citizen’s Forum debate held on June 30th at the Expo Center. The event, hosted by the Knox Chamber, excluded Bennett from debating because he didn’t raise $10,000 in campaign contributions.
Only two voices were raised in protest of what can only be called a "wrong" and elitist decision to exclude Bennett from the debate. They were former candidates for county commission, Brian Moneyhun and Knoxville mayoral candidate Ivan Harmon, who gave up some of his time in the limelight to acknowledge Bennett, who was sitting in the audience.
Moneyhun stood alone; separate from the multiple rallies being held on the auditorium lawn and held up a home made sign, protesting Bennett’s exclusion. In an interview with him on the hot sidewalk across the street, I asked him exactly why was he here.
"I am out here because I think it is fairly un-American and down right un neighborally not to invite a candidate for mayor to a mayoral debate because they didn’t raise a certain amount of money." Said Moneyhun.
"That smacks of elitism and mercantilism. Any number of bad things that show that sometimes we are not the best community there is. It is not necessarily that I support the candidate that was not invited. Bo Bennett did not raise any money for his campaign and I admire anyone that does that." Moneyhun turned and held up his sign as a car rolled past.
"Didn’t you do the same thing when you ran for county commission?" I asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did." Said Moneyhun with pride. "I spent thirty dollars and garnered 16 percent of the vote. Lets see anyone else grab that much with thirty dollars."
Moneyhun and Harmon both showed the spirit that made this country great. In America, a man should be allowed to speak his mind, no matter what’s in his bank account.
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