Okray and Gamel

It's interesting how much difference a candidate's public persona makes when he appears on TV.  In the YNN interviews of Jonathan Okray and Mike Gamel, candidates for at-large seats on the Killeen City Council, both speak very generally.  If anything, Gamel comes closer to actually addressing issues than Okray does.

But it works for Okray and not for Gamel.  Jon can get away with avoiding specifics because most of the city knows he did something very specific--he started (whatever Billy Workman says) and successfully ran last year's City Council recall movement.  If there is such a success in Mike Gamel's background, he needs to make it better known.

Just because Okray probably can skirt the issues doesn't mean he should.  He's one of the few at-large candidates who has strong enough support that he can take the risk  of having an agenda.  (Agendas, as those of you who follow politics probably know, are targets for other candidates to shoot at;  that's one reason why you'll probably hear no city council hopeful talk about specific budget items, changes needed in the city charter, changes to downtown revitalization policy or operation of the city council.)

Both candidates in this video were for the recall.  That's interesting to note, but as Mayor Hancock said in his State of the City address this week (see Monday's blog post), it's yesterday's news.  Voters should (though I can't guarantee they will) focus on what candidates want to do tomorrow, not what they wanted to do last year.  Okray did a good thing a year ago, but far more important is what he plans to do starting in May.

Okray doesn't seem to have a campaign web site.  He does administer the Killeen Tax Payers for Responsible and Accountable Governance page on Facebook.  Mike Gamel does not have any online presence that I could find.