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Pasts, Conflicts of Interest Discussed at Mayoral Debate
Three of the candidates for Galesburg Mayor can't seem to get beyond either their pasts, or perceived conflicts of interest that would hinder them from serving the city.

The first scheduled candidates forum was held Monday night at City Hall, hosted by WGIL, the Register-Mail, and The Zephyr. Among the questions asked of all nine candidates, Sal Garza was asked if he had a conflict of interest being employed by the State of Illinois, and former Alderman Roland Paulsgrove was asked if his employment with Burlington Northern Santa Fe would do the same.

Their answers were both no. Garza says state attorneys believe there would have to be plenty of others who serve the state who wouldn't be able to do so if that weren't the case. "They also pointed to, within my own agency, we have mayors, we have school board members, county (officials), village trustees, aldermen, that serve," Garza said.

Paulsgrove, while admitting that if needing to contact railroad officials to help the city he would, also believes there's no conflict, but says he knows what to do if there is. "I would be more than happy to step down and let the assistant mayor, if you want to call him that, go ahead and take the chair to handle that question and that vote," Paulsgrove said.

Knox College Journalism Professor Marilyn Webb, meanwhile, was questioned about activities she was allegedly involved in during the early part of her career decades ago -- activities that drew fire on internet message boards. Webb thinks she was really mistaken. "Those comments online were so out there that they had very little to do with me," Webb said. "I started to try and answer them. But the picture that was painted was not me."

Listen to the entire debate by CLICKING HERE.


(A crowd of residents, candidates, former aldermen, and others packed the council chambers at Galesburg City Hall Monday night for the mayoral debate. WGIL News Story and Photo by Will Stevenson.)
03 24 09 by Newsroom
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