POLITICS

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- In their only media debate of the Aug. 14 primaries, three candidates running for the City Commission zone 4 seat made the most of the opening session Saturday in a marathon series of debates at the Brannon Center sponsored by Headline Surfer.

Oak Hill averts legal action by disqualifying 2 commission candidates

Courtesy photo / Big John as shown here on his radio station, WELE, and a former member of the Volusia County Council, is a Holly Hill mayoral candidate, after all.

DAYTONA BEACH -- It took a judge's ruling to ensure Big John could run for mayor after the Holly Hill city clerk refused to qualify him.

Circuit Judge Richard Graham ruled in favor of John following a hearing Wednesday in his Daytona Beach courtroom, saying in part that although John hadn't followed proper procedures, his actions weren't flagrant enough to merit being disqualified from running for elective office.

Headline Surfer file photo / Jeff Bracy, shown here from a meeting last summer when he was on the Oak Hill Personnel Board discussing the future of then-Police Chief Diane Young, is now a city commissioner-elect.

OAK HILL -- The city clerk has disqualified two candidates for commission seats because she erred in qualifying them in the first place because their campaign finances were not secured when qualifying officially ended.

Courtesy photo / Gwen Azama-Edwards is making another run for elective office, having already served as a Daytona Beach commissioner and city clerk. This time she's going for one of the key municipal leadership posts in all of Volusia County: mayor of the city that is known as the "World's Most Famous Beach."

DAYTONA BEACH -- Gwen Azama-Edwards said she understands the need for marketing the beachside for tourism opportunities, but she sees far too little emphasis placed on the neighborhoods. That is one of the key issues in her race for mayor.

"We need to show as much concern and desire to please our residents as we do the tourists," said the former longtime city clerk and commissioner, whose benchmark is bringing government back to the people. "We have a declining population, businesses are leaving and we're not attracting families. A city without young people declines."

Mom steps up to the plate yet again for son in Daytona Beach candidates' forum

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Kathy D'Ambra stands in for attorney and former county judge Steve deLaroche, who is running for clerk of the circuit court, at a candidates' forum held by the Daytona Beachside Neighborhood Watch. Seated near her at the podium is the organization's leader, Fred Hechman.

DAYTONA BEACH -- When lawyer and former county judge Steve deLaroche was 5, his parents divorced and he never really saw his father unless is father never really had anything to do with the family unless ordered by the courts. So it seemed natural to him that his mother, now 70, would once again step up to the plate and represent his interests: This time as candidate representative.

Headline Surfer photo by Henry Frederick /  Rich Gailey (at left), a candidate for the district 5 seat on the Volusia County representing greater Deltona, criss crosses with Volusia County Sheriff's candidate Wendell Bradford (shown in the inset as well) in front of the Gateway Center for the Arts in DeBary following a candidates' forum held there Tuesday evening.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Three people have qualified for the zone 4 commission seat held by two-term incumbent Lynne Plaskett who isn't running again. They are Steve Casserly, Kirk Jones and Ed Bidault Jr. Mayor

Adam Barringer automatically reclaimed his seat because he had no opposition for mayor. Jason McGuirk gets Jim Hathaway's commission seat because there were no other candidates either.

Hathaway is running for County Council against New Smyrna Beach resident and former elected school board member Deb Denys and Edgewater Councilman Justin Kennedy.

GOP State Rep. Dorothy Hukill didn't' wait long to go on the offensive against Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno, a Democrat, in the race for the state senate now that qualifying for the 2012 elections is over.

PORT ORANGE -- It's on!

Just an hour and 1 minute after today's noon deadline to qualify to run in the 2012 elections, Republican State Rep. Dorothy Hukill threw the first stone in her heated race for the state senate against Democrat Frank Bruno, Volusia County chairman.