Mayor Bacon to Miss Public Forum

The quest to get all three Smyrna mayoral candidates in the same room - outside City Hall for council meetings that is – appears to have fallen short for a second time this week.

On Wednesday, Mayor Max Bacon informed the League of Women Voters Marietta-Cobb that due to a family conflict, he would not be attending Thursday night’s at the Cobb County Commissioner’s Office.

On Tuesday night, the other two mayoral candidates, and , were no-shows at a candidates’ forum that Bacon did attend and participate in at Smyrna’s Brawner Hall.

In an email sent to Wednesday to Elizabeth Melville, co-president of the LWV Marietta-Cobb, Bacon expressed interest in participating in a public forum in the Jonquil City prior to the Nov. 8 general election. The email went as follows:

Good Morning Ms. Mellville,

I wanted to let you know that I will not be able to attend the forum on Thursday due to a family conflict.

However, I would like to bring to your attention that Tuesday evening (last night), the Smyrna Business Association hosted a candidate forum for all 19 candidates that was well attended by over 100 Smyrna residents at Brawner Hall in Smyrna. At this forum neither of my opponents showed up. I would hate to have the citizens drive all the way to Marietta and the same thing happen again.

Would it be possible to reschedule this forum (to include council candidates) in Smyrna where we could receive a larger audience? It makes sense to have a Smyrna forum in Smyrna.

Thank you,

Mayor Bacon

Fifteen of the 19 Smyrna mayor and city council candidates attended the Tuesday night forum. Woodham told Patch Wednesday that she felt it best to allow the city council candidates to have their time to speak since Thursday’s public forum in Marietta would be for mayoral candidates only.

“Let the people running for the wards have their night,’’ Woodham said. “I probably would’ve answered only one or two questions. I do hate it if people came to speak to me, but I felt I needed to stay home.’’

Backry told Patch Tuesday that he had a prior commitment and would not be attending the Tuesday evening forum. The former Smyrna City animal-control officer also explained he didn’t think he would get a “fair shake’’ at the forum. “That’s the downtown business group running that and it will be very slanted,’’ Backry said. “I don’t feel comfortable going up against (Bacon’s) group.’’

Backry, who is running for mayor for the third time, chastised the mayor late Wednesday afternoon for pulling out a day before the event.

"It's a very sad day for accountability and for the opportunity to show transparency of government,'' he said. "(The LWV) did a lot of work to get this together. They said they don't like being used as a football field - you're on, you're off, you're on, you're off. It's unbelievable to give just one day's notice. Most of the questions were going to be steered at him.''

The event will still be staged despite the mayor's absence.

Woodham said she wasn’t entirely surprised that the mayor has decided not to attend Thursday night. She cited the fact that she and Backry had taken the time to answer questions posed by the LWV Marietta-Cobb several weeks ago in anticipation of the forum, and the mayor had not.

“If he really does has a family obligation there’s not much we can do about it,’’ she said. “But just the fact that he didn’t answer the questions from the League of Women Voters tells me he didn’t plan on showing up in the first place.''

Thursday’s forum will take place at 7 p.m., at 100 Cherokee Street in Marietta. The public is invited and it will also be televised on TV23, the Cobb government access channel.