Toledo Mayoral Primary 2005

One of my favorite local photos is this one taken outside the Cricket West Beaner's Coffee Shop on August 28, 2005 after a Meet the Candidates Forum.

In the above photo, Keith Wilkowski is in the background on the left. Opal Covey has her ear to a phone held by a Carty Finkbeiner campaign supporter. Carty was on the other end of the phone line.

My August 28, 2005 comment about attending the Cricket West candidates forum.

By the way, the Opalmobile has its own PA system, which we were priviledged to hear loud and clear after the forum.

Carty was not at the forum. I thought he was suppose to be there. It appeared that Carty definitely had the biggest army of campaign supporters at Beaner's. After the forum, I asked one of the helpers where Carty was. He said Carty would be there at 4:15.

Each candidate had five minutes to win us over. It was warm upstairs at Beaner's. So when this political spew part of the forum ended at 3:50, most of the 80+ people present immediately went downstairs or outside to "mingle" with the candidates or to get out of Dodge. Carty did arrive at 4:15 but few people remained. That's when I left.

Anyway, shortly after the forum ended, I stood outside by Carty's Army, which was near the Beaner's entrance. One of Carty's helpers called Carty to see where he was. Opal was in her car, which was also by the door to Beaner's, and she gave the Carty Army a hard time over her PA system.

Opal broadcasted that she lost everything she owned because of Carty. Opal said Carty shut her business down in the middle of the night. She said Carty stole her mother's ring.

One Carty foot soldier couldn't take it anymore. He moved closer to Opal's car and held a Carty sign up while he talked to Carty on the phone. That only got Opal more wound up.

Opal got out of her car, walked over to the guy, and shoved her own propaganda into the face of the Carty supporter who didn't flinch. I mean the guy was rock solid. While under a barrage of point-blank accusations by Opal, the Carty supporter never changed his facial expressions, he kept his sign held high, and continued to listen to Carty over the phone.

Finally, I chimed in and said to Opal, "He's talking to Carty." The dude put the phone to Opal's ear, and Opal laughed and said, "Oh, he is."

A few minutes later, Carty arrived. Opal was back in her car blabbing over her PA system when Carty made it to Beaner's. She let loose on Carty. Carty didn't waste any time getting inside.

That's why I hung around after the forum because I thought something amusing might happen.

My recap of what each candidate said at the forum. By far, the most entertaining part of that day was after the forum outside the coffee shop.

tags: #toledo - #politics - #photo - #blog_jr