Note from the editor: Huge thanks to everyone who came out for “City Council Candidate Forum: The Game Show.” The crowd was a mix of curious politicos, families and and folks who came for the spectacle, not the politics, but maybe left realizing city government isn’t as boring (or distant) as it looks. There were policy questions baked in, but it was also a chance to put a candidate’s name with a face and a personality. In addition to knowing their stuff, City Council representatives need to be able to think on their feet, work in groups, problem-solve under pressure, and ideally, take a joke.
Co-presented with Compass with special thanks to Knoxville Community Media (video replay below or on YouTube here) and WUOT 91.9 FM for its on-scene coverage.
Politics and humor debated for about an hour and a half on Wednesday night at Kern’s Food Hall in South Knoxville, with civil, sometimes silly, discourse emerging as the winner.
“City Council Candidate Forum: The Game Show” featured candidates participating in a series of game-show contests adapted to the impending election. They answered policy questions selected by a Wheel of Fortune, guessed budget details in a Price Is Rightround, and delivered stump speeches after munching on Hot Ones-style spicy chicken.
The format offered City Council candidates the opportunity to appeal to voters in a novel format that dressed serious policy points in clown suits.
Or, as it turned out, swimsuits. The first competition involved candidates selecting swimwear provided by French Fried Vintage and introducing themselves to the more than 120 people seated throughout the food hall’s courtyard. In addition to the introductions, each candidate had to explain how the selected swimsuit reflected their personality.
Denzel Grant’s choice was a colorful, skirted, one-piece women’s suit because “it was the most diverse” and he intends to represent the diversity of the city.
Nathan Honeycutt chose blue trunks with flames leaping up the legs, which he said represented both him and the city. “It has a cool exterior,” he said, pointing to the blue area, “but underneath there’s a lot of passion.”
Jeff Talman selected a classic black women’s one-piece, explaining, “It was the closest thing … to a wrestling singlet and I thought that would be appropriately modest on the one hand … but also ready to wrestle and do the bidding of the good citizens of Knoxville.”
Sponsored by Compass and Inside of Knoxville, the forum gave voters an opportunity to see the human side of the candidates.
Seven of the 10 candidates in this year’s general election took the stage — Karyn Adams (District 1), Honeycutt (District 2), Frank Ramey (District 3), Matthew DeBardelaben and Talman (District 4), and Grant and Stan Johnson (District 6).
Celebrity moderators Jarius Bush (a.k.a. J.Bu$h but appearing as magical-beard-oil salesman and grooming enthusiast Fourthgood Jenkins) and self-described “female female impersonator” Monika Miller of Space Witch kept things lively. Fourthgood was as dapper as Alex Trebek or Bob Barker in suit and tie; Miller wore a fabulous pink gown and a wig that Dolly herself would envy.
Fourthgood and Miller warmed up the crowd by getting them to take district-map Rorschach tests. Members of the audience had to come up with new names for each of the city’s oddly shaped Council districts based on black mirror-images of their maps on a white background. The result? District 2 (West Knoxville) became “District Oven Mitts,” District 5 (North Knoxville) was dubbed the “Fighting Robots District,” and District 3 (Northwest Knoxville) was renamed the “Seahorse District.”
The candidates then took turns spinning the Wheel of Issues — like the perennially popular Wheel of Fortune, but with the wheel stopping on issues instead of dollar amounts.
Unlike most forums, where the candidates take turns answering the same questions, “The Game Show” forum’s Wheel of Issues spread the topics around. As fate would have it, however, Talman and DeBardelaben, who are rivals on the campaign trail, landed on related issues.
DeBardelaben’s spin fell on violence interruption. He said he recently went on a ride-along with Knoxville Police Department officers in the 4th District.
“The diversity of what they have to deal with is incredible,” he said. “We did three accidents, we had to go to a false alarm in a commercial building, and the last one was a domestic violence event that ended in an arrest, and the biggest thing also was the homelessness. That was a big thing in the 4th District, dealing with the unhoused, especially when it comes to narcotic drugs.”
Talman addressed KPD’s staffing shortage. “We need (to increase) the KPD staffing,” he said. “Part of that is the social contract, and I think we need to understand that there’s citizen responsibility, there’s rights and responsibilities. In this community and our country, we are long on rights and a little short on responsibilities. Citizens have a real role in that.”
When Adams spun the wheel, she hit on homelessness. “Our city is better than what our city is doing right now in terms of homelessness,” she said. “What do we do? One thing is that we know data tells us that if you help someone in that first year, you have a much better chance of preventing chronic homelessness, mental health issues or permanent addiction. We know this, so we can get there and start working in that first year addressing the problem.”
Honeycutt landed on the Gay Street Bridge, which is closed for safety reasons and should be open to pedestrians and bicyclists only at the end of the year. “I’m a preservationist at heart,” he said. “If there’s anything we can do to save and repurpose and make them operable for the next generation, that’s what we need to do. But if they don’t work for the next generation, if we can’t make them stand and function for what we need them to be, then we need to do what we’re doing, which is study a replacement.”
One concession to the traditional forum format was a 90-second time limit for candidates’ responses, but that also had a twist. The timekeeper was school board member Katherine Bike, who hurled rubber chickens onstage when candidates had the gall to speak beyond the time limit. No one was injured, as the chickens mostly plopped harmlessly on the floor, though one of Bike’s throws hit Talman squarely in the chest.
The Budget Price Is Right required candidates to guess budget details, with the one closest to the correct answer without going over declared the winner.
The candidates were at least in the ballpark even when they lacked precision. Johnson and Talman correctly guessed the size of the city’s net budget — $477 million. Talman and Honeycutt knew that all city employees get 2.5 percent raises every year by ordinance. And four of the candidates correctly pegged the cost to build a mile of sidewalk at $1 million.
Fourthgood and Miller got the crowd involved again with audience questions. This staple of forum formats came with a twist as well — candidates had to pull a word out of a hat to incorporate into their answers.
Former Mayor Madeline Rogero asked how they would approach controversial issues. Johnson had to use the word “Winnebago.”
“One of the big things that we’d done earlier on, when I was starting up (the nonprofit organization) SEEED, was this thing called a listening project,” he said. “We went around and knocked on doors and talked to community members about a certain set of issues, from gun violence to affordable housing to young people. We drove around in the Winnebago to get started.”
Johnson said SEEED then held a forum and worked with the city to start a program that weatherized 1,300 homes. “The big thing is getting people together to talk about things,” he said.
Grant had to use the word “unicycle” while addressing how he would stay abreast of issues in other districts.
“The one thing I would want to do representing District 6 is listen. Listening first,” he said. “That’s the most important thing — listening first and being able to create more opportunities where the community can engage, but also working with your fellow Council members to engage.”
Grant said that he would hold quarterly town hall meetings and encourage other Council members to do the same so they can keep up with issues in all districts. “And maybe sometimes I might not be able to use my car — I might have to go to these meetings with the unicycle.”
A question about zoning to create more opportunities landed squarely in Adams’ wheelhouse, along with the word “Zamboni.”
“That’s something that I’ve been talking to people about since I began running for this and since I’ve been on Planning Commission for the last five years,” she said.
Adams said people tell her they want mixed-use and small-scale commercial developments, plus more housing options. “One of the reasons that that isn’t happening is because we haven’t designated the very specific places where we want that to happen and incentivize that to happen. I’m talking about opportunity zones for specific types of development … smaller scale — one floor, two floors above commercial (space) to provide those different types of housing opportunities. One thing that is not going to work with that is if we try to get Zambonis inside those.”
A girl named Ruby asked what could be done to make the city safer, a question that went to DeBardelaben along with the word “bungalow.”
“When I think about safety, I think about two things,” he said. “One is community safety as it deals with crimes and prevention, including domestic violence, school violence, gun violence, other things. But I also think about our roads,” he said. “I believe we need traffic calming strategies more and more within our neighborhoods to slow traffic down.”
When he wrapped up his comments, DeBardelaben said, “Thank you. Bungalow.”
For the finale, candidates had to eat some hot chicken from Hot Birds before launching into a brief stump speech, a nod to the game show Hot Ones.
The heat from the chicken sent Honeycutt into a coughing fit during his time to speak.
“As an architect and a business owner, I see the opportunities and challenges that are coming to Knoxville, and I think we need leaders like we have here today on stage that are passionate about our community, that are educated, experienced people that want to protect …” (coughing) “… because at the end of the day, we’re all up here wanting to give back, wanting to do what’s right for our city. We want to leave a better city for our kids and the next generation. I am selfish in a way, because I want my kids to raise their kids here, and I want you all’s grandchildren to be raised here. And that’s the city I hope we can all achieve, and I know we can with a lot more hot chicken.”
Ramey said he’s looking forward to working as part of a team with other Council members.
“We’re on a team together,” he said. “I’m not just an individual; I’m on a team of nine people. There’s eight other folks making sure we’re all working together, we’re talking together, we know what’s going on … I think that’s a big thing for Knoxville, making sure we’re pushing forward together. So that’s my little stump speech, and that is pretty hot chicken. My wife knows I’m a big baby with hot stuff, so I didn’t eat it all.”
Talman blew through a wooden train whistle as he began his final pitch.
“That’s the opportunity train coming to Knoxville,” he said. “You can hear it coming around the bend. I’m a son of the Enlightenment. I’m a son of the American Revolution, and I believe that Knoxville is the international capital of the Volunteer Nation, and we need the confidence to go forward and engage ourselves in that way … We need to work together with the county, with the state and everybody, to unlock the potential. We need to think creatively and do it right.”
The forum concluded just before a light drizzle turned into a heavy rain, so candidates and audience members mingled for a bit under shelter.
Video of the forum can be seen online at Knoxville Community Media’s YouTube channel.
After this break for fun and games, the serious business of electing five new members to City Council resumes. Early voting begins Oct. 15, and Election Day is Nov. 4. Voter resources are available on the Election Commission website here.
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