Share
Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
FORT WORTH — The most hotly contested race in Fort Worth goes into its final phase this week as early voting begins in the City Council District 3 runoff.
Another runoff will be held for a position on the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school board after a recount overturned the results of the May 9 election. Runoffs are scheduled in Bedford, Benbrook, White Settlement and the Keller school district. Early voting begins today and continues through June 9 in six runoffs around Tarrant County. Election day is June 13.Fort Worth City CouncilEric Fox and W.B. "Zim" Zimmerman started campaigning even before filing began. Chuck Silcox, who represented west and southwest Fort Worth for 17 years, died of cancer in October, and seven people ran to replace him. Fox and Zimmerman finished first and second.Zimmerman said a key issue in the race has been independence. Fox is a longtime friend of Mayor Mike Moncrief and the in-house lobbyist for Lockheed Martin. He was endorsed by Moncrief, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger and former mayors Kenneth Barr and Bob Bolen. "We’ve run a grassroots campaign, we’re District 3-supported and District 3-funded," Zimmerman said during a debate sponsored by the Tarrant County League of Women Voters. Zimmerman, in turn, has been endorsed by Silcox’s widow, the Fort Worth Police Officers Association and by four of the other five candidates. Fox, 43, said Zimmerman is attacking him because he lacks ideas."We want to stay positive," he said.He said his lobbying experience, along with time as a congressional aide and in the U.S. Transportation Department, give him insight into how government works. He wants to look at innovative ways to cut spending, such as sharing the cost of computer technology with Tarrant County. "It may require layoffs as well," he said of the city’s budget problems. "I’m prepared to make those tough choices."Zimmerman, 66, a former manager at Lockheed Martin, said he has experience managing people and handling budgets. That, he said, will come in handy as Fort Worth struggles to cope with a shrinking budget."I had to lay off people at Lockheed Martin. I know how painful that is," he said. Zimmerman wants to re-open discussion about Fort Worth’s natural gas drilling ordinance, to include more protection from pipeline leaks and drilling chemicals"I think we’ve got some real safety concerns — near-term and long-term," he said.Fox supports the current ordinance but wants to write a master plan for well sites and pipeline routes in the district. A similar plan has tentatively been approved in another city council district.Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school boardIt was a jammed ballot, not a hanging chad, that played a factor in the Eagle-Mountain Saginaw school board race.Mark Canterbury and Paige Ring are the only candidates in the runoff for District 2 because of a recount.After the May 9 election, Canterbury had 581 votes and Ring had 580, Tarrant County elections officials said. The district elects its trustees on a plurality, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins, even if that’s less than 50 percent of the total.
@Nyx.CommentBody@