- November 23, 2024
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One of my favorite parts about interviewing political candidates is pressuring them into giving us a quirky fact. Some of them are extremely uncomfortable allowing themselves to be seen as quirky, while others open a whole closet full of them.
Here are some of the quirkiest: Clerk of Courts Gail Wadsworth has performed almost 700 sky dives. Supervisor of Elections candidate Kimble Medley owns 127 pairs of shoes. U.S. House of Representatives candidate Billy Kogut raises peacocks. In high school, judge candidate Craig Atack was dunked on by Vince Carter; that’s nothing to be embarrassed about because Carter went on to win an NBA dunk title in 2000.
The one that is keeping me awake at night, though, is School Board candidate Bill Corkran. Between 1979 and 1983, while Corkran worked for the Transit Police in the New York City Subway, he was a police decoy. In that capacity, he would dress as a homeless man and allow himself to be mugged so they could catch people in the act. In one case, some teenage girls were caught throwing lit matches onto him.
Quirky fact: Bill Corkran was mugged about 100 times. He was lit on fire once.
All this quirkiness made me wonder what my fact would be. You have to think of something quirky enough to bring a smile to the readers’ face, but not so quirky that people smile awkwardly and then run in the opposite direction.
I own 10,000 baseball cards. (Smile and nod.)
I have never owned a pet. (Eyebrows raised.)
I have not been to a barber since I was 19 years old. (Frowning, shaking your head.)
I purchased the same Kris Kross CD twice, about 15 years apart. (Backing away, slowly … )
Maybe I’m just not meant to be a candidate. If I were to run a campaign with this kind of past, I would be the subject of one attack ad after another: “Hoarder McMillan hates animals, cuts his own hair and knows all the words to ‘Warm It Up’! Would you trust him?”
This all without revealing that I make a box of macaroni and cheese with milk and cheese powder — and no butter. That quirky fact almost prevented my wife from marrying me. Fortunately, I convinced her to say yes after I told her my plans to become a rich and successful lawyer. But let’s not salt old wounds!
Coming soon: Your candidates
Don’t forget to pick up the next two issues of the Palm Coast Observer. On Wednesday, Aug. 1, we’ll be publishing a 20-page section with interviews with all the local candidates on the Aug. 14 primary ballot.
Based on those candidate interviews and other interviews with people in the community, we met as an editorial team and selected one candidate to endorse in each race. We’ll be revealing those endorsements in the Aug. 4 edition.
