G.I. legislative candidates to debate Thursday

State legislative candidates Mike Gloor and Greg Neuhaus will debate Thursday at a forum beginning at 7 p.m. at Walnut Middle School in Grand Island.

Gloor and Neuhaus are campaigning for the seat representing the 35th Legislative District, which includes most of Grand Island. State Sen. Ray Aguilar cannot run for re-election due to the state's term limits law.

The debate is sponsored by The Grand Island Independent and Leadership Tomorrow.

"The Independent has a rich history of giving voters a chance to hear from the candidates themselves," said The Independent's editorial editor, Bill Dunn. "The forum is one more layer of conversation between the candidate and the voter."

He said the District 35 forum will allow "two highly capable candidates to offer their opinions and ideas directly to the voters."

"We like the forum format because it allows voters to hear directly from the candidates," Dunn said.

He said the questions from the panel will be direct and will allow the voters to compare and contrast the candidates.

"The next four years in the Legislature will be critical to Grand Island and the state in terms of pocketbook and quality-of-life issues," Dunn said.

The forum will be moderated by Troy Hughes. A panel of four media representatives will ask questions of the candidates and each candidate will be allowed 60 seconds to respond.

"This should allow for a quick pace and allow a lot of topics to be covered," Dunn said. "The really interesting part of the night will be at the end when each candidate will be allowed to ask two questions of the other candidate. This is not done in many other forums and it promises to be an enlightening segment of the evening."