The race for city council district two has taken a nasty turn as incumbent councilman Alan Warrick announces an endorsement from his former opponent Keith Toney. Warrick’s runoff opponent William Cruz Shaw is accusing Toney of asking Shaw to pay in order to earn his endorsement.
District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick finished election night with 41 percent. Eastside Attorney William Cruz Shaw came in second with 29 percent. And former Councilman Keith Toney came in third. Toney was unseated by Warrick in a 2014 special election. He endorsed Warrick on the steps of city hall Wednesday.
“I’ve chosen to endorse Alan Warrick primarily because of his experience but not only that because of his deep family roots in our community,” Toney said.
Warrick welcomed the support.
“The former councilman has been in the community for a number of years more visible than I have, so there is that trust there,” Warrick said.
Cruz Shaw claims, however, Toney alluded to offering Shaw his endorsement in exchange for $15,000 to help pay off Toney’s campaign debt.
“I don’t have fifteen grand, I’m not going to pay you fifteen grand. We take pride in running a clean campaign with complete transparency. I’m not going to get into those weeds,” Shaw said
Toney says the meeting with Shaw did happen, but denies he requested any money.
“That’s inaccurate. The only thing accurate about that is - and this is politics - he called me to say ‘can we sit down.’ He wants my votes, so we sat down. No fifteen -- That’s not accurate.”
Warrick won formal election in 2015 without a runoff. He says his advantage over Shaw is experience.
“District Two has to move forward in order to get to the places that we need to be on par with the rest of the city in economic development, in jobs, in job readiness, in infrastructure, in parks.”
Shaw says he promises transparency to constituents.
“They need to know what’s going all the time. Not just making rash decisions based on outside influences but actually sitting down and talking to people about what’s going on in our communities.”
District two is one of six council races along with the Mayor’s seat that will be included in the June 10th runoff.
