Hundreds pack church to attend Fresno’s mayoral forum. Why wasn’t Jerry Dyer there?
Hundreds of Fresno residents packed St. James Episcopal Church on Thursday night to hear mayoral candidates discuss a wide range of topics including transportation funding, policing and housing during the #Fresno4All forum.
Five of seven candidates showed up to the event in east-central Fresno.
But as attendees left, they spoke about a candidate who wasn’t there: Jerry Dyer, Fresno’s former police chief.
“My main takeaway is that Chief Dyer wasn’t here. That’s disheartening,” said Monica Harrison Snowden, a mother of five who grew up in southwest Fresno. “I wanted to hear him in the same forum responding to the same questions. He comes to events in west Fresno, so I know he’s not afraid of us.”
The nonpartisan forum was hosted by multiple nonprofits in Fresno.
Dyer’s absence Thursday wasn’t a surprise.
The former police chief accepted the invitation in October to participate but later changed his mind, saying he had a schedule conflict with another forum sponsored by a veterans group. Dyer also cited concerns about whether the forum would be objective and safe.
The date of the forum changed. Dyer opted not to attend, anyway.
Patti Potter, a 67-year-old registered voter, said one of the main reasons she attended the forum was to see if Dyer would show up.
‘One Fresno’
“He has the slogan ‘One Fresno,’ and it’s insulting when you cannot meet with the social justice people and the poor people,” she said. “I wanted to hear what he had to say, but he won’t even show up.”
Potter noted the event was objective and not disruptive.
“If you want to represent all of Fresno, ‘One Fresno’ as his slogan says, you need to meet with all of Fresno, I would hope,” she said.
At least one person who attended the forum has heard from Dyer on campaign issues. Solomon Johnson, a pastor, attended a meeting for local pastors where Dyer sought their support for his campaign. Johnson attended Thursday’s forum to hear from the rest of the candidates.
“Fresno really needs change badly,” he said. “The last five mayors didn’t do what was necessary to bring change.”
Johnson said he wants Fresno’s next mayor to unite all of Fresno – particularly to uplift southwest Fresno.
“The bottom line is there’s a lot of division in Fresno,” he said. “I would’ve liked to hear a little more about how we’re going to come together as a city and collectively handle the problems of southwest Fresno.”
The Bee reached out to Dyer for comment after the forum but was unable to reach him.
The five candidates who did attend the forum were: Rev. Floyd Harris Jr., Andrew Janz, Brian Jefferson, Richard Renteria and Nikolas Wildstar. Another candidate, Bill Gates, also didn’t attend the forum.
New voting system
The forum organizers also shared information about Fresno County’s new voting system under the Voter’s Choice Act.
The election is March 3, and ballots already were sent out in the mail.
Voters can submit their ballots in the mail without a stamp, at drop-off locations throughout the city or by showing up in person to voting centers Feb. 29 to March 3.
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 10:20 PM.