Candidates hear Hmong concerns Minority issues dominate a city-county candidate forum By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle The candidates for mayor of Green Bay and Brown County Executive spent as much time listening as selling themselves at a candidate forumTuesday at the United Hmong Community Center. It was the first face-off among the four mayoral candidates and the second in two nights for the county trio. Most of the questions to the seven candidates dealt with assimilating the local Hmong community into the general population with regards to jobs and cultural acceptance. For example, some of the discussion dealt with the multi-day Hmong funeral rites and the possibility of getting employers to be more accepting of extended time off and the possibility of getting a Hmong funeral home in the community. Others were more basic, looking for promises of more Hmong representation on boards and on the police force. And, inevitably, there was a question about the controversial Brown County Board resolution making English the official county language. Sup. Jim Schmitt, running for mayor, was asked to defend his abstention on the vote to overturn current executive Nancy Nusbaum's veto. "I abstained to draw attention" to the problems with the resolution, Schmitt said. Schmitt is running against businessman Mark Anderson, mayor-council assistant David Nennig and city inspector Steven Terrien. All of the mayoral candidates were against the resolution. "I would not enforce it," said Terrien. All of the candidates promised to continue to deal with Hmong leaders and supported advisory councils. "Those groups are very effective," said Nennig. When asked about the most important issue facing the Hmong community, answers varied, with Anderson saying the biggest hurdle was acceptance. "The answer is just to educate our kids," he said. As for the county candidates, former state Rep. Carol Kelso and Northeast Wisconsin Libertarian Party chairman Roy Leyendecker cited taxes, while Hobart village president Len Teresinski mentioned resources. Asked about cooperation between the mayor and county executive, Schmitt said "communication is the key," while Nennig suggested reviving a metro leaders committee. One resident asked why Green Bay, with a larger Hmong population, did not have any Hmong police officers, while Appleton and Wausau had two each. Nennig suggested looking at the disbanded police cadet program, while Schmitt the city "needs the best people" for the police jobs. At least one of the mayoral candidates felt better after the 2 1/2-hour discussion than he did before. "I feel comfortable after listening to the other candidates," quipped Terrien, "and I even feel better about myself."