WATCH | Spirited debate between Turlock mayoral candidates draws standing-room-only crowd

The most memorable moment of the Turlock mayoral debate could be, well, up for debate.

Was it when Kelley Coelho noted that she has children and Amy Bublak doesn’t?

Or when Bublak called that comment “super inappropriate”?

Or when Jim Reape, asked to say something nice about Coelho, said she’s “loud and boisterous”?

The figurative jabs and uppercuts flew for more than an hour in a recent standing-room-only debate at Stanislaus State, hosted by the university and moderated by the Turlock Journal and The Modesto Focus.

None of those on stage – incumbent Amy Bublak, and challengers Jim Reape and Kelley Coelho – could be described as shrinking violets. 

But they also went into detail on policy questions important to the quality of life in Turlock, Stanislaus County’s second-largest city. Issues ran the gamut, from data centers and Flock camera license plate readers to road repairs and how best to keep Stan State students from leaving when they graduate.

In this video of the colorful debate, be sure to look for:

• Bublak, noting her 18 years in public office (eight as mayor), saying, “I could probably drop the mic on that.”

• Reape, when asked about Turlock’s revolving door of top-level public officials in recent years, saying the no. 1 cause is having “a bad boss” – implying the mayor.

• Coelho, asked how she can effectively deal with people she’s either sued or accused including the police chief, a council woman, a state senator, two judges and the district attorney, saying, “This is accountability at its finest.”

Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact him at garth@themodestofocus.org.