The Johnson County League of Women Voters hosted a panel with the two county supervisor candidates in District 2, yesterday. The time was scheduled for an hour and candidates covered a lot of ground. Here are some highlights.

Jon Green of Lone Tree was elected Johnson County Supervisor in 2021.

Green is from Cheyenne, Wyoming, although he’s lived most of his life in Lone Tree and Nichols, Iowa, attending West Liberty schools through sixth grade before transferring to Lone Tree where he graduated in 2001. Green holds a BA in mass communication from Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa.

A former journalist, Green has also worked in radio and public relations, briefly serving as Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s press secretary from 2009 to 2010. Green served one term as mayor of Lone Tree from 2018 to 2019. He most recently worked as a systems administrator in information technology.

Green is divorced and lives with his girlfriend Eleanore. He has no children.

Phil Hemingway is a lifelong Johnson County resident, career mechanic, and small-business owner.

Hemingway grew up on a farm outside Morse and Oasis and has worked in and around automobile garages since 1997. He stated he was retired, yet working two days per week repairing small engines. He is an ASE-certified Master Auto Technician, with additional certification as an engine machinist for gasoline and diesel engines.

Hemingway served four years on the Iowa City school board, and later became a Lincoln Township trustee. He ran for Johnson County Supervisor in 2022.

The league format was to collect questions from audience members on 3 x 5 cards, organize and ask them of the two candidates who answered in rotation. The range of questions was everything from secondary roads maintenance to supervisor salaries to building a new jail to disposition of the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm. By the end of the hour both candidates differentiated themselves from the other and if a person didn’t know for whom they were voting, they could now.

My commentary on the issues is less relevant than theirs. I recommend you view the 50-minute forum on the Johnson County, Iowa League of Women Voters Facebook page. Here is the link.