He’s the right man for the job says his supporters. “Mark has experience excellence. Not just experience because all experience is not good. We need leadership with vision, and passion,” said Trinity Baptist Church Pastor Dwight Gardner at Tuesday’s campaign announcement party held in the Gary Teachers Union office.
Spencer is a teacher and is the director of the Gary Community School Corporation’s West Side Theatre Guild.
The Gary Democratic Caucus is getting ready to fill two upcoming city council vacancies on December 22, but Spencer won’t be among the candidates. The 2nd District Council seat will be empty and a councilman at-large seat will be empty because councilpersons who currently hold the positions won races in November’s General Election for county positions and will take office January 1, 2023.
Replacements are needed to fill the remaining 1-year left on each of their terms. The winners will have to run in the 2023 primaries if they want to keep the council seats for the next 4 years.
Spencer is preparing early for the 2023 Primary Elections. Among supporters at the announcement was a 17-year-old high school student who said she will be registering to vote and will turn 18 before the primary election. She will be voting for Spencer.
“If I’m elected, my concern is getting more of our constituents involved in the process,” Spencer said. “First and foremost, we need to re-engage and re-introduce young people. We need to make it very palatable and very clear to them they are stakeholders. It’s their right as citizens.”
It’s his 30 years teaching and bringing people together, Spencer pointed out as preparation for his next job. “My commitment to this community, to its excellence is proven.”
“I spent 30 years bringing people together. Thirty years elevating and celebrating ourselves and a sense of self; and 30 years of problem solving in this community, in its businesses, in its political leadership. Thirty years in the trenches, getting the little things right, to make the big things possible. And taught your children for 30 years,” he said.
His passion is to get the community involved. “I want the community members to rise up and to feel that they’re empowered, that they’re a part of the process. I want to make it attractive enough that they would want to go to a council meeting or to a committee meeting, to listen to legislation or to listen to elements on the table that directly affect them.” It’s one of the tie-ins to his campaign motto “Say less and do more.”
“I bring the perspective of being a native in this community, looking at all of the challenges on a daily basis, being a citizen, contributing as a citizen, and wanting to make changes on behalf of the citizens,” Spencer said.
