By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.
Five candidates who have already begun their campaigns to succeed Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins, will participate Thursday night in the African-American Leadership Council forum at the Community Brotherhood Club, located at 15 Coburn St. in Lynn.
According to Darrell Murkison, who will serve as the event’s master of ceremonies, each candidate will be allowed a three-minute opening statement, followed by three questions from the Community Brotherhood Club and three questions from the audience. The forum will be moderated by Roy Rhodes who is a Community Brotherhood member and member of the NAACP.
The forum could prove to be friendly ground for three of the candidates who each have ties to Lynn.
According to Community Brotherhood association candidates Mark Archer, Kenneth Berg, Kevin Coppinger, Michael Marks and Paul Russell have all confirmed their attendance at the event.
Archer is a Bedford resident and attorney with local ties in Lynn. Berg is a Danvers Republican.
Coppinger is the Lynn Police Chief and Marks is a Lynn resident and currently serves as a superintendent in the Essex County House of Corrections. Russell lives in Andover and is a drug enforcement agent.
Organizers of the event have indicated that the candidates will likely be asked how they could, as Sheriff, help in the battle against the on-going opioid epidemic.
In addition to the five candidates participating in the Lynn forum, five other Essex County residents have formed campaign committees to date, including William Castro and James Jajuga of Methuen, Craig Lane of Peabody, Anne Manning-Martin of Lynn and Ed O’Reilly of Wenham.