Sloan Bashinsky, a Key West mayoral candidate, took a call from God mid-debate during a candidate forum Monday night, The FlKeysNews reported.
As arguments waged on between candidates for city commissioner and mayor over affordable housing and cuts for nonprofit funding, the quirky candidate held his own conversation with a higher power.
"Hello? What? God?" Bashinsky said into his cellphone, according to FlKeysNews.
"Have they lost their minds? Yeah, I think they have" he said, indirectly speaking to the room.
And so the hopeful mayoral candidate, who used to be homeless himself, made his introduction, through a conversation with God, FlKeysNews said.
"I have said every time I ran, I ran because God told me to run," he said. "This is known to everybody. I think anyone who wants this job is insane."
Bashinsky, who holds a law degree from Vanderbilt, later elaborated on his unique ploy in a blog post.
He explained that the idea to pretend to receive a call from God had come to him "out of the blue" minutes before the candidate forum.
However, he said he blew it because he only said a fraction of what he intended to say.
In his blog post, Bashinsky knocked the city for not funding the local athletic clubs and for "building a $50 million dog park on Truman Waterfront instead of covering it with actually affordable Housing Authority rental housing."
He also brought up how the city funded an $18 million homeless animal shelter but refused to build "a decent $1 million shelter for homeless people."
Bashinsky is running against six other candidates for Key West mayor. They are Randy Becker, George Bellenger, Bill Foley, Teri Johnston, Carie Noda and Margaret Romero, FlKeysNews said.
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