Richardson, a political newcomer, did not agree to a sit-down Q&A interview with VoxPopuli’s founding editor Norine Dworkin, despite several attempts to meet with him. He is running in a crowded field for Ocoee District 4 commissioner against three other candidates (read our interviews with George Oliver III, Lori Hart, and Joel Keller).

At a recent political forum where Ocoee city commission candidates for Districts 2 and 4 were asked questions by residents (read the VoxPopuli story), Richardson, who’s lived in the city for 19 years, characterized himself as an “everyday guy.” He said he served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1972 to 1977, including posts at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France, and the U.S. Consulate General in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, where he “was involved in security.”

Richardson said he graduated from Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio, with an associate’s degree in electronic engineering. In the last couple of years, he said he “moved away from his work in the marketplace” where he was a manager and a technician for a “business solutions company” and now serves as associate pastor at a church in Apopka.

Richardson — who said he’s in the race because he wants to give back to Ocoee, which “has been very good to me” — cited road infrastructure and firefighter retention as major issues for the city. He described himself as a “unifier,” able to bring people together from the business and faith-based communities, residents and government to resolve issues.

In his closing statement at the forum, Richardson said he wants to listen to and unify new and long-time residents and those from different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds, who can expect honesty and hard work from him.