Candidate Forums Recap

Candidate Forums Recap

Type: 
News

Candidate Forums—Grassroots Democracy in Action

Several municipalities and districts in our Pasadena area are holding elections on June 7, and the League was asked to facilitate candidate forums for the following elections:

  • Monrovia City Council
  • Monrovia Mayor and Measure RM
  • Pasadena City Council District 7
  • Pasadena City College Trustee Area 5 (South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and Temple City)

Helping with candidate forums as moderator, question sorter, or timekeeper is one of the League's most fulfilling and enjoyable volunteer activities. You are truly making democracy work at the grass roots. It provides all involved with insights into what motivates and engages the voters in our communities. The following wonderful team of volunteers worked on the forums this spring:

  • Dorothy Keane 
  • Valerie Jones
  • Jane Wallace
  • Bonnie Skolnik
  • Robbie Davis
  • Chris Olson
  • Maureen Johnston
  • Hester Bell
  • Debbie Fagen
  • Toni Cavanagh Johnson
  • Ruth Judkins
  • Joanne Als
  • Jean Buennagel, our candidate "wrangler" who did invaluable work behind the scenes.

Every election season presents its own challenges. In 2020, just entering COVID lockdown, we quickly learned how to set up and manage totally virtual forums and moderated them successfully (including providing a lot of support to the candidates in becoming comfortable with Zoom!). This time around, we returned to in-person forums, including one in a park in the middle of Pasadena's Earth Day celebration. We worked with several cosponsors on creating hybrid forums to enable some community members to observe and participate remotely, including submission of questions for the candidates. This presented technical and procedural issues, but we are as usual learning from our mistakes, and we will be ready for the November election cycle.

Dorothy Keane moderated the Monrovia City Council andMayoral forums. (KGEM)
Someone once said, "All politics is local politics." This fall will be a critically important time politically, at the local level as well as nationally, and candidate forums are where the community encounters the League as a trusted, nonpartisan, and experienced partner. Join our forums team and take part! We provide training, orientation, and ongoing support. To learn more contact forums [at] lwv-pa.org.
 

Katherine Gavzy, Chair, Events Committee

Recent Candidate Forums Now Available Online

Did you miss them? Some of the recent candidate forums for our area contests are now available online—including some moderated by the League. Here’s where to watch:

 

 

 

This article is related to which committees: 
Events CommitteeVoter Services Committee
League to which this content belongs: 
PASADENA AREA