A forum will be held for the candidates in the race for East Boston's open House seat this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon in the auditorium at East Boston High School. Josh Resnek of the East Boston Times, Juan Vega of Centro Latino de Chelsea and Avi Green of MassVOTE will be asking the questions.According to the event guidelines, no one from the audience will be allowed to ask a question, "there will be no discussion allowed between candidates," and "there will be no rebuttals." I'm not sure that I agree with those stipulations, but here is the part of the ground rules that I strongly disagree with: "Questions will be distributed to candidates, in advance for preparation purposes, on Wednesday, September 5."
First of all, why do we need three questioners -- giving the illusion of some diversity in point of view from the moderators -- if the questions are all chosen in advance? Secondly, why can't some of the questions be spontaneous, with follow-ups and with questions from the audience, even if they are submitted in advance on sheets of paper and screened by the moderators? Certainly I like my elected officials to offer well-thought responses to issues, but I also like to know that someone can think on his or her feet.
Joe Mason, the president of Eastie's Land Use Council, brought some of these issues to my attention. He also sent me a copy of the minutes to a meeting held on Aug. 24 at the East Boston Chamber of Commerce, where the guidelines for the forum were agreed upon. Click "comments" or the title of this entry to read those minutes in full.
9 comments:
Candidates’ Forum Collaborative Planning Meeting
Friday, August 24, 2007
11:00AM
Chamber Office
Minutes
Present: John Dudley, East Boston Chamber; Manlio Mendez, NVC/OVC; Edwin Argueta, NVC/OVC; Bob Strelitz, Jeffries Point N.A.; Libby Hayes, Crossroads; Leah Toussaint, Crossroads; Celeste Myers, Comm. To Elect Carlo Basile.
Forum Basics:
Forum will be held Saturday, September 8, 2007, between 10:00AM and 12:00PM, at the East Boston High School Auditorium. The necessary paperwork has been filed with the Boston Public School (BPS) Facilities Department today, and necessary approvals have been received. Outstanding will be the fees due BPS by the East Boston Times.
Moderator:
A discussion regarding the choice of moderator took place. In addition to Avi Green of MassVOTE, and Juan Vega of Centro Latino de Chelsea, Josh Resnick of the East Boston Times was added to the discussion. John D. had a phone discussion with Josh on Aug. 23, during which Josh said he would “love to moderate the forum,” if given the chance. After some discussion of having both a Latino and non-Latino moderator, it was voted that both Josh Resnick and Juan Vega would be co-moderators. Josh would facilitate the very beginning of the forum (segment #1), including welcoming noteworthy guests, thanking volunteering organizations and audience members, and setting ground rules/procedures for the forum. Juan would welcome Latinos as well. During the question and response portion (segment #2) of the forum, Josh and Juan would alternate back and forth, with each question on the agenda.
Format:
There will be 12 questions in total: 10 will be designed by the non-profits and community organizations who have been involved throughout the planning process, and two will come from media sources – one from East Boston Times, one from Eastie Latino.
After Josh and Juan complete segment #1 (7-10 minutes), each of the four candidates will have two minutes to introduce themselves and/or make an opening statement (8 mins). Then, the question and response segment (segment #2) will begin. Moderators will alternate in asking questions: each candidate will have 1 ½ minutes to respond to each question. This segment will take approximately 78 minutes to complete.
After questions have been exhausted, segment #3 will be concluding statements for each of the candidates: each candidate will receive two minutes (8 mins).
There was discussion of whether or not it was feasible to allow for audience participation, though it was decided that the time restraints were too limited overall, and the screening process too complicated and timely. It was also agreed that questions designed by the organizations that represent the majority of residents in the community, and questions from our local media, would very well “cover most of the bases.”
Ground Rules/Procedure:
• No discussion allowed between candidates
• Crowd should be respectful of all candidates – No booing, interjections, or interruptions at any time
• Applause allowed, though should be reserved until all four candidates have answered a particular question
• Signs are not allowed inside the auditorium
• Buttons, stickers, tee-shirts, hats, etc. are allowed inside auditorium
• Candidates will be placed on stage, seated at a table, in alphabetical order from left to right.
• Questions will be asked of candidates in a rotating order.
• No food or drinks allowed inside the auditorium.
• Committee signs are allowed, outside of the auditorium, in a designated area reserved specifically for them, as well as other literature, stickers, flyers, etc.
Seating:
• 15 seats will be reserved for media, nearest the front of room
• Each candidate will receive ~25 (to be confirmed) reserved seat tickets, for whomever they choose, near the front of the room
• Rest of seating will be unrestricted, and first-come, first-served
Questions:
• Questions will be designed, compiled, and sent to moderators preferably by Thursday, August 30, and no later than Friday, August 31. Questions will be developed, critiqued, and reviewed carefully via group emails between the participating organizations’ representatives.
• Questions will be distributed to candidates, in advance for preparation purposes, on Wednesday, September 5.
Media Invites:
East Boston Times; Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Post Gazette, Airport Journal, Eastie Latino, La Semana, El Mundo, El Planeta, Siglo21, B.N.N., Frank Conte, North Shore Tab, Bay State Banner.
Other Logistics & Commitments:
• Sound/P.A./Microphones (Zumix)
• Refreshments – Water, juice, donuts/munkins (Times for cost, volunteers to staff)
• Child Care - *Inquire about EBSC and YMCA – Set up temporary care room at High School? Arrange complimentary 2-hour drop-off at their locations?
• Translation Equipment – Upwards of 100 translation units; translation to be in Spanish; 1 or 2 translators would be need to be hired for that day (NOAH/EBECC / *Times – cost?)
• Registration Tables – 1 table at each of 2 main entrances to auditorium, 3 staff people at each table; 1 table for candidates and reserved seating check-in, 3 staff people; 1 table for media check-in, 2 staff people. (Crossroads, other volunteers)
• Outreach – Fliers and press releases, translation of material and distribution (NOAH/EBECC, others)
• Time Keeper – 2 people needed, one on clock, one with warning signs (TBD)
• Police Detail/Security – Discuss with Sgt. McCarthy
• Contact Media Outlets, Candidates (Chamber)
• Reserved Seating Signs (TBD)
• Other Volunteer Staffing – *Celeste suggested we ask each candidate’s camp to send 5-10 volunteers that day, to assist with setup, breakdown/cleanup, and other items. John D. will solicit for this.
• Discussion of possible busing scenarios: General consensus it would probably be confusing to organize, and costly. Libby H. would check with Hilton and Massport (Anthony G.) to probe into this possibility.
Other Items:
• Candidate campaign contact lists/posters would be posted, and moderators would encourage those guests in attendance with specific questions or concerns of the candidates to call, email, visit their websites, or speak to them in person. Media would also be encouraged to catch up with each of the candidates before or after the forum.
• Each camp would be allowed a table outside of the auditorium, at which to have a couple of volunteers, and literature, stickers, meet-and-greets pre- and post-forum, etc.
• This is a FORUM, not a DEBATE – there will be no discussion between the candidates, and no rebuttals. Candidates should stick to answering the questions presented them.
• Potential volunteers will be contacted, and a duty list will be set and distributed two days prior to the forum.
Adjournment at 12:15PM.
Can someone explain why there was opposition to having an "outsider" as a moderator? It appears to me that having someone who doesn't have a dog in the fight can be more objective in moderating the forum than someone who may be supporting one of the candidates.
Two questions:
1) I noticed that Carlo Basile's campaign, which is being supported by EB Chamber President Joe Ruggiero, was the only one at the table for this discussion. Were the other campaigns contacted about this? If not it seems like a pretty strong conflict of interest at best, and outright dirty politics at worst.
2) Will the questions asked be attributed at the forum? The other organizations can submit 100 questions, but if the only ones being asked come from the Chamber, who would know?
.... if you want to participate in organizing the forum, ask the chambers to invite you. An email was sent inviting people, orgnizations and others to the meetings. The questions are coming from issues that a diverse group put together. If you want to have the questions at the Forum, ask the chambers to include that point in the next meeting. Every campaign was invited. The questions are not coming only from the cambers, but from community groups, agencies and others.
All the candidates were contacted about the meetings to plan the forum. However, representatives for the candidates were only allowed to be "observers," and weren't allowed an opportunity to speak. My treasurer went to one meeting and tried to present some of my concerns. He was told to be quiet and just sit there to observe. Other meetings were held at times when my committee members were unable to attend. As for conflict of interest, my biggest concern has been that this forum is, to a large extent, being steered by individuals from NOAH, EBECC and EBNHC. Ms. Mota has strong connections those very groups and that is the incestuous conflict that I wanted discussed. Unfortunately, observers are not allowed to speak. I don't think only Chamber questions will be asked, but I'm concerned that too much time will be devoted to the above mentioned groups, at the expense of the greater community. I wanted audience members to be able to ask questions, too. I did express my concern to Mr. Dudley about the location of the event, so I'm glad it's been changed to the high school.
Please don't get the idea that all candidates are responsible for the format of the candidates' forum. I still think such an event is important to this election process, but I question how closely aligned one candidate is to the groups with the most visible presence in the planning stage.
Sincerely,
Mary Berninger
Candidate for State Representative
For once I agree with Mary. It appears that the Chamber of Commerce has been the driving force behind this forum. They have provided a significant amount of support to Carlo Basile.
I am curious why other neighborhood groups were not involved. I notice that only Jeffries Point NA attended at least this one meeting (I understand there were others). Doesn't Eagle Hill have a NA? I know Orient Heights has a NA. Maverick Landing has an active tenants association. Were they invited?
Again, Drago supporters stop your whining. He has the sitting Mayor, City Councilor and senator and your complaing about this?
If he was such a good candidate you'd need not to worry about silly stuff!
Get over it he lost
The president of the East Boston Chamber of Commerce, Joe Ruggiero, is also Carlo Basile's campaign manager. Did that have any influence on the rules of the candidates' forum?
Stop complaining! Your just mad that Basile is the classiest guy in this town. Stop the whining and go do something for this community!
Post a Comment