Brentwood News Congressional Candidate Forum |
The Congressional Forum for District 33 was a beautiful
sight to behold. The University Synagogue hosted, and were gracious and fair
with all of the candidates.
All rounds were in random order, and kept to a very strict
time- with a bell. If the bell went off,
you simply needed to “sit down”. Somewhere around halfway, they had us do musical chairs, so that no one spent the whole time up front.
What seemed to be an unusual level of camaraderie ensued,
with candidates who had never met before laughing, joking and teasing as the two-hour
program sped forward at an amazing pace.
I think we all realized how 30 seconds to 3 minutes to speak was all
anyone really wanted or needed to hear from candidates, no matter who they
were, or what they were talking about.
It was astounding to hear the level of qualifications among
candidates. If you can’t find someone in
this group of 17 to support, then you aren’t reading about them. It may seem strange that as a candidate, I’m
promoting everyone. The way the media
reports on candidates is unfair- one story this morning had large photos of 6
candidates, and they were, of course the ones who had raised more than
$350,000.
This was on the heels of an LA Times story with the ironic
headline, “Fundraising May Narrow Field
for Henry Waxman’s Seat” (you think?).
I’m working on a comparison chart to see how other factors range amongst
candidates. After this forum I am
betting that many have qualifications that surpass money as a sole qualifying
factor.
Many audience members made it clear to me how frustrated
they were after the forum after hearing so many “clearly wonderful” candidates
that are available- and that they don’t hear about them due to bias at forums
(keeping many out), media attention on money only, and the affordability of
mailers (needing a million dollars to send campaign materials to voters in the
off- chance the slick mailer makes it past the trash can into the house to be
read by voters). And of course, since
this is District 33, there were many comments about the environmental
ramifications of such waste and abuse of our environment (trees, chemicals,
ink, trash, sustainability).
Laughter wasn't unusual at this forum |
The bipartisan, unifying theme by most candidates was the
corruption that is rife in our institution of elected officials, especially now
with multiple indictments in the California senate, and a new indictment of a
Congressman this week. This system of
begging for money creates a breeding ground for ethical violations and illegal
activity that is often overlooked. Then
everyone steps back at gasps at the public servant “bad behavior”.
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