The San Jose/Santa Clara League of Women Voters will host a trio of remote candidate forums later this month.
The forums are scheduled for 6 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Oct. 16, Oct. 17 and Oct. 22. The forums will be held via Zoom.
The first forum will feature District 1 and District 4 candidates; the second forum will host candidates from Districts 5 and 6; the final forum will give candidates for police chief and city clerk a platform.
Public members will be able to submit questions in advance, said Sandy Mory, co-chair of voter services for the League of Women Voters. However, she said, the candidates will not get the questions ahead of the forum.
“We need to be able to screen the questions to ensure they meet our standards,” Mory said. “[These forums] give the public a chance to see candidates in a public setting and to answer the questions that they don’t know on the fly.”
The League of Women Voters has hosted other candidate forums, but the ones for the Santa Clara candidates are the only ones hosted on Zoom.
Hosting the forums on Zoom allows the video to automatically upload to the League of Women Voters’ website, Mory said. When asked why the Santa Clara forums were being hosted on Zoom, Mory offered little explanation.
“I can’t give you a reason,” she said, later adding: “There are a variety of reasons I don’t want to get into.”
At an Aquatics Foundation forum Sept. 29, organizers chastised District 1 candidate Satish Chandra for texting during the forum, who claimed he had a “family emergency.” Restrictions on cell phone use during forums are typically a safeguard to prevent candidates from acting as a mouthpiece for those not up for election.
With the forum set to be online, The Weekly asked Mory how organizers would prevent outsiders from feeding information to candidates during the forum.
To participate, candidates need to sign an agreement to keep their camera on continuously and to not use their cell phones during the forum. However, Mory acknowledged that the agreement is basically an “honor system,” lacking enforcement.
Mory said candidates using their cell phones has not been a problem previously.
In addition to the aforementioned rules, candidates and those submitting questions also need to refrain from attacking one another, Mory said.
“The focus is on what they are going to do and what their skill set is, not attacking their opponents,” she said.
All District 1 candidates — Chandra, Albert Gonzalez and Harbir Bhatia — and city clerk candidates — Paul Tacci, Bob O’Keefe, Steve Kelly and Poornima Gopi — have confirmed they will participate.
All District 4 candidates — Kevin Park and Teresa O’Neill — and District 5 candidates — Suds Jain and David Kertes — have confirmed.
Incumbent Vice Mayor Anthony Becker is the only District 6 candidate to confirm participation as of this writing, as well as police chief candidate Mario Brasil.
For more information about the forums or to submit questions in advance, visit the League of Women Voters website at: https://www.lwvsjsc.org/candidate-forums.
Related Posts:
District 1 Candidates: School Board Trustee and Second-Time Candidate Weigh in on District 1 Issues
Deja Vu in District 4: Incumbent Faces Off Against Opponent with Roles Reversed
Meet the District 5 Candidates, Santa Clara
Santa Clara City Clerk Hopefuls Sound-Off on Transparency, Qualifications
Police Chief Candidates Square-Off on Safety Issues in Santa Clara
View Comments (1)
So a certain mayor will be very busy spoon-feeding answers to preferred candidates?