District 1 Candidate Forum Hosted by Westside Democrats
There were no major surprises in last night's forum sponsored by the Westside Democrats. The forum was attended by 4 of the 6 candidates for the open District 1 seat.
Al Weisenberger and Rick Bonart were not in attendance. Literature left by Mr. Weisenberger at the event indicated that he was not in attendance because he was in Colorado with family on a pre-planned trip. An individual from the audience (I've never seen him at Westside Democrats events before so I don't know his name) indicated that Mr. Bonart had knee surgery earlier in the day.
The event was pretty well-attended and well-run considering it was the first forum of the season. I wish they had better questions for the candidates but it was a function of the fact that there were so many races to cover. They have all the candidates who aren't speaking go into another room so that they can't hear the answers of the other candidates. I wish they had asked each candidate different questions because all a friend, relative, or supporter had to do was send a text to the candidate and give them a heads up about what the questions were.
But again, not bad considering it was the first one of the season.
The candidates that attended were Bertha Gallardo, Manny Hinojosa, Danny Lopez, and Peter Svarzbein. It was the first time I'd ever had a chance to talk to Mrs. Gallardo and she was the only candidate in that race that I hadn't had a chance to touch base with.
I conducted individual interviews with Hinojosa, Lopez, and Svarzbein after the event to ask them some additional questions, I'll post those video interviews later.
You can see how each individual candidate performed here in the video below. I thought the two best performers were Svarzbein and Gallardo. Hinojosa had a tendency to give answers to the questions that were unresponsive, but he certainly gets a gold star for showing up. Everyone in that room knows Hinojosa is a Republican/Libertarian but he still showed up and stuck to platform. And, he even made sure to seek me out for an interview before he left.
Another candidate was absolutely terrified to interview with me and I gave him the option to not interview but he ultimately did, to his credit. So the fact that Manny knows he and I don't agree on policy but was still willing to face questions was admirable.
(SIDEBAR: Look, I'm the only person who is going to cover this campaign in a meaningful way. I'm the only one who really cares what you think in terms of policy issues. Face the reality that I'm going to show up and I'm going to have questions. But they are always policy-based and I don't ambush anyone or raise issues not relevant to the campaign. Sure, I'm likely going to have the hardest questions, but why are you running if you don't know policy? Take your medicine and answer a few questions. Its never as painful as you think and I'm fair in an interview. Running away or avoiding me is only going to make you look bad, not me.)
Back to some quick analysis. Again 2 of the more high-profile candidates weren't there, so there really isn't a frame of reference to compare them to the candidates that were in attendance. Svarzbein seemed the most prepared and Gallardo impressed me with her poise and presence. Manny and I disagree on his policy, but other than that I think he just needs to be more responsive to the questions and then go off on his talking points. Lopez, as I said before, has to find a way to distinguish himself from the other candidates. Last night I think he did so by being the only opponent to actively take the union position on a question posed about the contract negotiations with the Fire Fighters.
Video of the individual interviews coming up shortly.
Al Weisenberger and Rick Bonart were not in attendance. Literature left by Mr. Weisenberger at the event indicated that he was not in attendance because he was in Colorado with family on a pre-planned trip. An individual from the audience (I've never seen him at Westside Democrats events before so I don't know his name) indicated that Mr. Bonart had knee surgery earlier in the day.
The event was pretty well-attended and well-run considering it was the first forum of the season. I wish they had better questions for the candidates but it was a function of the fact that there were so many races to cover. They have all the candidates who aren't speaking go into another room so that they can't hear the answers of the other candidates. I wish they had asked each candidate different questions because all a friend, relative, or supporter had to do was send a text to the candidate and give them a heads up about what the questions were.
But again, not bad considering it was the first one of the season.
The candidates that attended were Bertha Gallardo, Manny Hinojosa, Danny Lopez, and Peter Svarzbein. It was the first time I'd ever had a chance to talk to Mrs. Gallardo and she was the only candidate in that race that I hadn't had a chance to touch base with.
I conducted individual interviews with Hinojosa, Lopez, and Svarzbein after the event to ask them some additional questions, I'll post those video interviews later.
You can see how each individual candidate performed here in the video below. I thought the two best performers were Svarzbein and Gallardo. Hinojosa had a tendency to give answers to the questions that were unresponsive, but he certainly gets a gold star for showing up. Everyone in that room knows Hinojosa is a Republican/Libertarian but he still showed up and stuck to platform. And, he even made sure to seek me out for an interview before he left.
Another candidate was absolutely terrified to interview with me and I gave him the option to not interview but he ultimately did, to his credit. So the fact that Manny knows he and I don't agree on policy but was still willing to face questions was admirable.
(SIDEBAR: Look, I'm the only person who is going to cover this campaign in a meaningful way. I'm the only one who really cares what you think in terms of policy issues. Face the reality that I'm going to show up and I'm going to have questions. But they are always policy-based and I don't ambush anyone or raise issues not relevant to the campaign. Sure, I'm likely going to have the hardest questions, but why are you running if you don't know policy? Take your medicine and answer a few questions. Its never as painful as you think and I'm fair in an interview. Running away or avoiding me is only going to make you look bad, not me.)
Back to some quick analysis. Again 2 of the more high-profile candidates weren't there, so there really isn't a frame of reference to compare them to the candidates that were in attendance. Svarzbein seemed the most prepared and Gallardo impressed me with her poise and presence. Manny and I disagree on his policy, but other than that I think he just needs to be more responsive to the questions and then go off on his talking points. Lopez, as I said before, has to find a way to distinguish himself from the other candidates. Last night I think he did so by being the only opponent to actively take the union position on a question posed about the contract negotiations with the Fire Fighters.
Video of the individual interviews coming up shortly.
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