Today I received an invitation to the League of Women Voters of Neenah-Menasha Voters' Forum on Thursday, March 26th from 6:30-7:15 pm at the Neenah Public Library, 204 E. Wisconsin Ave. Since the 3rd District is the only Aldermanic district in Neenah with a contested race, the aldermanic section will be pretty small. There'll be a forum for the Neenah Joint School District School Board candidates immediately following the Aldermanic forum. That will constitute a somewhat larger group. But the aldermanic candidates get the first shot.
I'm going to urge you starting now to give up a bit of your Thursday evening five weeks from now to sit in on the voters' forum. In my experience, the forums are sparsely attended; so I'm asking you as a personal favor to come to the aldermanic portion at least. It's just 45 minutes in a very nice setting!
The LoWV forum has an interesting format: each candidate makes an opening two minute statement. Then the audience may submit written questions for which each candidate will have one minute for a response. The League members monitor the time and hold up 30 second and 15 second signs letting the candidates know how much time is left. It shows only how readily a candidate can think on his feet; the substance of the questions varies widely. That's why I'd like YOU to come! I know that you can dream up a good question to ask me and my opponent.
I participated in one in '07 when there were contested races in all three Neenah aldermanic districts. That was the year that two former Neenah Police officers challenged the incumbents in Districts 1 and 2: Gary Radtke challenged incumbent Mark Lange in the 1st District, and Dan Dringoli challenged incumbent Judy Zaretzke in District 2. I was the incumbent against Lee Hillstrom, having survived a primary election in which the third candidate for my district, Ed Hofkens, was also a former police officer.
That voters' forum was particularly interesting because of the apparent "takeover attempt" by ex-officers of the Neenah Police Department. It seemed as if the League of Women Voters forum would have had some potential for drama.
As it turned out, nobody from any local newspaper showed up. No radio station nor TV reporter was there. The debate was not even videotaped. The people in the audience were either Neenah city employees or aldermen, or friends and family of one of the debaters. There was a grand total of one -- count 'em -- one voter in the audience who didn't fit into either of the aforementioned categories. He was from my district and went away not very impressed; though Alderman Nick Piergrossi intercepted him on his way out and gave him a pep talk effective enough to swing his vote in my favor.
Regardless of whether there'll be a media "blackout" in five weeks, I will record the proceedings and transcribe them here if you can't make it to the forum itself.