Politics & Government
Unproductive Discourse, Hostility Among Concerns Cited in Cancelled Sumner Candidate Forum
Several candidates who declined to participate in the event, sponsored and moderated by the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County, worried about bias as well, reports The Tacoma News Tribune.
Five candidates running for several positions on the Sumner City Council and for Mayor signed a letter to the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County indicating they wouldn't participate in their candidate forum that would have occurred this Tuesday, Oct. 15, citing concerns over fairness and civility, and thereby forcing its cancellation, reports The Tacoma News Tribune.
The letter was signed by incumbent Councilman Ed Hannus and his opponent Earle Stuard, candidate Kathy Hayden, Councilman Steve Allsop who is running unopposed, and Mayor Dave Enslow, according to Lyz Kurnitz-Thurlow, League co-chair, Voter Service.
"The Forum was canceled because the majority of the candidates declined to attend," Kurnitz-Thurlow wrote in an email response to Patch. "We truly regret this decision."
Hayden is challenging Councilman Randy Hynek, while Enslow is running against current Councilwoman Nancy Dumas.
According to The News Tribune, the behavior of some of Dumas' supporters was at least part of the reason for the five candidates to opt out. Hayden told the newspaper they had caused a divisive atmosphere during a forum that occurred in September that was hosted by the Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce. And one supporter, former candidate Melony Pederson, had reportedly approached the League and asked to moderate the forum.
Pederson did approach the League about having a forum in the first place, Kurnitz-Thurlow said. In terms of a moderator, Terri Baker, a former League president - not Pederson - was scheduled to moderate the Sumner forum, she said.
The League, which is hosting several candidate forums in various jurisdictions in Pierce County ahead of November including Puyallup, Milton, Lakewood and Tacoma, invites audience members to write questions down ahead of time. "The reasons we have the questions written rather than asked directly, are so that we can keep them direct, can keep them from containing any personal comments, and can vet them so there are no repetitions, and are relevant," wrote Kurnitz-Thurlow in a subsequent communication to the candidates.
Enslow and Hannus, in emails to Patch, asserted they had no problem with the League but remain concerned about unmanageable discourse and even threats made by some community members.
"I have the greatest respect for the League of Women Voters," wrote Hannus. "This is not their fault. It is a few citizens of our community who have their personal reasons for presenting derogatory comments in a public forum directed at specific individuals. We hope the League understands and will come back when calm and sanity prevails once more."
Enslow wrote, "I support the candidates' stand against threats made to them. We have no tolerance for violence, even verbal abuse."
The reluctance to participate is "unfortunate," said Kurnitz-Thurlow, even "contradictory. This is what the League does, and is it not trusting themselves, or not trusting us, or not trusting the citizens, which is what it comes down to."
Dumas also laments the cancellation. In a post on her Facebook campaign site, she writes, "... This is about your community and the right to information and access to your candidates who are elected. That fact that that has been stripped from you is absolutely infuriating to me."
She elaborates for Patch, "If you can't take a question from a person in your community, you have no business being in office. ... You also took away the ability to hear from two new school board members. I don't even get the right as a citizen to hear from these school board candidates because you took my right away as a parent and as a private citizen."
Enslow disagrees this was the only opportunity for candidates to speak, citing the Chamber forum in September. But Dumas tells The News Tribune that event was open to Chamber members, while the League event would have reached a greater section of the community.
What this cancellation reveals, said Kurnitz-Thurlow, is that there is clearly a need for a forum like this in Sumner. "We don't do full observer reports for public meetings because we don't have the people for it," she said. "But we're going to have a Sumner observer. Somebody's got to keep an eye on what's going on there."
Online:
Bias claim cancels Sumner election forum (The Tacoma News Tribune)
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