I sent this email to a few in the media.
We have a few problems brewing...
There are no debates -- zippo -- for these races:
Pgh Controller
Pgh City Council district 3
Pgh City Council district 1
Pgh City Council district 9
There are trends that need to be understood and reported upon.
The mayor's candidates should be together 30 times -- not 3.
It is great that the P-G is going to host a debate.
May I suggest that the P-G hold debates for the other offices, perhaps all in the same night?
And, may I also suggest that the P-G invite the candidates of the races in the above to go to the mayor debate and ask a question to the mayor candidates. That's right, a candidate asking another candidate a question. We are watching the issues. We would then have a 15 second time to be introduced to the audience as well.
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1 comment:
Mark,
I'm sure you're frustrated. But our format is set for the mayoral candidates' forum on Oct. 9. There will be one hour of questions from the PG editorial writers and half an hour from the audience. We are not interested in programming a situation where candidates for other offices ask questions of the mayoral candidates; it would reduce opportunities for regular voters.
I think your best bet for other candidate faceoffs is to contact community groups in the council districts and see if they would host one. As to the city controller race, maybe the League of Women Voters would be interested in sponsoring.
The PG editorial board's chief mission is to interview candidates for Post-Gazette endorsement purposes; almost all of that is done under our roof. We decided to do a public Q&A with the mayoral candidates as an added public service, but not prepared to sponsor other forums this fall.
Tom Waseleski
Editorial Page Editor
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(412) 263-1669
fax: (412) 263-2014
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