Council creates forum policy
June 10, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
The city sought to extricate itself from the politics of City Council elections, almost succeeded, but then didn’t.
Communications Director Tim Larson came to the City Council June 2 with a proposal to limit the city’s involvement in City Council election forums to airing forums on the city-owned television station.
The forum could only be aired if all the candidates agreed beforehand that the forum could be aired, Larson said.
“It eliminates anybody in the city from deciding what’s fair,” Larson said.
Larson’s proposal picked up traction with the council, with City Councilman Mark Cross and Mayor Don Gerend saying they also wanted to cut veto option.
“It shouldn’t be that one can veto a forum,” Gerend said.
Cross suggested that if a candidate did not want to be in the forum, he or she might have the option of speaking for a few minutes and putting that on the channel instead.
Neither Cross nor Gerend said they believed one candidate should be able to dictate whether a forum appears on TV.
Deputy Mayor Jack Barry said that a candidate had an easy way of avoiding what they though might be an unfair or biased forum – don’t go.
“I don’t think there needs to be an agreement. If you don’t want to participate in it, then don’t participate in it,” Barry said.
City Councilman Lee Fellinge said he was hesitant to approve a policy that would allow any forum, regardless of its merits or the accuracy of its content, to air on the city’s TV station.
“I don’t want the city to run a concocted forum that biases one candidate more than another,” he said.
City Council-woman Nancy Whitten fell on the opposite end of the spectrum, advocating that the city throw caution to the wind because City Council forums are valuable to voters.
“I think we need to err on the side of providing a forum and making it available to educate the public,” Whitten said. “I think we should stick our necks out and take some risks.”
At the beginning of the June 2 meeting, Michael Rutt, a candidate for the August City Council primary, said he believes forums should be held at City Hall.
“The question will be whether you were fair to the voters, not to the candidates,” Rutt said. “I think the Council Chambers should be used. It is the people’s house.”
Among the current City Council members deciding the forum policy, Gerend and Barry are running for re-election.
The council voted unanimously in favor of adopting Larson’s policy, with an amendment cutting a veto option.
But after the vote, Gerend pointed out that anyone could rent the City Council Chamber at a going rate of about $1,100 to host a forum.
For a nonprofit – and the Sammamish Kiwanis Club is a nonprofit interested in hosting a forum – the cost would be free, as long as the forum did not exceed four hours and took place between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Mon.-Fri. or 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday or Sunday.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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