Here’s an easy suggestion, one that there’s still time to implement for this year’s election: bring in an impartial moderator for the Meet the Candidates night on November 24.
Each year, the forum is moderated by the chair of the election committee, a current board member, whose bias for and against certain questions can be painfully obvious. An impartial moderator would add some legitimacy to the debate, and could attract more cooperators to attend.
Who could do it? There’s no one perfect candidate. Maybe the president of Hillman’s or Seward’s board, or the executive director of the Manny Cantor Center, or a respected local journalist like Ed Litvak of the Lo-Down. That’s just off the top of my head. Who would you suggest? Add to comments below.
There’s no bias more painfully obvious than that of this blog.
Of course, that’s kind of the point — I mean, you wouldn’t want me to moderate the forum, would you? That would be absurd.
It’s not an effective format to learn anything very viable from those running. Time limits too short and soft ball questions from Ellen. I understand these things need a format to keep the from going off the rails but this format is a bit lacking.
I think having the president of Hillman’s or Seward’s Board would be a little problematic, since they’d probably feel pressured to opt out (“too close to home”) – but I really like the idea of having Ed Litvak, since he’d be a totally impartial voice and I’m sure he’d do a great job of moderating.
I imagine that Mr. Litvak would want to stay neutral and be averse to participating in an event that he might otherwise want to cover for his publication and Website. Not a bad idea otherwise, but that might prevent him from agreeing, were the idea even offered to begin with.
Not a bad idea Bram.