While not a glamorous debate, local forums serve a purpose
Compared to the white-hot spotlight of presidential debates, for most voters, local election candidate debates and forums are as dim as dying flashlight bulbs. For first-time local office candidates,these debates and forums can feel like presidential debate stage-level pressure. For voters, usefulness of these events ranges from worthwhile to wasted time—and by the end of the campaign, many candidates are straining toward the end of speechifying and question-and-answer sessions.
Several years ago, as political analyst for WATE-TV, I attended a League of Women Voters candidate forum of eight city council candidates at the East Knoxville YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Center. The forum had a big turnout, as such events go, perhaps 80 to 90 people. But how good was it, really? At these events, an often-significant percentage of attendees is made up of relatives, friends, co-workers, and campaign volunteers. In smaller forums, which often attract “crowds” of 15-20 people, I’ve seen half to two-thirds of the audience comprised of people related to the candidates or working in their campaigns.
Compared to national debates, local forums are sedate, usually because candidates are as fearful of accusations of “negative campaigning” (criticizing their opponent) as are science fiction movie buffs of a Jar Jar Binks sighting. Also, time factors into how much people are willing to spend at a local event. An example: with eight candidates, if there’s a three-minute event introduction, after which each candidate gets a two-minute opening statement, followed by all of them having one minute to answer a question, it’s 27 minutes into the forum before the first question has been answered by all the participants.
Compounding the attention deficit is that local candidates get very little news coverage for three reasons: there are too many of them, in too many races, with a smaller news media. The Knoxville news media infrastructure has shrunk to a fraction of what it was 10 or 20 years ago. At one time, even local radio stations had news staffs with reporters who covered city, county, and state government—and election events and stories. The press cadre also included the then-two daily newspapers, three television affiliates and one independent, an alternative newspaper, and several smaller publications. That was then. Today, there’s not the staffing or time to focus substantially on multiple candidates running for multiple offices.
Also, it’s easier for people to get cranked up about national races than a county commission race. For a 2014 Cityview column titled, “You don’t know Jack – or other elected officials, it seems,” I talked to a group of adults, asking if they knew the names of their local elected officials: the answers, or lack of them, revealed a vast wasteland of little or no knowledge.
Along with forums, many local organizations use questionnaires to inform their members of candidates’ positions. If the political or social aims of candidates and groups intersect, that’s golden for both. However, if they diverge, the questionnaire is treated like a sleeping rattlesnake: candidates tiptoe gently around the questions or avoid them altogether. For example, in a past election, a Sierra Club questionnaire asked this of city council candidates: “How would you incorporate environmental justice issues into your broader sustainability agenda? If elected to city office, what specific steps would you take to address environmental injustices in Knoxville that disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities?”
This single question is replete with ideological landmines for any candidate that doesn’t share the club’s liberal environmental agenda. A candidate must assess what is meant by environmental justice issues, environmental injustices, and those that “disproportionately” affect disadvantaged communities. Any or all of these can thrust an answer into the minefield of liberal vs. conservative philosophies that extend far beyond the group’s members. Therefore, unless you’re in sync with the Sierra Club, chances are high that the questionnaire won’t be returned.
Collectively, these factors each contribute to the famine of local political knowledge among voters. Paradoxically, it escalates the importance of candidate forums and questionnaires: people who attend forums or read candidate questionnaire answers are likely voters. As local voter turnouts are typically abysmal, likely voters become ever-more valuable.
Though they don’t have the glamour of presidential debates, local forums have their place. Though many candidates for office don’t lack in ego and enjoy being in front of audiences. However, for many others, they’re happy to turn off the lights on candidate forums and questionnaires.