So, last Tuesday (the 12th), I participated in my very first Candidate Forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
It took a few days to be posted, but you can watch it below if you’re really up to spending 90 minutes listening to us opine about local issues.
I thought I held my own pretty well against both of my potential opponents, especially considering that this was my first experience participating in something like this.
Note: Sorry about the poor audio quality; the little headsets they provided us with had some issues, though they were mostly cleared up later in the forum.
My self-critique:
- Yeah, my bald spot gave off a glare. I was also slouching in my chair a bit, which I gotta work on (can’t do much about the glare).
- Too many “you knows” and “um’s”, the bane of public speaking.
- The opening and closing statements were limited to 60 seconds, which I thought was awfully short, but I pulled it off.
- Most of the answers were also limited to 60 seconds, which was really tight for me because I tend to be long-winded and ramble, but again, I think I did alright.
- Answer I’m most proud of: The very first one, on the Regional Transit Authority Master Plan (to finally bring a comprehensive transit solution to the Metro Detroit area). My opponents answered first, and I knew what each would say: Moss (who sits on the RTA board) gave the “inappropriate for me to comment yet” response (which is nonsense according to everyone in the know who I’ve spoken with about it), while Taub (who’s also the incumbent) came out solidly against the plan based on ignoring about 90% of what’s included in it. In response, I listed as many of the additional features as I could in the short time allowed (there’s a lot more included, and that’s just for Oakland County alone). I had to be careful, however, because in addition to the time limit, you weren’t supposed to directly address your opponents (it was a forum, not a debate).
The tax/revenue questions were kind of awkward, because we really don’t need to raise taxes at the local level, but they absolutely do need to be raised—on corporations and the wealthy—at the state level. Interestingly, both of my GOP opponents were perfectly willing to rip “the state” government to shreds over inadequate funding of local projects...but neither one was willing to admit that taxes will indeed have to be raised at the state level in order to do so.
The question about endorsements made me feel a little silly afterwards because I’m the only Democrat on the primary, so it isn’t exactly impressive that a bunch of local Democratic officials have endorsed me. Still, I was very proud to state flat-out that both Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan and the Sierra Club of Michgan have endorsed me.
Anyway, it was an interesting experience. Only about 15 people showed up in person, but that was just as well since I’m not used to speaking to larger groups yet.
Comments/helpful critiques welcome, and of course...
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