The League of Women Voters of the Lewis Clark Valley and the Lewis Clark Valley Chamber of Commerce are co-sponsoring a Lewiston City Council Candidate Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 6-7:30 p.m. at the Lewiston City Library, located at 411 D St.
The forum will be held in the library’s Event Room on the 2nd floor. The forum is free and open to the public, but seating will be limited. The forum also will be streamed live on the chamber’s Facebook page.
Eight candidates are running for the three open positions on Lewiston’s city council with the election set for Nov. 7. The eight candidates are, in alphabetic order, Maureen Anderson, Rick Eldridge, David Funke, Jim Kleeburg, Jessica Klein, Darlene Lambert, Brennon Leafty and John Spickelmire. Both Kleeburg and Spickelmire are incumbents while a third incumbent Rick Tousley chose not to run again.
Seven of the eight candidates have agreed to attend and participate in the forum. Spickelmire let organizers know he has a conflict that night and will be unable to participate.
The candidates will be seated in front of the audience and co-moderators Kathy Martin from the league and Bert Sahlberg from the chamber will introduce the candidates by reading short biographies. Each candidate will then give a short statement as to why they are running for city council. The candidates will then be asked a series of questions that have been developed by the league and chamber that are specific to the city. Candidates will answer the same question and a predetermined rotation will be followed, giving each candidate the opportunity to answer a question first. The candidates will not receive the questions ahead of time and will be given either 60 or 90 seconds to answer, depending on the question. A timer will be seated in front of the candidates and will have cards signaling when their time limit is about to end.
If there is time during the forum, written questions will be accepted from the audience.
No other recordings will be allowed during the Forum other than the livestream, and no parts of the forum can be used in advertising or for campaign purposes. Candidates have been encouraged to stick around following the end of the forum to visit with audience members.
The League of Women Voters of the Lewis Clark Valley and the Lewis Clark Valley Chamber of Commerce annually hold nonpartisan forums for city, county and legislative elections.
