Slanted

I attended the District 31 session of the Debate today sponsored by Anne Arundel Community College's Center for the Study of Local Issues. As far as debates go, it was what it was. There were only five participants, as Joan Cadden and both Senate candidates decided they had other things to do. And the debate itself was rather calm and uneventful (except for the end, where one participant drove an answer completely off of the cliff on the last question).

What really irritated me was the "nonpartisanship" of the debate, which was loosely translated into "let's ask questions that favor Democrats." The questions related to planning, education infrastructure AND education funding (two separate questions), and electric rates. The questions clearly had a liberal slant to them, which is not surprising given that the CSLI is run by Dr. Dan Nataf, whose comments to the media have a noted liberal bent and was a Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates in 1994 (scroll down to District 33).

What is interesting about our district is the complete lack of forums. There were only two major debates/forums this year; tonight's debate and the Pasadena Business Association forum on October 5th. It is interesting that our end of the county has so few forums as compared to the rest of the county. There seems to be at least a forum a week in Districts 30 and 33, for example, and starting well before the Primary. Perhaps we as informed citizens need to try to organize more of these debates for the 2010 election..