Republican Joe Walsh
Democrat Melissa Bean
Last at Grayslake Central High school the League of Women voters in union with the high school held a candidate forum for the 8th congressional district.
The attendees included all of the candidates including, for the first time, incumbent Democratic Party candidate Melissa Bean. Re;publican Joe Walsh and Green Party candidate Bill Scheurer joined her on the stage.
Two hours prior to the debate there was a statement form the League of Women Voters regarding the candidate forum.
Green Party candidate Bill Scheurer
It mentioned that no press or photographers would be allowed to videotape or photograph the event.
They also included that tickets will be distributed to the first 400 people starting at 6 PM, 30 minutes prior to the start of the forum.
Bean walked in from the parking lot staring straight down and wouldn’t look at anybody.
She didn’t show up with too many supporters based on the applause at the end.
The debate started out from a question from the crowd to the moderator asked if she and the league had an intention to say the pledge of allegiance before the forum. the moderator responded saying,
“We don’t say the pledge of allegiance at these types of events and haven’t in the past so we will not say it tonight.”
The crowd, outraged with the response, in unison stood up and started to recite the pledge of allegiance.
There were 5 questions, plus a question from the audience.
You can see the applause from the audience for Republican Joe Walsh.
It was the usual answers from all the candidates, I was told, with the crowd definitely favoring Joe Walsh.
Questions regarded cap and trade, Term Limits, 2nd amendment rights, and education.
Bean referred to herself as a fiscally conservative person.
Walsh had the opportunity to ask, again, Bean to debate her at a town hall style debate.
Press conference after the debate at which the Lake County League of Women Voters refused to allow video taping or cameras.
After the forum, Walsh held a press conference outside the high school in which he said that he wanted to debate her with questions directly from the constituents.
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Photos by Ryan Provenzano, RyanProPhotos, ryanprophoto@hotmail.com.
Arriving at 5:00 and finding only a lone Melissa Bean voter from Schaumburg waiting in line, I was advised by school security that they were reconsidering their stance on cameras and videos being allowed. The security guard said that it was a school policy rather than something that the League of Women Voters was against. We were told that attendees would be allowed in at 5:55 but with a press pass, I along with other reporters was allowed in to set up our equipment once the camera restriction was waived.
It was refreshing to see that the Daily Herald reported the event even handed but I do disagree that there was a lot of jeering going on or that it was a rowdy crowd as reported. Once the Pledge got out of the way, the moderator kept a tight rein on the audience. Due to the great acoustics in the auditorium, almost any whisper can be heard which is why she interrupted the speakers on several occasion to tell the audience to stop the side conversations. It had nothing to do with them being a raucous crowd. In fact, they followed her wishes and held their applause until the end, with Walsh getting the lions share (Bean looked slightly intimidated). Each candidate thanked the student volunteers, the school staff, and the LWV before retiring to the lobby.
Although Walsh had his horse trailer there for anyone to sign, the weather AFTER the forum prevented much of that due to the unexpected wind and rain, a big difference from the start of the event.
All in all it was a good event (can’t really label it as a debate) with each candidate well versed on their respective answers. In my opinion the Green Party candidate, Bill Scheurer, took home the trophy and it’s a shame that HIS comments were NOT included in the Daily Herald’s recap of the question/answer responses.
If you missed this forum it is unlikely that you will see Walsh and Bean together again prior to the election debating any of the issues. That’s because most of the questions that are hot topics were asked and each had their opportunity to respond as well as rebut.
I should probably add that only the press was allowed to take photographs or video the event as captured on this YouTube video, showing someone being ejected after the Pledge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_P_PMwoQE