An article comment Republican McHenry County Board Chairman candidate Mike Walkup:
For the McHenry County League of Women Voters Forum, Democrat Jack Franks was not sitting in the empty seat next to GOP County Board Chairman candidate Mike Walkup.
I have also asked Mr. Franks to a standard debate and he has refused.
The format of the League affairs are not the best, I would agree.
However there is at least some opportunity for the candidates to respond to one another, particularly if there are only two of them.
I am hereby reiterating my challenge to Mr. Franks, who I know reads this blog and maybe comments on it under a false name, let’s have a real debate!
Here is the format I would suggest:
Each candidate gives a 5 minute opening statement.
Questions are tendered from the people attending, whether supporters of one candidate or another or not.
Questions are screened by someone from both he Northwest Herald and Daily Herald only for inappropriate or irrelevant content or duplication.
All questions not asked will be available for later inspection.
Each candidate has up to two minutes to respond so they are not rushed, unless the question can be answered in a shorter time.
Each candidate gets a 30 second rebuttal.
The order of answering is rotated.
The candidates have a 3 minute closing statement in the reverse order from the opening statements.
The debate, or whatever you want to call it, is video taped and live streamed.
Neither candidate will bring bodyguards.
How about it “Moderate”?
Cool!
Morning Everyone,
ModerateNOT here.
I’ll repost pretty much exactly what I said before:
The League of Women Voters forum is not a debate.
What Walkup is proposing is not a debate.
But, to answer Walkups question again, if it were me organizing a debate, it would be Oxford Style.
Three issues would be selected by the candidates ahead of the discussion – each having the opposing view – and a moderator would help lead the discussion.
The issues would be predetermined so each candidate could prepare thoughtful plans or policy proposals for how to address the issues.
The voters could then weigh in on the proposals.
A poll of the audience would be taken before the debate and after the debate asking the voters if they agree with each candidate, disagree with either candidate, or are undecided about the three issues. The candidate that gains more of the undecided voters wins.
THAT is a debate
Moderate?
You are an idiot.
A debate is a discussion.
Get yourself a dictionary and learn something.
You are a progressive thinking that you can tell everyone how to live because you are so much smarter than they.
No matter how many times you say that claptrap; nobody wants to read it.
Your worldview is totally screwy based on how you believe yourself to be so much smarter than everyone else.
No a debate is not just a discussion- it requires the ability to respond.
and the Forum is a just a panel discussion that doesn’t’ check facts, or provide follow up questions.
While I applaud the intentions of the League of Voters- they do not offer a moderated debate- they offer a platform to give talking points on certain issues.
Actually, a mixture of both might be
Good.
A BIG NIX to polling the audience
& declaring a winner based on gaining
Undecided voters.
This SHOULD be about voters seeing
The candidates side by side & giving
Them time to PROCESS the information
& viewpoints of both candidates.
As above, by Moderate NOT, a couple
Of issues, one chosen by each candidate,
Could be spoken to by both candidates
For say 3-4 minutes each with no rebuttals.
Then the rest of the debate could proceed
Basically as Mike W suggested, with an
Overall time cutoff on that part of say thirty to forty five minutes.
This would give both candidates a bit
Of a format they both might feel
Comfortable with.
Also, NIX to bodyguards, how ridiculous
In Mchenry County !
Suggested questions:
What exactly does county government do and what is it ability to control or influence other local units of government?
What exactly are the powers of the County Board Chairman and how do those change if the Chairman is elected at large?
What are the relative powers of the County Board Chairman vs. the County Board and its Members?
How are local real estate taxes set and by whom?
What are the percentages of the local real estate taxes of the major local taxing bodies?
Can the County Board or County Board Chairman do anything about taxes set by other local taxing bodies?
To what extent are local property taxes the way they are because of state government?
Will either of you become eligible for any government pension programs as it now stands and if so, will you collect those benefits when they are available to you?
What do you think should be done about the Valley Hi tax levy and how and why is there a large surplus?
Do you think that County Board Members should continue to receive health benefits and what would you do about that if elected?
What do you think about reducing the size of the County Board and would that result in any tax savings in the long run?
What government consolidations should be undertaken over which the county has authority, and what savings would be achieved vs. additional problems created?
Will you term limit yourself if elected and will you promise not to run for any other offices during your term?
Have you made any promises prior to being elected that you have since gone back on? If so, what and why did you do that?
How do you get along with other County Board members and how will you be able to work with them if elected?
Cindy,
I’d be interested in learning more about how you think my worldview would inform my opinion that the League of Women voters forum is more of a coordinated press conference when compared to the Intelligence Squared podcast debates, which are Oxford style.
And watchdog, I disagree, polling is incredibly useful and a very objective way to determine the “winner” of an argument based debate, no who can jet the most one-liners and zingers like you see in the GOP and Democratic debate.
I don’t care about Trumps hands or Hillary’s emails.
I care about their proposals for how to make America great again and to discuss issues.
I do like your idea of 3-4 minutes statements with no rebuttals and would add to that an audience question answer session about the issues covered at the end of the debate as well as a cross examination by the moderator offering additional questions or points of clarifications to the proposals of each candidate.
I’m decidedly ambivalent about security, but think in this age of atrocious violence, it’s not the worst idea.
Ultimately, I like DEBATES not the crap that you see churned out by BOTH parties.
They are neither debates, nor constructive
Lincoln and Douglas debated for three hours, at seven different locations, when they were both candidates for U.S Senate in 1858. (The actual election was done by the General Assembly, there being no popular voting for U.S. Senators at the time).
The format was:
First speaker spoke uninterrupted for 1 hour.
Second speaker spoke uninterrupted for 90 minutes.
First speaker spoke for 30 minutes in rebuttal.
There was no moderator.
(At least that is my recollection from having read all seven of them at one point).
The order was reversed at each debate.
Each debate was recorded verbatim in short hand by newspaper reporters who sat near the stage and was printed the next day in full in their respective newspapers.
People read every word of the reports.
If they couldn’t read, someone in the family read them by the light of the fireplace to the assembled family members, and they then had vigorous discussions at their homes.
When the parties met for the next debate, everyone in the crowd had already read the previous debate(s) in their entirety so the speakers tended to start out where they left off, resulting in what amounted to one long 21 hour debate, centered mostly on the slavery question.
This is what propelled Lincoln to national prominence so he was a contender for the nomination for President two years later.
All debates were outside, with no microphones, and no blue anti seizure sunglasses.
That WINNER claptrap makes the
Event look like it’s NOT on POINT.
The point IS the ISSUES, VIEWPOINTS,
Candidates & VOTERS info & education.
A Poll can be conducted via a robo
Calling machine.
The POLLING etc. you suggested
ModerateNOT smacks of, as you
Call it, POLITICAL THEATER !
In MC being REAL & less contrived
Propbably suits the majority of people
MUCH MORE.
Just saying . . . Something to think about
And consider 🙂
Also security, a couple of people could
Be posted at the doors inside in the back
Of the room or seated in the first row.
There ya go !
Funny you should mention the
Audience Q & A at the end, I nearly
Put that in on my first post.
Agree, think it’s a good addition.
Many good & worthy issues to
Talk about thrown out there
Mike W.
Gosh, Mike, maybe you should start campaigning and you can educate your voters about those issues- I don’t know- pretend your the chosen candidate and do something other than troll blogs and bemoan how no one thinks you are relevant enough to care to show up.
Lame comments AGAIN Inish.
Mike Walkup IS the RELEVANT
CANDIDATE !
Jacko is just like any other Cook
County career politician with miles
Of untruths behind him traveling
With a group of Madigoons & a
Bag of dirty tricks in his hand.
Wasn’t there other candidate forums that night?
Watchdog, not agreeing with does not make my comments off point.
Go back to Florida, and leave local politics to those who are impacted by them.