Speed dating met politics in South Lake Tahoe candidate forum

If the success of Thursday night's merging of South Lake Tahoe politics with speed dating is any indication, we should see many more forums done in the same format in the future. A much more educated and knowledgeable voter emerged from the evening's event at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Over 100 South Lake Tahoe area residents turned out for the forum sponsored jointly by the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, KTHO Radio and Lake Tahoe Community College. All candidates in the area that are running against another candidate were invited to participate. Jeff Cowan and Kerry David are running unopposed for their LTCC Board seats and Barbara Bannar is running unopposed for her LTUSD Board seat. All three were in attendance though. Chris Cefalu is running opposed for his STPUD seat.

Dr. David Borges of the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce was the moderator for the evening, allowing each candidate three minutes to address the packed house. After their "stump speeches" the 13 candidates headed to 11 tables full of a mixture of students, long time residents, community leaders, older and younger voters. Each City Council candidate was assigned to one table while the two supervisor candidates, two candidates for LTCC, two candidates for STPUD Seat 2 and the two candidates for STPUD Seat 5 shared tables with their opponents.

Carefully selected questions were posed to each candidate by a trained group of facilitators that included LTCC students, chamber members and community members. At the end of their allotted time, a buzzer alerted the candidates to switch tables. This gave every group in the audience one on one time with each candidate.

Joe Stanton, LTCC Parliamentarian, was one of the table moderators. He lead the conversation at his table and seemed to thrive in the element.

"This is a really unique perspective and it was refreshing to listen to the candidates in depth," said South Lake Tahoe resident Aaron Hussman. "It was energizing and we got to hear from the candidates of STPUD and LTCC." When asked if the forum changed his mind on how he'd vote in November, Hussman said yes. He said his vote didn't change for City Council but it did for STPUD.

Jan Hansen, the membership chair for the South Tahoe Chamber, said the personal contact of the evening's format gave voters a better perspective.

"We're very pleased with the community coming out and supporting the candidates," said Borges. "This helped increase voter participation."