The public will have a night to question Ketchum's mayoral and City Council candidates and grab a free slice or two of pizza.
The Idaho Mountain Express will host this season's opening Pizza and Politics forum next Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 6:30 p.m. in Ketchum City Hall. In coming weeks, other forums will take place for Sun Valley, Hailey and Bellevue.
The Express will buy the pizza, but the public needs to bring their questions. Press and public attending should take note that questions cannot specifically address one candidate but must be answerable by all candidates in either the Ketchum mayoral or City Council race.
Those running in the mayoral race are incumbent Randy Hall, longtime local and previous candidate Mickey Garcia, and Phyllis Shafran, mother of former Ketchum Councilman Steve Shafran. In the City Council race, seven candidates will compete for two seats. They are incumbent President Baird Gourlay, former Mayor Ed Simon, software engineer Lee Chubb, Clarion Inn owner Peter Lewis, Rickshaw restaurant owner Nina Jonas, contractor Carter Ramsay and Jan Hegewald, the youngest board member of the nonprofit Ketchum Community Development Corp.
This is the 28th consecutive year that the Express has organized this public, non-partisan election forum. It could last between one and two hours, depending on the number of candidates who show up. The Express sent invitations to candidates a week or so ago, and today is the deadline for replies.
The forum will begin with two-minute introductory speeches given by each candidate. Then reporters will be given a chance to ask questions, followed by questions from other audience members. Candidates will be limited to 30 seconds per answer.
Candidates will also be able to ask one question of their competitors at the end of the forum. The night will end with 30-second closing statements from each political hopeful.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Election forums
Another forum for Ketchum's elections will take place tonight at 5:30 p.m. in Ketchum's Clarion Inn conference room. All seven candidates for Ketchum City Council and three candidates for mayor are invited. Council candidate Peter Lewis owns the Clarion Inn.
Other upcoming Pizza and Politics forums are:
· For Sun Valley, at Carol's Dollar Mountain Lodge on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 p.m.
· For Hailey and Bellevue, at the Old Blaine County Courthouse on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 6:30 p.m.
