Costa Mesa United Forum Cancelled!

EVENT SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY IS CANCELLED
Around noon today, September 15, 2012, the leadership of Costa Mesa United announced that the candidate forum they had scheduled for next Thursday, September 20th, has been cancelled.

THEIR PRESS RELEASE
Here is the text of their press release:

The Board of Directors of Costa Mesa United has decided to cancel their political forum scheduled for Thursday, September 20 at the Neighborhood Community Center in Costa Mesa.

“When reviewing the potential questions, we realized that two of the candidates, Colin McCarthy and Steve Mensinger, both who presently serve on the CMU board, could have a distinct advantage,” said CMU President Gordon Bowley.

“The last thing we want to do is give the impression that Costa Mesa United would somehow be seen as influencing the election,” continued Bowley.

“What we’d like to do is invite all candidates to discuss the importance of the more than 10,000 local youth sport participants, their fields, equipment and financial needs, and post their views on our website,” said Bowley.

The CMU website is www.costamesaunited.com.

Originally, the forum was scheduled to include not only city council candidates, but also those also running for school board posts. That all changed when no one stepped up to challenge the existing school board trustees and they were automatically returned to office for another term.

A DISSAPOINTING, BUT APPROPRIATE MOVE
While many of us were looking forward to a lively discussion of issues on their agenda - Academics, Athletics and Activities - I cannot criticize them for this move.  Almost certainly Steve Mensinger and Colin McCarthy would have had a leg up at this forum.  The other four candidates invited - Gary Monahan, Sandy Genis, John Stephens and Harold Weitzberg - while knowledgeable on these issues, might have been playing catch-up.  So, this seems like a fair move.

UNUSUAL COMMENT...
I thought the third paragraph was a little unusual, since my impression of ALL the forums is that, through the vetting of issues and having questions answered by candidates, they would certainly "influence the election".

FEET TO THE FIRE CHARTER DEBATE NEXT
So, the next event on the campaign schedule will be the Feet To The Fire Charter debate between its sperm doner, Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and former council woman and current Newport Mesa Unified School District Trustee Katrina Foley on October 15, 2012.  More on that later.