2008 Woodie Awards
College democrats host forum
Meredith Clinton
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
|
The forum was moderated by Dr. Michele Moser Deegan, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium. The following Democratic candidates were present at the forum: William Michael Donovan, Jeanette Eichenwald and Peter Schweyer for City Council, Gloria Hamm, Rich Gawlik and Bill Leiner for County Commissioner, Bill Hoffman for City Controller, and Michele Varricchio for Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.
The forum began with Deegan introducing each candidate with a brief explanation of their background in politics. Then, each candidate took about two minutes to tell the students why they were running for their position and what some of their campaign ideas were.
The candidates were very gracious to be at the College and to be given the opportunity to speak to some of the younger population in the area. They were very surprised by how professional the forum was compared to others they have attended for the present campaign.
All of the candidates had a very optimistic attitude towards Allentown and its community, and focused on many of its positive aspects during the forum. After each candidate had his or her time to speak, students were allowed to ask questions that they had either about what the candidates intend on doing to make Allentown even better than they view it to currently be, or just about the campaigns in general.
Adrian Shanker '09, Event Coordinator and Vice President of the College Democrats, said, "This was a great opportunity for students to tell local candidates what matters for them and create a possibility for real change."
During this section of the forum a lot of issues were touched upon including the environment, public transportation, education, issues of gender and sexual identity, and the quality of life in Allentown. Candidates running for City Council had the most questions coming from students. The candidates had the opportunity to speak about their feelings on development within the city, maintaining Allentown's parks, reducing energy costs and the inequality of funding that is seen throughout the Allentown school districts.
Shanker said, "I hope we can hold more forums like this in the future. It is so important for candidates to hear concerns from young voters. We are generally marginalized from the political process because we vote less and donate less - but we still have a voice, it is just a matter of learning how to use it. I wish more students were registered to vote in Allentown. We live here for four years, and local politics DO effect us - students always complain about not liking Allentown, well voting is a way to change that."