Patch, Arlington Independent Media to Host Candidate Forum
Forum features Democratic candidates seeking their party's nomination for the vacant seat on the Arlington County Board.
Patch and Arlington Independent Media will host a candidate forum this week for the five Democrats seeking their party's nomination for the vacant seat on the Arlington County Board.
Later this month, the Arlington County Democratic Committee will hold a caucus open to all registered voters in the county. Following party rules, the caucus will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan 19 at Washington-Lee High School, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Jan. 21 at Kenmore Middle School.
Voters who declare themselves Democrats will choose between: Melissa Bondi, a member of the Arlington Economic Development Commission; Peter Fallon, a member of the Arlington Planning Commission; Libby Garvey, an Arlington School Board member; Kim Klingler, a volunteer first responder and a health care IT consultant; and Terron Sims, a West Point graduate and project coordinator for an IT government contractor.
The winner will move on to the March 27 special election, and will likely face Green Party candidate Audrey Clement. So far, no Republican candidates have declared their intention to run for the seat left open by Barbara Favola's ascension to the state Senate.
The hour-long Patch/Arlington Independent Media forum will be filmed Thursday at the station's studio.
It will be broadcast (Comcast Channel 69, Verizon Channel 38):
- 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12
- 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14
- 8 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 15
- 9 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18
Once it has aired, the video will be available on Arlington Independent Media's website, Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslyn Patch and Ballston-Virginia Square Patch.
Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslyn Patch Editor Jason Spencer will moderate the debate.
Patch is happy to consider your questions. To submit a question for consideration, post it below or email jason.spencer@patch.com.
T
9:06 am on Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Question for the Candidates: Metro is especially important to Arlington. Despite this, Arlington just lost its vote on the Metro Board. Following the principle of "No taxation without representation" do you think that Arlington should proportionally reduce its financial contribution to Metro until it gets an equal say in how Metro is run?
Will Radle
5:20 pm on Wednesday, January 11, 2012
As a Democratic candidate for VA8 on June 12, I waited to see if any other candidate for public office responded to your question.
You deserve to be heard and to have your questions and concerns responsibly addressed. As a candidate for Congress, I can not speak to Arlington's budget. However, in my opinion we would be ill advised to undercut Metro further.
Fairfax County lost their alternate, Jeff McKay's seat, on the Metro Board so Arlington's voice can still be heard in meetings. Arlington now appoints the alternate. Arlington's vote went to the Commonwealth. So, at least theoretically, we are still represented as Virginians.
Thank you. I hope this helps address your question.
A. Will Radle, Jr.
Creating a Culture of Listening
Will@VA8.com
T
8:57 pm on Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Richmond's usurpation of Arlington's vote does us no good. Richmond already takes more than its fair share. Today, celebrating that Arlingtonians no longer count, we were greeted with the overpowering stench of sewage as we stood waiting for our trains. What will Metro cook up for us next? Higher fares, out of control personnel costs, daily breakdowns, bad brakes, phony inspections, endless lame excuses, no accountability...
julie
2:50 pm on Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Why is Green Party County Board candidate Audrey Clement being banned from this debate? Her name will appear on the ballot on March 27th.
Jason Spencer
3:55 pm on Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Hi Julie,
No one is "banned" from this forum. This is a forum for the Democratic candidates who will face off in a primary/caucus later this month. Audrey Clement will not be on any ballots in the caucuses on Jan. 19 & 21.
Once each party has chosen its nominee, then it would be appropriate to have all of the candidates appearing on the March 27 ballots in the same forum or debate.
Jason
Arlington Voter
5:46 pm on Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Question: Is paying your taxes important and have you faithfully paid all taxes? Have you paid all taxes due for your car while you have lived in Arlington? Bondi, can you produce evidence that you are not a tax dodger?
julie
10:52 am on Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Patch and AIM don't want Audrey Clement to appear on cable access and be seen by thousands of Arlingtontonians. Neither does the Zimmerman Administration. They all profit from unrestricted 'Smart Growth' and expensive unnecessary pet projects like the Pike Trolley. That's why Audrey has been banned from the Thursday debate.
C.D.
2:01 pm on Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Agree with Julie. This banning of candidates who don't go along with the Arlington Democratic Machine's program goes on all the time. Typically by civic associations which invite Democratic incumbents running for re-election to discuss 'community issues'. Oh, but they can't invite non-incumbent candidates. That would be 'political'.
Regarding Melissa Bondi, it's obvious the for-profit blogs and print and broadcast media increasingly rely on advertising revenue from the kind of mega-development she and they promote. Why would they not want to put an ally on the County Board, no matter what her negatives?
Mark Blacknell
3:04 pm on Wednesday, January 11, 2012
This is a candidate forum that is in advance of the *Democratic* Caucus. The caucus is necessarily limited to Democrats. This makes about as much sense as complaining about Audrey Clement being left off the Republican Presidential Primary ballot.
If you're upset about the lack of exposure for Ms. Clement, cool, make a case for why she deserves more. But complaining about her not being let into a party process when she's not a member of that party? Is just silly.
julie
6:06 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012
The civic associations have no problem with Audrey Clement at canddiate debates. She's being banned because Zimmerman and several other Democratic VIPs told AIM and Patch to ban her.
Then Patch had the nerve to hit on her campaign to advertise in the Patch. How sleazy can you get?
C.D.
8:59 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012
Cable access channels are notorious for excluding third party and independent candidates for one reason or another because the major parties (ACDC in Arlington) simply won't permit articulate candidates like Audrey Clement to be seen by thousands of voters.
Patch goes beyond AIM by just ignoring press releases from independent and third party candidates.
julie
12:20 pm on Thursday, January 12, 2012
Arlington is a profit-center for Patch, which is headquartered in New York. I would like to know if Patch ever retained Melissa Bondi as a consultant.
julie
12:32 pm on Thursday, January 12, 2012
Sleazy? AIM tells third party and independent candidates to take AIM's video production course and produce their own candidate videos. Or, hire a video producer who's a member of AIM, or contact a producer who has a show televised on AIM. If the candidate follows this advice he or she is subsequently told that there are no time slots available and the producers of shows that are televised never return e-mail or phone calls.