Debate Defeated

For many years, an  candidate event -- or two -- offered as part  of each biennial election was a given, something candidates and voters could count on.  

But this year, the tradition has been dying a slow and public death.  Over the summer,  a number of activists, including former School Committee Chair Anne Bergen, Franklin TV's Pete Fasciano, and Franklin Matter's Steve Sherlock got the ball rolling.

But one thing after another seemed to go wrong or be out of reach, and the team eventually threw in the towel, by mutual consent, on Oct. 1

A few days later, after the news that the debate had fizzled, a volunteer launched another attempt to try to salvage something, and some of the  original players expressed a willingness to help. 

But with dwindling time and early voting about to commence the odds were long. A number of community forums were explored. An outreach was made to the School Department on Oct. 8, which generated no response. Fees and scheduling problems further narrowed the field. Finally, it seemed like the answer might be the Town Council Chambers, where similar events have been held in the past, and things seemed all set for Thursday, Oct. 23 --pending approval from Town Manager Jamie Hellen, which finally came on Tuesday. But today,  multiple alert candidates noted that the ZBA was already scheduled for the Town Council Chamber on the 23rd.

Although an email finally came back from the School Department after a full week, acknowledging the inquiry, there was no sense of whether the event might be approved and whether or not it would require another seven days get that approval. Last but not least, on relatively short notice, the likelihood of getting 15 candidates to share the same forum seemed low. So, the volunteer told candidates the matter was being dropped.