Proposal for a Selma election forum

Here is an email I sent to most every candidate in the upcoming election here in Selma, as well as the local newspaper.

It appears that no community organization, media outlet, or group will be offering to host a candidates' forum. I will make an offer and make one available to us for both the Council and Mayoral candidates. You may or may not know, but I have been a talk show host on the internet for a while. I produce weekly internet radio shows, one hour each for live streaming and up to two hours each for recorded shows.

I am offering the use of my show as a forum for candidates to discuss issues. I can schedule a show that can either be pre-recorded or live call in. I personally prefer the live call in, since we can do that from any telephone you have access to. I already have shows scheduled on Saturday nights at 6 PM, for example. I can have up to five callers at any one time, so it is conceivable that we could have the four council candidates and a moderator (if we choose to have one). If we find a time that works, I can schedule up to one show per day, at any time, provided that the time slot is not already filled by other shows. So if we find a time and date that works well, I can set something up.

Here is how it would work. I would schedule a show to air with a 60 minute target time frame. If we go over, no problem, the show will continue to be recorded for up to two hours but only the first 60 minutes would go live on the internet the first airing. People can later listen to or download the entire show 24/7 on the internet.

Each person could call in on my listener line, 718-664-9756 about the time the show starts. A few minutes early is preferable. I play my show introduction and describe what it going to happen on that episode. If there is a moderator, I can turn things over to the moderator. A moderator could have prepared questions ahead of time.

This would allow for us to each get our message across, give 24/7 access to citizens, even burn CD copies of the show, and all of us could have fair, equal access. I do not have an email address for Tommy Holmes, or I would have included him in the email list.

To get an idea what a show comes out like, I have many archived shows on www.blogtalkradio.com/troylaplante I have interviewed Presidential candidates, political action committee founders, religious leaders, and the like.

Anyway, it is a thought and a public service I am willing to provide. As far as I know, there are no other municipalities doing online debate forums. Let me know if this is of interest to y'all.