Congratulations to the League of Women Voters for putting on an excellent forum with the Austin school board candidates on KSMQ TV on Monday night.

Wednesday, October 20, 1999

Congratulations to the League of Women Voters for putting on an excellent forum with the Austin school board candidates on KSMQ TV on Monday night.

The call-in candidate forum gave the residents of Austin an excellent opportunity to get a first-hand look at each of them.

The forums did a great job of posing some tough questions to both the incumbents and the challengers.

While our newspaper has provided residents with in-depth profiles and answers to some tough questions, the TV format allowed voters the opportunity to see the candidates’ thought process and preparedness. With 17 candidates participating the responses and quality of the candidates ran the gamut.

The moderators did a solid job of asking questions and involving all of the candidates. They also gave the candidates plenty of latitude to answer questions and search for responses.

Certainly there were winners and losers in the forum -candidates that put themselves ahead and others that failed to impress – but the real winners were the residents of Austin who tuned into watch.

Decision time is nearing and Monday night’s League of Women Voters forum should have helped many whittle down the list.