NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The 250 people who attended our string of debates Saturday at the Brannon Center had the benefit of hearing what the candidates for eight elective offices had to say on pressing issues leading up to the Aug. 14 primary.
And even more important, they had the chance to ask questions directly of the candidate -- and not being filtered by media believing only it can properly ask questions.
In reality, media outlets that leave out the public from putting the candidates on the record, run the risk of shielding certain candidates, especially those in races where there are no debates at all. For the candidates in races for Supervisor of Elections, Clerk of the Circuit Court and State Attorney, all with challenged incumbents, our debate hosting was their only chance to be heard and to react to voters.
The candidates in all eight of our debates will have the added benefit through our videos of reaching a much larger audience seeing what they had to say and hoew they responded to questions posed by a journalist and fellow voters.
What print media does in choosing select few races to emphasize while ignoring scores of others, sends a message to the voters that these excluded campaigns are not worthy of coverage.
Though we have few resources, we made the investment in money and time for debates in eight races, making sure first that our home base of New Smyrna Beach was covered with inclusion of NSB Commission zone 4 candidates Ed Bidault Jr, Steve Casserly and Kirk Jones; and the Volusia County District 3 candidates representing greater New Smyrna Beach in Deb Denys, Jim Hathaway and Justin Kennedy.
In hindsight, holding so many debates stretching from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. meant sporadic attendance, especially on a Saturday, but we recognized the importance of giving candidates a chance to explain and justify their candidacies in the presence of citizens.
Now comes the challenge of processing our videos for punlication over the next several days. We'll start first with the NSB Commision Zone 4, followed by County Council dist. 3, County Council Chair, Supervisor of Elections two judgeships, Clerk of the Circuit Court and State Attorney.
Our thanks to Bob Tolley and Sally Gillies for coordinating clock management and audience participation. Special thanks to DJ Big Tom for music during the breaks and to one of our signature advertisers, Norwoods Restaurant, for its financial support.