Public invited to forum
The public is invited to attend a 51st District state House candidates forum today at 7 p.m. at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in downtown Uniontown, hosted by the Fayette Civil Forum. Betty J. Lauricia, a civic forum member who will moderate the event, said it will last approximately 90 minutes and will be broadcast live on WMBS radio, located at 590 on the AM dial.
“It’s going to be live, for anybody to attend,” said Lauricia. “It is open seating, open attendance. The only thing we won’t permit is any kind of campaign paraphernalia inside the theater.”
Lauricia said her group has received verbal agreements to attend from all five candidates in the race: incumbent state Rep. Larry Roberts (D-South Union), Republican Harry E. Albert III, and independents Gary Gearing, Terry Janosek and Timothy S. Mahoney.
Voters in the 51st district will find Gearing on the ballot as the candidate of the 51st Independent Delegation, Mahoney listed as the candidate of Action And Accountability, and Janosek running simply as “Independent.”
Lauricia said that Gov. Ed Rendell’s visit to the Uniontown VFW at 6:30 p.m. might keep Roberts from attending the civic forum event on time.
Regarding the format, she explained, “We won’t have any opening statements. We have eight or nine questions … I’m kind of still editing through those.”
A bipartisan panel of six or seven people, divided between Democrats and Republicans, crafted the questions, said Lauricia, who added that each participating candidate would answer each question with a rotating order of start.
She said the candidates will get about 75 seconds to provide their answers, with a two-minute closing statement from each at the end of the discourse.
“If time allows, we’re (also) hoping to take a few questions from the audience,” said Lauricia.
Uniontown attorney Gary Altman is chairman of the civic forum and also was on question formulation panel, Lauricia said.