Were You at the Fire Board Candidate Forum Thursday Night?

There was a Chamber of Commerce sponsored Candidate’s Forum Thursday night, the first of two, for the Fire Board recall election on April 9th. The three Directors being recalled, Alifano, Mackintosh and Riddell, were there along with three of the four replacement candidates: Karen Anderson, J.B. Cockrell, and Lee McKusick. Harvey Rarback, the other replacement candidate couldn’t make it due to traveling, according to the moderator. It started promptly at 7 p.m.at the Ted Adcock Center. It ran to 9 p.m..

CalFire replaced the completely dysfunctional, litigation riddled standalone model on the coast in 2008. The three recallees, a Fire Board majority, made the move late in 2011 to dump CalFire to go back to the failed standalone model and has refused to extend the CalFire contract multiple times, even for just one year, meaning CalFire has been working without a contract since July 1, 2012, and will be gone by July 1st of this year - sparking their recall. Public discontent reached its boiling point when the SMC Civil Grand Jury released their absolutely scathing Report of this Board majority last March (2012).

I got to the Candidate Forum a little early, but not early enough to get my usual parking spot (or seat), which told me attendance was high; good. The place was packed, with some folks even standing in the back and along the walls, including some fire fighters.

The format was standard: each candidate was provided a 2-minute opening comment  / 1-minute response to each question and a 2-minute closing statement. 

The League of Women Voters moderated the event. It would be fair for me to say that the League usually does an outstanding job, which is not limited to just asking the questions, but in maintaining decorum, laying the format for the event, keeping time on candidate comments, collecting questions from the audience for the candidates, maintaining the ‘flow’ of the event, and just running the entire event. The only weak spot I could see in their work Thursday night was the asking of the questions. With all due respect to the League, it was the worst I’ve seen. I don’t recall (no play intended) another forum where the questions asked by the moderator were so weak, so thin, so unclear. In fairness to the moderator, this is a very hot issue with more facets than suction cups on an octopus, but except from the first question, not one question was clear, simple, direct and to a point. That made it very easy for the candidates to take their responses anywhere they wanted, and they did. It also made it very difficult for the candidates to be pinned to specificity. In addition, it was difficult for us in the audience to get clarity on very specific points.

The event was interesting in many regards, especially when it came to candidate comments; some of which were so out there that the audience just couldn’t sit still, hurling comments of their own back at the candidate making the claim. We heard the moderator ask the crowd to mellow out more than a few times, which they promptly did.

A dozen questions ranged from "how will millions be saved with Cal Fire" (the 1st question), to turnover, pension liability, collective bargaining and parcel taxes. Each candidate had multiple opportunities to get their message out, and each took advantage, as best they could. It seemed to me that the replacement candidates spent a large part of their time responding to what most felt were pretty bizarre claims by the recallees, like all three’s claim that the transition won’t cost taxpayers a dime; or Director Alifano’s claim that transition costs to CalFire from the old standalone department were $6 million. Allegations and counter claims ruled the night.

In the end, those that were there that hadn’t already made up their mind were just as confused as they were when they arrived hoping for clarity and direction. I had several come to me just as, or maybe even more confused than they were at the start of the event, with notes scribbled all over the recently received campaign mailers, asking me questions.

There will be one more Candidate Forum, sponsored by the Mid-Coast Community Council (MCC), on March 20th @ 7:00 PM, at Seton Medical Center in Moss Beach.