The League welcomes submission of possible questions for candidates through Monday, July 20. [See previous Chronicle coverage of the candidate forum hosted by the Ann Arbor City Dems divided by Ward 5 and Ward 3 candidates.]

After the break, The Chronicle provides some questions we’d like to hear candidates answer.

About You

Q: Serving on city council requires a significant time commitment. For non-incumbents: If you are elected to city council, what specific commitments will you give up in order to serve? For incumbents: If you are not re-elected to council, how specifically will you use the time you currently allot for your city council service?

Development

Q: In your vision for Ann Arbor in the context of southeast Michigan, do you see it as one of several regional economic and population centers, or do you see it as the main economic and population center? Or do you see it as something else entirely? However you see Ann Arbor in a regional context, what specific policies do you think are important to implement in order to realize that vision?

Q: For site plans, a planning commission recommendation for approval or for denial is currently given whatever importance an individual councilmember assigns it. In the end, the city council makes the final decision. Would you be in favor of giving more strength to the planning commission recommendation? For example, one could imagine this requirement: In order to contravene a recommendation on a site plan by the planning commission, the city council would need an 8-vote supermajority.

Finance

Q: What material impact would a successful GO Ask Voters petition have, and do you support that petition?

Q: Within the county’s board of commissioners, its ways and means committee is a “committee of the whole” that meets immediately before the regular board meetings. Much of the board’s work occurs during ways and means, which is open to the public and broadcast live on CTN. Would you support a city council rule change that would make the city council’s budget and labor committee conform to this model?

Q: What’s your view on the appropriate relationship between the city and the Downtown Development Authority, specifically with reference to the parking agreement that is to be renegotiated in the coming year?

Q: In anticipation of a tough budget year in FY 2011, what specific areas would you direct city staff to analyze starting now, with a goal of reducing expenses? Besides a city income tax, what specific areas would you direct city staff to analyze with a goal of increasing revenue?

Q: In anticipation of a community discussion on the possibility of a city income tax to replace the general operating millage property tax, what are the specific questions about a city income tax proposal that should frame our community discussion?

Environment

Q: In thinking about Argo Dam, which one of the following considerations has been most important in framing your thoughts on the issue: (i) economics, (ii) deferred maintenance, (iii) environmental impact, or (iv) public sentiment? If it’s some other consideration, feel free to say.

Q: Which of the following community environmental goals would you support, by directing city staff to mount a concentrated public relations campaign to achieve it? Why or why not? Reduction by 2015 of our per-capita …

• … total waste stream by N%
• … water usage by N%
• … wastewater throughput by N%
• … electric/gas by N%
• … vehicle miles traveled by N%

Q: What’s your understanding of the possibility of using greenbelt millage money to protect land inside the city limits? What’s your view on how greenbelt money should be used?

Public Input

Q: For Ward 5 candidates Mike Anglin and Scott Rosencrans: You both attended the June 29 meeting at Slauson Middle School between residents and city staff on the topic of the city’s tree management policies. What did you find encouraging or disappointing about that meeting?

Q: By the time an issue reaches the point of a public hearing or otherwise comes before council, councilmembers will likely (though not necessarily) have been exposed to all the relevant facts and arguments on all sides of an issue. At such meetings, the material impact of the public input might be argued to be this: The actual deliberations on the issue by councilmembers are abbreviated due to the fact that their mental and physical stamina has been sapped by the lengthy public commentary. Do you have any ideas to maintain the ability of the public to provide their input, while giving councilmembers the ability to enter their deliberations in a fresh mental and physical state?

Transparency and Openness of Government

Q: Consider this hypothetical scenario: A company, XYZ Consultants, under contract with the city, produces a report that contains information not covered under the exceptions to the Freedom of Information Act. Would you support a city data policy that would entail the posting of that report on the city’s website as a standard first step when it’s received from XYZ Consultants? Why or why not?

Q: Do you think that the city council needs to develop a “Code of Ethics”? If so, give concrete examples of what specifically should be in such a code.

Q: Not all conflicts of interest meet the technical requirements of council’s rules on financial conflicts. Do you think  it is important for councilmembers to state all conflicts of interest on every occasion they come up at the council table – whether or not the conflict requires recusal? Or is it sufficient that councilmembers’ connections to a particular issue be a matter of public record somewhere?

Q: Do you think the Sunday night council caucus is even worth holding? If it’s worth holding, then what specific changes would you make to the caucus in order to encourage a meeting where the “main event” is frank, open and conversational exchanges of information among councilmembers on upcoming council business, and not just another one of myriad opportunities for residents to communicate to councilmembers? Feel free to include ideas on day, time, and venue.

Q: Currently on council, Mike Anglin (Ward 5) – and to a somewhat lesser extent Sabra Briere (Ward 1) – are “outsiders” on the body on which they represent residents of the city. What specifically would you do to create a city council culture that embraces healthy and open dissent, without destroying the possibility of collaborative work?

Mechanics of Council

Q: An apparent lack of interest in the Democratic Party’s local organization was reflected by the attendance of only 3 out of 11 of current city councilmembers at the Dems’ recent candidate forum. Would you support conversion to non-partisan elections for city council seats? If not, what specific ideas do you have to make the candidate recruitment process more a function of Democratic Party organizational structure (ward chairs and precinct delegates and the like) and less a function of informal non-Party-based discussions?

Q: The current rotating system for the start of the roll call vote was implemented fairly recently in the wake of dissatisfaction among councilmembers with the previous system in which the roll was called from Ward 1 through Ward 5, with the mayor voting last. The fact that some councilmembers are now concerned about where the roll call starts at any given meeting suggests further refinements might be worth considering. What suggestions do you have for changes in process that would encourage councilmembers to determine independently how to vote, without regard to how other councilmembers vote on the issues?

Q: Council rules specify that speaking on any motion be limited to two turns for any councilmember: 5 minutes for the first turn and 3 minutes for the second turn. Roberts Rules of Order provides an option for more conversational interaction that does not require speakers to be recognized by the chair and automatically allows for multiple speaking turns. What do you consider to be the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Where to Watch

CTN will air several rebroadcasts of the debates on Channel 19. The debates will also be available through CTN’s Video on Demand online service.

CTN staffer Rob Cross worked the audio during Monday's League of Women Voters debates.

For local election junkies, one of the most reliable ways to get your candidate fix is from the League of Women Voters debates, held before every local election and televised on Community Television Network. This year, The Chronicle took a behind-the-scenes look at the debates, spending Monday evening at CTN’s studios on South Industrial to see exactly what happens off camera. Though the league’s motto is “Because Democracy Isn’t A Spectator Sport,” for The Chronicle that night, it kinda was. (The complete debate schedule, including frequent rebroadcasts, is here. You can find a list of all local candidates for the November election on Washtenaw County’s website.)

Four groups of candidates debated on Monday, each race airing at the top of the hour starting at 6 p.m. But CTN staff and league volunteers were there well before that, setting up in the studio and touching base about their roles for the evening.

Jeanine DeLay holds up cards used to call time during the League of Women Voters debates.

The job of moderating was split between Judy Mich, who handled the first two debates, and Sue Smith, who asked questions during the final two. Jeanine DeLay and Barbara Clarke kept track of time – one with a stopwatch and the other with bright posterboard cards held up off camera to tell candidates how much time was left. Sometimes it was challenging to get the attention of candidates who stared intently into the camera. It called for strategic sign-waving – leaning over to get the sign into the candidate’s field of vision without getting into camera range.

League volunteers weren’t the only ones at hand. Two Community High freshmen – Shada Ahmadmehravi and Melanie Langa – greeted candidates and guests at the CTN entrance and led them back to the studio. Their forum teacher (what we used to call homeroom) told them about the debates, and they thought it might be interesting, though they’re not old enough to vote. They sat in studio for the first debate, but watched the rest from a TV in another room, where they could offer color commentary without having to whisper.

The 6 p.m. debate was for candidates in the 52nd District state House race. Incumbent Democrat Pam Byrnes couldn’t make it, and write-in candidate Tom Partridge hadn’t shown up by the time they were ready to start. That left Republican Eric Lielbriedis, a Saline resident who was the first to arrive, and Libertarian John Boyle of Ann Arbor.

John Boyle watches while Eric Lielbriedis chooses a slip of paper from the hat that Judy Mich holds, which determined the order of opening statements.

The pre-broadcast ritual includes filling water cups, putting microphones on the candidates, doing a sound check and picking which candidate speaks first. This latter task is done by having the candidates pick slips of paper from a rather ratty looking straw hat, which tended to shed onto the table’s black felt covering. Why a hat? Well, apparently it was the closest thing they could find to a suffragette’s chapeau, though there was some good-natured dispute about whether it hit the mark.

In fact, good-natured also describes the pre-debate banter between league volunteers and candidates, some of whom seemed a little nervous under the bright studio lights. There weren’t many people in the audience, but it’s unnerving to know that when the red camera light goes on, whatever you say will be broadcast for all (or, at least, all CTN debate viewers) to see.

Matt Erard and Rebekah Warren, candidates for the 53rd District state House of Representatives, after their debate. The Republican candidate, Christina Brewton, didn't show.

All chatter stops about a minute before air time. Then the music swells, the camera operator points her hand to indicate the show is live and Zoe Behnke, the league’s president, starts her intro. She repeats this for all four debates: A welcome to viewers, a brief description of the nonpartisan league, and a mention of the ballot proposals that voters will see in November. Then she hands off the proceedings to the moderator, who lays out the debate rules, which begin with each candidate making a one-minute opening statement, followed by questions formulated by league committee members.

For both the 52nd District debate and the 53rd District which followed, questions focused on statewide issues: Economic growth, views on alternative energy initiatives, prison reform, the Michigan Business Tax, redistricting, funding for education, environmental protection and others. Each candidate gets 90 seconds to respond to the same question – there are no opportunities to rebut an opponent.

Dana Denha, a CTN camera operator, kept her focus on the debate moderator. A second cameraman shot the candidates. Denha says it's hard to hear the debate – she's listening to the director giving her instructions via her headset.

Tom Partridge showed up a few minutes after the start of the 6 p.m. debate, was shown to his seat on stage, unobtrusively given a mic and worked into the questioning lineup. The debate wrapped up with each candidate giving a two-minute closing statement, some final comments by Zoe Behnke and just enough patriotic music to make you feel like you’re witnessing democracy in action.

Candidates tended to arrive a few minutes early and duck out right after they’re done, though Partridge stayed to chat a bit with 53rd District Democrat incumbent Rebekah Warren before her debate with Matt Erard, the candidate for both the Green and Socialist parties. The Republican candidate, Christina Brewton, had confirmed but was a no-show. There was some speculation about whether she was actively campaigning.

The third debate – with Democrat Jerry Clayton and Republican Dwayne Taylor, candidates for Washtenaw County Sheriff – started at 8 p.m. It was one of three new races that the league added to its expanded debate lineup this year – other new debates are for 15th District Court judge and Washtenaw Community College trustees.

Seeking refuge from the icy studio (kept chilled to accommodate those who were sitting under the hot lights), The Chronicle retreated to the adjoining control room for the final two hours.

Turns out it’s a much different experience from that vantage point. For one thing, you can watch the debate on 12 screens of varying sizes. You notice the visuals more acutely – what color tie a candidate is wearing, for example. And you can talk – or listen to two very funny guys, CTN staffers Rob Cross and Greg McDonald. Cross handled audio while McDonald was director – calling cues to the camera operators to tell them which camera was live, adding graphics to the screen that identified each speaker.

Greg McDonald, director for the debates, keeps an eye on camera shots from the CTN control room. On screen is Jerry Clayton, Democrat candidate for Washtenaw County sheriff, and Zoe Behnke, president of the Ann Arbor League of Women Voters.

These guys had questions of their own, like why do people say “recidivists” instead of “repeat offenders,” or why do jobs like drain commissioner require party affiliations. Unlikely those will be added to the question line-up for the candidates.

The final debate of the evening began at 9 p.m. between candidates for 15th District Court judge: Chris Easthope and Eric Gutenberg. The Chronicle and CTN staff were joined in the control room by Leigh Greden, who came to cheer on fellow city councilmember Easthope – though “cheering” would be one of the things forbidden by league rules: “Do not talk, whisper, move the furniture or make other disruptive noises.” Also, “Do not applaud, even though you are tempted.”

Polite applause is allowed at the end of the debate, however. It’s applause for the democratic process, too – in all its straw-hat-shedding, pink-sign waving, speechifying splendor. It was a fine way to spend four hours.

One final note: We haven’t described the content of these debates because we’d like to encourage you to watch them yourselves when they’re rebroadcast or from the stream on  CTN’s website. And tune in tonight when candidates for three other races – Ann Arbor mayor, Ward 5 city council and Washtenaw Community College trustees – face off, starting at 7 p.m.

Sue Smith holds out the selection hat for Chris Easthope, who gets his mic adjusted by CTN staffer Tim Nagae while Eric Gutenberg reviews his notes. No makeup was applied to any of the candidates during the evening.

Community High freshmen Shada Ahmadmehravi and Melanie Langa worked as volunteers on Monday night.