The 44th Annual Bill Mize Forum kicked off last evening to a less than impressive crowd. Bill Mize was a long-time member of the Bellingham Kiwanis Club and the Grange, and was the founder of this event. I was very disappointed in the turnout for the forum, recalling last year's forum where every chair was occupied, and there were standing spectators lining the walls.

At one point, during the evening, it was stated that KGMI is now charging to air this newsworthy event. I don't believe this has been the case before, and am genuinely surprised to have heard this. The Bill Mize forum is the granddaddy political forum, an annual event that I would think merited coverage by local news/talk stations, but perhaps I'm wrong. The Kiwanis and Grange are to be commended for their public service in ponying up the cash to have the event carried live, on the air. Undoubtedly, local high schools will soon need to provide funding to have their football and basketball games aired.

The format was the same as in previous years, candidates hustled to the mic for their two minute introduction, a flurry of ten second questions from the audience followed by a 30 second answer, and then a thirty second closing statement from each candidate. John Wilson, as always, did a good job of keeping the program moving along.

I've spoken with many, this year and in previous years, who have an intense dislike for the format. In truth, I tend to agree, but don't say much about it because I don't have an alternative to offer. The problem, as I see it, is that you cannot really get a good feel for who a candidate is, from a two minute introduction, and 30 second responses to ten second questions, but with so many candidates on the slate, more time simply cannot be allotted unless the time is extended, or the number of participants reduced. With the current format, at best, you get sound-bite answers to planted questions, and as we see every year, there were the "gotcha" questions asked last evening, and there were some funny moments as well.

Interestingly enough, one of those came from the last speaker, gubernatorial candidate Christian Pierre Joubert, who showed up late, but was given a chance to say his piece at the end. During the question period, he was asked "Are you a liberal or a conservative?" Joubert responded, "Well, neither. I have a left brain, and a right brain, and I like to use them both." It was hilariously funny, and one of the best dodges I've ever heard for a question like that.

Another one of the funny moments came from Kevin Ranker who is running for the 40th District Senate seat. Earlier in the forum, a questioner asked Ken Henderson about statements in his literature regarding health care being a "right" rather than a "privilege" and his call for Universal Health Care. The questioner asked Henderson if he was a "liberal" or a "socialist." Henderson dropped the liberal tag and opted to call himself "one part conservative, and one part socialist," which was, of course, an absurd answer. Kevin Ranker (a liberal) held on to that one and pulled it out later when John Wilson, the moderator, kept referring to him as "Steve" Ranker, most likely confusing his name with Steve Van Luven (a conservative) who is in the same race. When called to the microphone for the second time as Steve Ranker, he responded with a grin, "Well, if Ken can be a conservative socialist, I guess I can be Steve Ranker." Really, one of the funniest lines of the night.

The 40th District Senate race seems to be the one that captured the most interest, and also has the most candidates running, with four Democrats and one Republican. Audience questions up to that point in the evening had been sparse, but once the 40th district race came up, the line of questioners seemed endless, and the questions were varied. The question/answer period for the 40th Senate race ran for almost 45 minutes.

If any of you were there as well, I'd enjoy reading your take on the evening.

If KGMI posts audio of the evening, we will link to it here.

EDIT: The links are up, but the audio is fairly distorted. Usable, but distorted.

Segment One

Segment Two

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Hello Sam. Don't sweat it, my friend. You have a good weekend as well. I see you're packing up for a trip. Be safe and we'll chat when you get back.

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