Cardiff candidate forum is the first of several

With election season descending upon the city of Encinitas, tradition will hold as the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Town Council, in coordination with The League of Women Voters, is slated to host the first public election forum for Encinitas City Council and Mayoral candidates on Sept. 12.

The election is Nov. 8.

At this time, there are two candidates for Encinitas Mayor, City Council Member Catherine Blakespear and Paul Gaspar, husband of current Mayor Kristin Gaspar. For the three open seats on the council, the five candidates are incumbents Tony Kranz and Mark Muir as well as Planning Commissioners Tasha Boerner Horvath and Tony Brandenburg, and Phil Graham (a former State Assembly candidate and local businessman).

Moderated by a representative from The League of Women Voters, the forum will open with each candidate giving a two-minute opening statement. The moderator will then ask questions selected from written submissions from the audience, and candidates will have one minute each to respond. The forum will end with one-minute closing statements from each candidate.

Following that first forum, set for 6 p.m. in the Ada Harris School auditorium, 1508 Windsor Road, the Cardiff Town Council and League of Women Voters will host a Cardiff School Bond Proposition Forum on Sept. 27.

Held in the multipurpose room at Cardiff Elementary School, 1888 Montgomery Ave., at 6 p.m. this forum will explore issues around the $22 million school facilities improvement proposition that will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Some additional public forums, which will also be coordinated/moderated by The League of Women Voters and are being presented by the Leucadia Town Council, are subject to change but are currently scheduled for Oct. 4 (Mayoral candidates) and Oct. 18 (City Council candidates). These are scheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Encinitas Library’s Community Room.