Elgin OCTAVE hosts successful forum

Elgin OCTAVE hosts successful forum

Now that the Elgin OCTAVE’s city council candidate forum of Jan. 12 is behind us, it is fair to say that the event was a positive success. We would like to thank the following candidates for their participation: Roy Chapman, Andrew Cuming, Mike DeBrocke, Jason Dusenbery, Craig Dresang, Terry Gavin, Cody Holt, Rosemarie Kahn, Tom McCarthy, John Prigge, Carol Rauschenberger, Toby Shaw and Larry Wegman. And we are also very thankful to Pastor Mark Ahrens and the New Covenant Fellowship Church for letting us use their sanctuary.

In preparation for our forum, we created a 45-question survey where we tried to get specific replies on matters of taxing and spending. As a result we drew heat from the candidates who did not want to take a public stand on key tax and spend issues. One of those candidates went so far as to tell the Daily Herald that he would not participate in our forum, because: “Their forum is not designed to elicit information. I think it’s more of a crucifixion for people who disagree with them.”

However, the forum proved to be a worthy civic experience because it was well planned, orderly and informative. And it was certainly not a “crucifixion.” We even had two candidates state that they are in favor of the “rain tax,” and no one reacted in any way, because this was a respectable forum where the candidates were free to express their views. Watch our video on YouTube and see for yourself. http://elginoctave.weebly.com/video.html

And if you would like to read the answers that the candidates gave to our 45 survey questions, go to http://elginoctave.weebly.com/

Chuck Keysor

Elgin OCTAVE Board