The Oconee Enterprise and Oconee County Observations will host a forum for candidates seeking to represent Oconee County in the U.S. Congress and in the Georgia General Assembly from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 24 at the Community Center in Oconee Veterans Park.
Citizens will pose their questions directly to the candidates, each of whom will have a fixed amount of time to respond.
The forum will consist of four separate 30-minute panels for the Democratic and Republican candidates for U.S. Congressional District 10, for state Senate District 46, for state House District 120, and for state House District 121.
All four of the Democratic candidates have accepted the invitation and indicated they plan to attend the forum: Pam DeLancy for Congressional District 10, Ray Smith for State Senate District 46, Suzanna Karatassos for State House District 120, and Eric Gisler for State House District 121.
Republicans Houston Gaines for Congressional District 10, Marc McMain for State Senate District 46, and Mack “Dutch” Guest IV for State House District 121 have acknowledged receipt of the invitation and have said they are still working on their campaign schedules.
Republican Ward Black for State House District 120 has acknowledged receipt of the invitation.
Patrick Graham, publisher of the Enterprise as well as publisher of The Walton Tribune and The Covington News, will co-moderate the forum.
Forum Format
The forum will follow the same format the Enterprise and Oconee County Observations have used in the past, including for the May party primaries.
Candidates will be given time for brief introductory comments.
The moderator then will recognize citizens who wish to ask a question, making sure the question is directed to each of the candidates on the panel, and guaranteeing that each candidate is given the same amount of time to respond.
If time allows, the candidates will be given the opportunity to make closing comments.
The session will be video recorded and available for public use and download.
The session will be held in the large meeting room in the Community Center in Oconee Veterans Park, 3500A Hog Mountain Road, west of Butler’s Crossing.
Candidates will have the opportunity to make campaign signs and other materials available after the session.
Invitations
Kate Verity, managing editor of the Enterprise, and I sent out a common invitation to all eight of the candidates for the county’s legislative races via email on June 17, the day after the June 16 primary runoff election.
We informed each of the plans for the Sept. 24 candidate forum and asked each to plan to attend.
We also indicated that we would be joined by Oconee County citizens Katie Vickery, Penny Mills, and David Clementson in organizing and conducting the forum.
Vickery is a former broadcast journalist and a public relations practitioner.
Mills is retired executive dean of the Oconee Campus of the University of North Georgia.
Clementson is a professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and former campaign consultant.
Initial Responses
Smith, Karatassos, and Gisler responded affirmatively to that June 17 email, as did the campaign manager for DeLancy. DeLancy personally responded later.
Gaines and Guest responded to the email and indicated they were working on their schedules.
“I've forwarded this to our team,” Gaines said. “We need to resolve a few scheduling conflicts, so I cannot commit at this time but will be in touch closer to the date.”
“Yessir working on my schedule for fall I will advise,” Guest wrote.
I spoke with McMain and Ward separately at the June 19 ribbon cutting for the new covered bridge in Watkinsville and repeated the invitation and outlined details of the forum. McMain indicated he, too, was working on his schedule.
Follow Up Responses
I sent text messages to all four of the Republican candidates on July 20, asking again for a commitment.
“We do have scheduling conflicts that evening,” Gaines responded. “We’ve not been able to reschedule those to this point but are still trying to see what is possible,” Gaines wrote. “Unfortunately, I am unable to commit right now.”
Black wrote back and asked me to identify Verity, whom I mentioned in my text message, but he did not otherwise respond.
“Please leave me as a maybe I am working on my schedule with my coaching duties to see if we can make it happen,” Guest wrote.
When I did not hear from McMain, I called him on July 22.
“I don’t know the answer yet,” he said. “As soon as I know something, I’ll let you know.”
“This is really going to be my team’s decision,” he said. “I’ll be sitting down to figure out if we do want to do a forum or debate.”
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