Who won the Herald forums?

Ispent several nights this past week hosting all-candidate forums in Penticton. So who won? First the mayoral. The majority of the 450 people in attendance appeared to be decided voters and it’s doubtful theperceived frontrunners — Jason Cox, Andrew Jakubeit and John Vassilaki — won or lost any support.

Jakubeit was strong when he stuck to script, but appeared flustered at times during the questions. Cox was better at fielding questions.

Vassilaki, who’s not a great public speaker, did OK, and appeared to have the crowd on his side when he was asked about his age, health and whether he’d bring Penticton back into the dark ages (all criticisms from social media).

Feedback from the city council forum was people loved it or hated it. Criticisms included too many candidates (that’s not our fault).

We refused to divide it into two evenings because it’s tough to get an audience to commit to two nights. Each candidate was given four minutes of microphone time (a bit more if the panel asked a follow-up), and they were allowed to pick a topic of their choice to challenge.

We used some short snapper questions with yes-or-no answers in order to keep the candidates involved throughout the evening.

Even with 23 in attendance, the night was over by 9:45 p.m.

Some felt the questions were too hardball. I disagree. If these people want our votes, they should be prepared to answer challenging questions. They should be prepared to defend their records.

People often ask, “How did we get stuck with such a bad council?”

Having meetings where everyone tosses softballs and gives one another group hugs is about as educational to a voter as a lawn sign.

Questions from the floor, unless they’re screened well in advance, don’t work. Although some questions are sincerely genuine, what you run up against is planted questions by the candidates or special interest groups hijacking the meeting.

At all three forums (we also hosted a school board trustees event), the incumbents were beat up, which is natural at any level of government because they have to defend their record.

As for who won, these people gave strong performances — Julius Bloomfield, Daryl Clarke, Lynn Kelsey and Campbell Watt.

Christopher Evasin, at age 20, won some hearts.

Many in the crowd liked how Connie Sahlmark answered her question about being arrested when protesting the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

“I stand up for my convictions,” she said, adding charges have since been dropped.

The normally sharp-on-his-feet Max Picton dropped the ball. In his intro, he touted a shared services initiative, but then literally froze when asked to name one of its successes.

Then there was Jake Kimberley. He was questioned about cost overruns at the South Okanagan Events Centre in relations to a performing arts centre, which has never been built due to cost.

Jake was visibly angered. Supporters — he had many in the crowd — appreciated his passion and fight in the dog. Critics thought his emotions ran away with him.

He’ll definitely be a factor in this election.

James Miller is valley editor for Okanagan Newspaper Group.