A debate between Mayor Carlo DeMaria, and his opponents Gerly Adrien and Fred Capone is being proposed to the candidates for the third week in August on a night to be determined by the candidates, and a place, with all their approval.
Letters of invitation will be sent by mail and e-mail to all three candidates with de- tailed stipulations about how the debate will be managed and directed.
The Leader Herald will pay all costs for the event, which would likely be televised by ECTV and carried live on all three candidates’ Facebook pages as well as the Leader Herald’s Facebook site.
The debate is intended to be open to the public and held in a public auditorium, most likely the main auditorium at the Everett High School.
The format will not allow for the moderator of the debate to do anything more than to ask each of the candidates questions already presented to him and to keep a timer regarding answers and debate.
Leader Herald Publisher Josh Resnek will moderate the debate.
Questions will be submitted to the moderator or an independent party by all three candidates the night of the debate, fifteen minutes before it begins.
The debate will open with two-minute introductory remarks.
The moderator will then begin the proceedings and read each of the questions as they were presented in the time sequence as required.
Each of the candidates will be directed to prepare ten questions for their opponents (directly by name) to answer.
The mayor would need to prepare five questions for Adrien and five questions for Capone.
Adrien and Capone would be required to do the same.
None of the candidates, (nor the moderator) will have read the questions beforehand (except for their own).
The questions cannot be altered or changed by the moderator.
Each candidate would have two minutes to answer a question asked of them.
The maker of the question would have one minute to reply. The debate and forum would last about two hours.
It will end with concluding remarks of two minutes by all three candidates.
The Leader Herald believes this format is a great opportunity for the public to weigh and measure the mayor, Adrien, and Capone.
A large crowd of interested residents and voters would likely welcome such an event.