Santa Monica Next and Streetsblog Los Angeles is proud to announce that The League of Women Voters of Santa Monica Education Fund will co-sponsor our City Council candidate forum next month.

The Santa Monica branch of the nonpartisan political organization will join Next and Streetsblog Los Angeles on September 22 at the Main Branch public library (601 Santa Monica Boulevard) for a free, informational candidate forum to which all 14 candidates who have qualified for the ballot in November have been invited.

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the forum will begin promptly at 7 p.m.

This event is open to the public, but seating is limited. The forum will also be broadcast and archived at our Live Stream page, StreetsblogTV.

The League of Women Voters of Santa Monica, Santa Monica Next, and Streetsblog Los Angeles will not endorse any candidate, as the forum is purely for informational purposes.

Next Sponsor

From The League’s website: “The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization which encourages informed and active participation in government. We do not endorse either political parties or candidates running for office but seek to influence public policy through education and advocacy.”

We are currently finalizing the format for the forum with The League of Women Voters, but we will be soliciting questions from our readers via email at [email protected]

However, we will be maintaining a strict policy about screening questions.

From the question policy for September’s forum: “These questions… will be screened by representatives of the cosponsoring organizations to assure relevance, avoid duplication, and ensure adherence to these guidelines and ground rules. Personal or individually-targeted questions or attacks on any candidate will not be acknowledged.”

There are currently 14 candidates who have qualified to run for three open seats on Santa Monica’s seven-member City Council, including Mayor Pam O’Connor and Councilmember Kevin McKeown.

With their colleague, Councilmember Bob Holbrook, opting not to run for reelection after 24 years of service on the City Council, his seat is wide open. That means at least one of the 11 non-incumbent candidates will win a seat on the dais, so this is an important election year.