League of Women voters soliciting voter forum questions, hosting Fair Maps Beer Day

The Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Chippewa Valley Chapter of the League of Women Voters are soliciting questions from area residents for candidates running for state senate and assembly races to be used in upcoming online forum events.

"Candidate forums seem particularly appropriate and needed at this time when opportunities for candidates to share their views with voters are so limited," said Susan Hall, a vice-president of the local League.

"The League of Women Voters (LWV) has a long history of providing voters an opportunity to acquaint themselves with candidates' views and priorities in a fair and non-partisan setting," Hall said.  "LWV guidelines for candidate forums are time-tested and transparent and we have an experienced moderator."

The organization plans to use Zoom Webinar, and to offer registration opportunities for members of the public to attend. Forums will also be streamed on Facebook Live. "We have had a very successful experience with a Zoom forum; the webinar technology will be very similar," Hall said.

The candidates invited to the forums, tentatively planned for early October, are:

Senate District 10 - Patty Schachtner (I), Democrat and Rob Stafsholt, Republican

Assembly District 29 - John Rocco Calabrese, Democrat and Clint Moses, Republican

Assembly District 93 - Warren Petryk (I), Republican and Charlene Charlie Warner, Democrat

Members of the public are invited to email [email protected] with their questions, or to go to the league website at www.lwv-gcv.org for more information. Questions must be addressed to all of the candidates in the forum.

The LWV-GCV is also hosting a Fair Maps Beer Day this Saturday at three local breweries - find out about gerrymandering and have a beer.