4th District debate announced

LENOX – Current Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox) and challenger Lee Scott Laugenour have confirmed they will attend a debate hosted by The Berkshire Beacon on Oct. 31 at the Lenox Library starting at 7:30 p.m.

This will be the second of three debates. The others are at Monument Mountain Regional High School on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. and on WSBS Radio at 9 a.m. on Nov. 1.

The debate will be moderated by Beacon Assistant Editor Kameron Z. Spaulding.

“We hope that this debate can be a great outlet for the candidates and can serve to inform the voters,” he said. “I think this is exactly what a community newspaper needs to work towards and having the library step up and get involved shows how great this town is.”

The debate will feature a panel of community members including Monument Mountain Principal Marianne Young and Beacon reporter Bera B. Dunau. The panel and Mr. Spaulding will pose 10-15 questions to the candidates.

A unique feature of the debate is the level of interaction with the voters. Residents will be able to submit questions that they wish to hear the candidates be asked. In advance of the debate, questions may be emailed to Mr. Spaulding at kspaulding@berkshirebeacon.com.

During the debate, there will be cards for residents to write questions on, and the moderator will ask some of those questions as well as long as time permits.

Each candidate will have a chance to respond to any question asked of their opponent, if they so choose.

To try and cover as many topics as possible, the debate will enforce a strict two-minute time limit on answers. Candidates will be asked beforehand to refrain from personal or non-issue attacks and to focus on policy.

“This will be a fair and balanced debate of true ideas,” said Mr. Spaulding. “There is no need to waste the voters’ time on dirty politics or non-issues.”

Posted by Staff Reports on October 11, 2012. Filed under Community News,News,State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry