Merced College plans Los Banos candidate forum

One of the reasons Merced College holds a forum for Los Banos City Council and school district candidates every two years is to spark interest among college students.

“It’s to try to get younger students involved,” said Jennifer Gardner, professor of political science and history and the forum organizer. “The least likely to vote is the 18- to 24-year-old bracket.”

Merced College will hold the candidate forum Oct. 27 at the Los Banos campus, 22240 Highway 152.

The event will start in Room LB-A-103 at 6 p.m. with Los Banos Unified School District candidates, according to a general plan of the forum.

Gardner said each candidate will have 15 minutes to address the public. A maximum of five minutes is allowed for an introduction and for the candidate to say why he or she is running for office. The public can then ask the candidate questions.

Candidates won’t be allowed in the room when other candidates are speaking.

At 7:30 p.m., City Council candidates are scheduled to introduce themselves and field questions in the same format.

Three seats on the council are up for election Nov. 8. Mayor Mike Villalta is running for re-election unopposed, according to Merced County election office records.

Pest control technician Brian Ring and pharmacy technician Daronica M. Johnson-Santos are running for the District 1 council seat. District 1 is in the northern part of the city.

Deborah Lewis is running to stay on the City Council in the District 4 seat against Planning Commissioner Palmer McCoy and legislative director Erasmo Viveros.

School district trustees Tommy Jones, Dominic Falasco and Carole Duffy are running for re-election.

Jones faces a challenge from Megan Goin-Soares, a customer service representative, for the school district Area 2 seat. Retired resident Gary Munoz is running against Falasco for the Area 4 seat. And Duffy faces a challenge in real estate agent Margaret Benton in Area 6.

Gardner said the list of candidates attending the forum was being finalized. As of Monday, she was waiting on one more candidate to respond to the invitation.

Gardner said it was tough to reach some of the candidates who declined to publicly share their contact information on the Merced County election office website.

“I had to do a lot of Facebooking,” Gardner said.

According to the election office’s candidate contact information document, City Council candidates Villalta, Johnson-Santos, Lewis, McCoy and Viveros agreed to release either a phone number, email address or both. Ring declined to release any contact information.

School board incumbents Jones and Duffy declined to release any information. Candidates Goin-Soares and Benton agreed to release email addresses, while Falasco and Munoz have released their phone numbers, email addresses and residential addresses.

Meet-and-greet

Instead of a forum or debate, the Los Banos Tea Party will host three candidates at its monthly meeting 9 a.m. Saturday at Country Waffles, 845 W. Pacheco Blvd.

Organizer Tom Higby said recent changes in City Hall policy meant the Los Banos Tea Party couldn’t hold a forum at the building. So the organization decided to welcome Goin-Soares, Falasco and Ring to an informal meet-and-greet gathering.

Higby said Benton spoke at the group’s monthly meeting in August. Lewis declined an invitation, Higby said, adding that he hasn’t contacted any other candidates.

Higby said other candidates may still join the gathering, although Goin-Soares, Falasco and Ring will be given the opportunity to speak to the crowd.

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Merced College plans Los Banos candidate forum."