A Good Night at the CCCA Candidates Forum

There was a standing-room-only crowd for last night's candidates forum at the Long View Gallery sponsored by the Convention Center Community Association (CCCA). I think the consensus of those in attendance was that the format worked well--we got thoughtful answers to serious questions in an informal but respectful atmosphere. [Full disclosure: Your humble servant was one of the moderators and drafted the questions along with co-moderator Virginia Lee.]

Kudos to Martin Moulton and Charles Walker for organizing the forum and thanks to Ron Greene of Good Libations and to Veranda Restaurant and Safeway for providing a great spread of food and drink.

I had not met or even heard Christina Culver (Jack Evans' Republican challenger) previously, but she appears to be a respectable candidate with some interesting views on the issues. But she will have work very hard to overcome the depth of knowledge and extensive experience that Evans demonstrated in his responses to the questions.

Most of the time was focused on the ANC. Commissioner Mike Bernardo represented ANC2F (basically the Logan Circle area), which works well and would be a model for ANC2C to emulate if the current deadlock on the commission can be broken. Incumbents Kevin Chapple and Alex Padro as well as new candidates Theresa Sule and Jessica Lanza took part last night. None of their opponents deigned to show up, though all were invited to do so. This is a perfect example of their contempt for the community, which the basic reason that ANC2C remains such a pathetic parody. On November 4 we have a chance to change all that.