[Green] Another League of Women Voters statement relevant to our forum

[Cindy Taylor]

Hi Friends,
At the end of this email is the information of what happened with the WV
Candidates Event which MOVCA organized and had in April. (copied from the
May MOVCA Minutes). We did set up chairs for all invited..   we did have
red and green cards and I gave  them to those who attended ( but never
really used them..  We didn't know what to expect and felt prepared having
all these. I have these if we want them for the OH event.. and will have
about 100 of each color.  I'm wondering about questions that people can
ask- I think the PR says these need to be submitted in writing.  Will these
be prepared ahead of time, or do we need to have paper and writing utensils
so  people can write them at the event or ???    Adeline makes a good point
about this being educational event.  It was that way in WV too.  Limiting
the time for each to present was done very fairly with a time.. and
politely.. and announced so that all were aware of the "rules" procedures,
etc.. ( don't think MOVCA was aware of any empty chair policies at that
time)  I do notice that someone live-streamed the event- will that be an
option?   things to think about or know about. .    That would make it more
educational and available to be seen by others who are not there.

Cindy Taylor, MOVCA secretary and Green Sanctuary Friend

*VII. Reports on recent MOVCA events: *

*A.  Wednesday, April 18, 6 PM, MOVCA hosted an Earth Day Candidates Event *at
the Fort Boreman Meeting Room of the Wood County Annex (317 Market Street)
in Parkersburg, WV.27 chairs were set up behind the speaker’s podium to
represent all the federal and state level candidates and office holders who
were invited to the forum and asked to share their positions on climate,
energy and environmental policy and respond to questions from the
audience. *The
seven candidates who attended and spoke were: Kendra Fershee and Tom Payne
(US House of Representatives); Simon Hargus and Jim Leach (WV Senate); and
Harry Deitzler, J. Morgan Leach, and Jim Marion (WV House of Delegates).*About
25- 30 people attended and feedback was extremely positive about Eric’s
leadership of this well-organized event, the opportunity to hear directly
from the candidates and to engage with them and MOVCA’s co-sponsors: West
Virginia Rivers Coalition, West Virginians for Public Lands, and Sierra
Club of West Virginia. Eric and others expressed a big *THANK YOU to Jane
Hearne*who organized this forum as *MOVCA’s first “Zero Waste” event*; *Lydia
Cobranchi*for arranging and presenting the wonderful food and refreshments,
and all MOVCA members who helped. Outreach was even greater thanks to Kim
Williams who live-streamed the event and posted to Wood County Indivisible.
Adeline Bailey mentioned that FUUSM’s Green Sanctuary Committee is
beginning to collaborate with Marietta College to arrange a similar event
in the Fall before the election.




On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 12:32 PM Adeline Bailey via Green <green at fuusm.org>
wrote:

> Hello, Green friends,
> I'm not a legal scholar, but I think our proposed forum falls into the
> category of an educational program. We are as an organization to be neutral
> and nonpartisan, not to indicate support for any candidate or political
> party or particular opinion on the topics and/or questions and answers (so
> maybe no red and green cards?). We are giving candidates the opportunity to
> give their views, and we are giving prospective voters an opportunity to
> learn what the candidates support or oppose, without comment.
> I think FLMR is concerned about maintaining their 501c3 status with the
> IRS, and I think their co-sponsors status is still OK if we keep everything
> neutral. The LWV statement has a link to the IRS rules for charitable tax
> exempt organizations sponsoring educational programs (on which they based
> their statement), and from my reading of it I think they're in the clear.
> What I haven't found so far is any info from the FEC about nonpartisan
> educational events with federal candidates and empty chair situations.
> Anybody have a link?
> Dawn, any response from Robin?
> Adeline
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
> On Sep 5, 2018 11:56 AM, gbanz42--- via Green <green at fuusm.org> wrote:
> >
> > Dawn:
> >
> >      This LWV policy is very strict. It rules out my previous suggestion
> about a representative the candidate by saying that no "stand-ins or
> substitutes" will be allowed.
> >
> >      Are we safe in assuming that this "empty-chair" policy only applies
> to candidates for federal office--U.S. House of Representatives or U.S.
> Senate?
> >
> > ---- Dawn Hewitt via Green <green at fuusm.org> wrote:
> > > http://lwvabcmn.org/files/lwvmnemptychairpolicybackground.pdf <
> http://lwvabcmn.org/files/lwvmnemptychairpolicybackground.pdf>
> > >
> > > Advice, please!!
> > >
> > > —dawn
> >
> > --
> > George Banziger
> > 202 Lawton Road
> > Marietta, OH 45750-1111
> > 740-434-5685
> > cell: 740-434-3354
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Green mailing list
> > Green at fuusm.org
> > http://fuusm.org/mailman/listinfo/green_fuusm.org
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