Mayor Meister recuses herself because she is a candidate in this years City Council election.
Council member John D’Amico and Council member Lindsey Horvath advocated for a screening of the questions.
City Manager David Wilson interjects that the we are only providing the broadcast with direct staff costs.
All Council members had previously participated in the Chamber debate during their own previous elections.
The West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce debate has been an election tradition hosted by Robert Kovicik, of NBC News Los Angeles.
This years Chamber debate was also co-hosted by a number of community groups and neighborhood associations including, Kings Road North, N. Harper/Sweetzer, Norma Triangle, Ogden/Orange, WeHo Tri-West, WeHo Plummer Park, WEHO West, West Hollywood West Residents association, West Hollywood North Neighborhood Association, West Hollywood Heights Neighborhood Association.
The final vote was to NOT allow WEHO TV to televise the West Hollywood Chamber Community Forum
It is tantamount to “taking the Fifth”. WHAT does one have to hide if they do not want to participate in a public forum? Hmmmmm????
One has to wonder?
Too bad Lynn Hoopengarner is not a candidate. She would be a worthy council member.
I agree
Yes, I agree that L. Hoopengarner would have made an excellent council person & she may have won ! Maybe she will consider it next time around!
Shameful behavior. If these four council members had either honor or dignity they would resign. Watching them trip over themselves to make excuses to justify blocking opposing views during a public forum Is sickening
For at least three different WeHo Elections, I along with a number of other citizens worked with the League of Women Voters (LWV) to host a community election forum. It was always televised by the city as a service to the community. A batch of questions were prepared in advance by the committee AND attendees handed in questions before the forum as well. The LWV then selected and prioritized the questions that the MC asked the candidates. There were never any “gottcha” questions, just the topics that have always been a priority in our village–public safety, traffic, parking, development, social… Read more »
Good to hear your voice Lynn, the authentic voice of reason. Thank you.
Thank you.
How the H#LL is John Erickson still double board president of.. wait for it.. the ACLU SoCal?!?
How are you still denying science? With “peace and love?”
Via Daily News:
On Tuesday, fired City workers were supported by groups that oppose local government mandates for COVID-19, including the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles, the California Leftists 4 Freedom and Free WeHo.
Ian Jameson, of California Leftists 4 Freedom, called for an end to the city employee vaccine mandate, especially now that the CDC has “radically changed its guidelines for health measures, basically ending the need to segregate people based on vaccine states.”
He called the city’s vaccine mandate “unscientific,” and said it is “against liberal principles of democracy and freedom.”
https://www.dailynews.com/2022/08/16/libertarians-leftists-and-anti-vaccine-city-employees-rally-for-medical-freedom-outside-la-city-hall/
It is pretty easy to use this as a counter-argument, considering COVID is relatively now under control. Even the CDC has loosened rules and guidelines, such as masks on airplanes, quarantine guidelines, etc.. Does not mean that you are correct. You’ve been anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-mandate through even the heat of the pandemic, when it mattered most. And I find your position irresponsible, and selfish, because for the 200th time, since March of 2020, it is not about *you,* it is about *them.* Yes, I think that mandates should be loosened, and other restrictions lifted, based on where we are.… Read more »
Please don’t misrepresent my politics. My position from day one has always been about voluntary informed consent, the foundation of my education and career in clinical research and bioethics.
I share this article for your knowledge, not to gloat. Those of us who are part of the global peace movement for medical freedom welcome anyone with open arms who believes in freedom of choice.
While may be reasonable to expect Freedom of Choice be demonstrated by conscious informed individuals it it lost on uninformed. recalcitrant folks that invent their own truth.
We could go on and on about this, and it isn’t really relevant to this article. But, please, define “freedom of choice?” Are you only against mandates? Are you against pressure to get vaccinated? Are you against indoor mask wearing mandates, taking into account the timeframe that I spoke of, when we were in a major surge? I think we both know the answer to that last question.
They are afraid.
I agree with many of the previous comments. I’ve always thought that Horvath/Erick/Shyne were a lot like Trump in the way they try to vanquish any dissenting voices.
I’m thinking that they are also just really bad at being politicians. Their decisions have been off-base for so long. And good riddance to D’Amico, who always seems to be on the wrong side of issues.
This is one of the most entertaining, yet informative things to watch, so I’m super disappointed. The last time, it was great to hear candidates speak for themselves, and helped me make some decisions – all in the comfort of my own home. I was thinking about voting for that realtor guy, can’t remember his name, but he showed up in super tight clothes and was inarticulate, and afterwards I realized that he would be a poor choice.
Hoping someone will tape it and put it on YouTube for the masses to see them sweat when asked (hopefully) tough questions.
A really foolish and undemocratic idea, guys.
What were you thinking?
WehoTV Channel 10, “Community Access Television”…….Not so much.
Sounds a lot like China. We get to field the questions. We don’t like what you ask…we cut the live feed.
Yes, and it’s given me a bit of a flashback to Cuba.
Did all the participating council members vote against televising the debate? It’s not clear from the article, which states only that Horvath and D’Amico advocated for screening the questions and that the final vote was to not allow televising.
Yep all four- lauren recused herself
Screening the questions 🙄.? Isn’t that a bit like cheating on an exam?