Attended the Unitarian Society's Social Justice Forum Saturday.
Each candidate for mayor, incumbent Mary Clare Higgins and challenger Michael Bardsley, listed off their respective resumes in the Social Justice sphere.
Many of Higgins' statements concerned her past performance at the Hampshire Community Action Commission as a long time employee there. As a director of day care programming she worked at making sure disadvantaged children made it to school and stated she is as concerned about how the parents of those children are situated as she is of the welfare of the children. She capped off her opening remarks outlining the new adult literacy center she has promoted in the James House and the various affordable housing initiatives she has spearheaded in the city.
For his part Bardsley spoke of working on the Pride and Transgender marches and mentioned facing the anger of protesters in the earlier days. He stated that the atmosphere of tolerance we have today is not by accident, but rather it took a lot of work. He also outlined his experiences as a guidance counselor in the Amherst school system, including the formation of a program with community colleges that he said has been replicated throughout the state.
Clearly each candidate could recite instances where they personally were disadvantaged and rose to where they are today. The North Street Neighborhood Association was on hand video recording the event and Mary Serreze of Northampton Media was also audio recording the forum so hopefully you will be able to hear and or see the forum with your own eyes and ears soon.
As I looked around the room I could identify various supporters of either candidate and there were many. I didn't take an exact count but there must have been around 50-60 people give or take in attendance. I wondered how many of those were actually undecided and speculate there could not have been more than 20, but I took no exit poll so that is just a guess.
Keeping my opinions to myself I spoke to one undecided voter that is relatively new to Northampton after the forum. She indicated that neither candidate distinguished themselves from the other in her mind. She said they both seem like caring people and this forum did not help her in regards to whom she would vote for. But it did help her learn a little about each candidate. She seemed to conclude that either would give Social Justice issues their due. She hopes to attend other such meetings in the coming weeks to help her make a decision.
The tone was civil throughout and questions were posed to one or the other candidate from index cards collected from audience members. I did notice people in the audience expressing themselves to the candidates as they spoke through their facial expressions and remembered back to a time when I was running as a council candidate in 2005. A common tactic at debates of those opposing a candidate is to sit in the audience and wear a look of astonishment or perhaps laugh at a candidate's remarks as he or she is speaking. Apparently the idea is to throw the candidate off his/her cadence and make them appear uncertain of themselves. Head-nodding and smiling is used when affirming a favored candidate's remarks. I got a kick out of this theater when I was running for office. If you get a chance to attend an upcoming forum or debate, keep your eyes on the crowd as much as on the candidates. You might be amused at the different facial contortions and/or behaviors you observe.
At one time or another each candidate thanked or acknowledged the other's accomplishments and light refreshments were served after. A good time was had by all.
