The Philadelphia Citizen (TPC) raised a few eyebrows when they announced that they would randomly give away $10,000 to one lucky voter on election day. In another unorthodox approach to election coverage, TPC held an open-forum debate on Tuesday, October 27th with no moderator and no rules that basically encouraged the five City Council At-Large candidates who showed up to directly challenge each other.
The five candidates in attendance were Kristin Combs (Green Party), John Staggs (Socialist Workers Party), Terry Tracy, Jr. (R), Andrew Stober (Philadelphia Party) and Dennis O’Brien (R). David Oh and Al Taubenberger declined to debate, but were instead represented by two stuffed chickens with their eyes pointed at the real candidates speaking next to them.
Both @DavidOhPhilly and @TaubenbergerAl surprisingly quiet tonight @PhiladelphiaCit @TheSpiritNews @VotePhilly pic.twitter.com/jrW6d8jAd5
— Spirit Newspapers (@TheSpiritNews) October 28, 2015
Oh responded to The Spirit,
@TheSpiritNews @VotePhilly Sorry, I told them I was committed to 2 events. This forum was scheduled late w/o coordinating w/ my calendar.
— David Oh (@DavidOhPhilly) October 28, 2015
With no moderator and no rules, Councilman O’Brien immediately went on the offensive. Claiming to be on a tight schedule, O’Brien took the microphone from Tracy and launched a diatribe about his political record and what he stands for.
The audience eventually grew tired of the one sided conversation and began to yell out, “I thought this was a debate” and “what did you do as a councilman?” One audience member shouted to O’Brien, “Why did you vote to raise taxes?”
O’Brien responded, “To support education thank you very much.”
After touting his accomplishments (and taking a quick jab at the Daily News) O’Brien ended his address to the audience and left the stage. The only thing he could have done better was drop the microphone on the way out.
The debate toned down from there. Stober and Tracy exchanged eloquent points on how they would tackle major issues like education, labor and the economy. Combs and Staggs also weighed in on the importance of having outsider candidates in Philly politics.
Andrew Stober (middle), Terry Tracy (left), Dennis O’Brien (right)
“We’re all going to bring in some kind of outside voice,” Combs said. “The outside voice that I bring is that of a public school teacher and a community member.”
Socialist Workers Party candidate John Staggs was very outspoken on taxation, but was unenthusiastic about the upcoming election.
“I believe there’s not going to be a lot changed in this election,” Staggs said.
John Staggs of the Socialist Worker’s Party.
Halfway through the debate, Platt asked O’Brien to rejoin the candidates and the discussion. He again began a one sided conversation proclaiming all his triumphs as councilman. The other candidates began questioning O’Brien, but the Councilman bobbed, ducked and weaved questions like “What’s your relationship with PGW?” and point blank statements from the audience like “That’s what’s wrong with city council.” O’Brien walked away from the debate once he was done speaking.
The conversation was then opened up to the audience. First up was a man claiming to be a 22-year-old Penn student. The man, dressed in a 76er’s hoodie and holding a Kenzinger bottle in his hand, made one of the best points of the evening. He pointed out that only four people in the assembled audience of around 50 were under the age of 23. He asked the candidates why they aren’t able reach younger voters.
“This is what you get when you have the first full generation or two to come of age without a meaningful education in civics. People have to be taught democracy,” Tracy said. “They have to understand how to engage. There’s no gimmick to get people to do this. It’s not intuitive, you have to understand it.”
All in all, there was about 12 minutes of aggressive attacks and 45 minutes of meaningful discussion. That’s not a bad ratio considering the anything-goes attitude and the little bags of popcorn provided to the audience upon entry. This was a very entertaining way to hear what some of the lesser-known council at large candidates want to do if they are elected.
