October 19th, 2009
League of Women Voters city council candidate debate tonight

SUBMITTED REPORT

The public is invited to the San Marcos Area League of Women Voters Candidates Debate, scheduled 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, at the San Marcos Activity Center.

The debate will feature candidates in two contested San Marcos City Council races. Six candidates are vying for two City Council seats. They include for Place 5 Lisa Marie Coppoletta, Shaune C. Maycock and Ryan Thomason and, for Place 6, incumbent John Thomaides, Anita Fuller and Monica Garcia.

The league’s Voters Guide will be included in the Sunday, Oct. 18 San Marcos Daily Record and will be available on-line as soon as possible there after. Video of the debate will be available on Tuesday at www.sanmacosmercury.com.

The debate and the Voters Guide are two of the San Marcos Area League of Women Voters’ key voter services and voter education projects.

Open to men and women, the league’s guiding principles focus on belief in the representative form of government and individual liberties established in the Constitution of the United States. A nonpartisan organization, another guiding principle is that “democratic government depends upon the informed and active participation of its citizens and requires that governmental bodies protect the citizen’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions, holding open meetings and making public records accessible.”

The organization’s nonpartisan stance, which members take very seriously, will be evident in both the debate and the Voters Guide. All candidates for each office will be asked the same carefully crafted questions, with each having the opportunity to be the first to respond to one question. Time limits will be strictly enforced.

Serving as moderator for the debate will be long-time league member and experienced debate moderator Brenda Smith. For more information, call (512) 353-2872.

— PAT MURDOCK