Rancho Palos Verdes Candidate Forum Canceled

A city-sponsored campaign forum for Rancho Palos Verdes City Council candidates has been canceled, and in the true spirit of elections the culprit is a matter of dispute.

Cari E. Cooper, the city’s public information officer who was coordinating the Oct. 15 forum, said it was scrubbed after candidate Kathleen Snell did not respond to the invitation to appear. “All of the others said fine,” Cooper said, adding that the city did not want to proceed without all five.

But Snell said the city did not allow adequate time to respond, especially because the response period included the Labor Day weekend when she was out of town. Snell said she was going to respond when she heard from another candidate, Alan J. Carlan, that the forum had been canceled.

“I would love to have appeared,” said Snell. “I will lose exposure. That’s why I was looking forward to it.”

Cooper said candidates were given a week and a half to say yes or no.

Even though Snell says she would appear at a city-sponsored forum, it will not be rescheduled because the League of Women Voters of the Palos Verdes Peninsula is sponsoring a candidates night on Oct. 29 that will be televised.

The event will be on Channel 3 of TMC of Southern California, a cable company that has 8,827 subscribers in Rancho Palos Verdes. Sue Bohn, league voter service director, said the event will be held regardless of how many candidates appear. “We have never really had any serious problem of candidates not attending,” she said.

Other candidates for the three council seats include incumbents Mel Hughes, Douglas Hinchliffe and John McTaggart.