Grantham Grange will host forum
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on April 27, 2008 2:01 AM
With only a week to go before the May 6 primary, members of the Grantham Grange are making one last effort to make sure people know who the candidates are and what they stand for, as they host a candidate forum Monday, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Grantham Volunteer Fire Department.
"Our Grange is a community-oriented organization," said Grantham Grange President Bobby Crawford. "We're very interested in what's going on in the community and what we can do to help the community, and we want to help people make an informed decision."
They are expecting about 25 state and local candidates and at least 100 county residents to attend.
"There's a lot of enthusiasm for it. It's going to be an interesting event. We're going to do it right," said program director John Tart. "Political forums are hard to do successfully. You have to work at them. You can't just announce it and hope people show up."
But it's not their first show. It's something they try do for every election.
"We're going to give the candidates a chance to say a few words and then probably ask them some questions," Tart said.
And it is, he emphasized, a "completely non-partisan" event.
"We do not show favor to any candidate," he added. "We just want people to come and find out all they can about the candidates before they vote."