Candidates decline LWV forum
City Council candidate Candace Nafissi and Treasurer candidate Eugene Solomon. File photos
Candidates running in Redondo Beach’s March municipal election have dropped out of a planned League of Women Voters of the Beach Cities forum owing to participation from business community organizations.
A LWV-BC representative confirmed that the event, featuring candidates from the District 3 and District 5 City Council and City Treasurer, has been canceled as of Jan. 22. It was planned for Jan. 30 at the Redondo Beach Main Library, and due to be sponsored by the North Redondo Beach Business Association and the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce.
District 3 and District 5 candidates Candace Nafissi and Mel Samples first sent messages declining their participation on Jan. 9, one day after NRBBA President Don Szerlip sent an email inviting the candidates to join. Treasurer candidate Eugene Solomon also declined.
“I have to respectfully decline, but am happy to participate in a forum sponsored independently by the League of Women Voters with a format that fields questions from residents/voters. I will not be participating in any special interest events at this time,” Nafissi said in an email response shared with Easy Reader.
“It was my fault for the mix-up. It was our goal that it should be an LWV event, so that all candidates could feel like they had an equal shot or equal representation,” Szerlip said.
Szerlip’s email was a faux-pas, LWV representative Barbara Arlow said. The League was asked to run the event by the NRBBA. But the League wanted to ensure it was run by LWV rules, insisting that questions be taken by the audience at the event.
“We hold forums that are not prejudicial. We never support candidates,” Arlow said.
Szerlip wanted to submit questions before the event on the NRBBA’s behalf. However, the League pushed back, confirming that questions would only come from the floor, and not from sponsoring organizations. Chamber and NRBBA participation would be limited to paying venue fees.
“The main thing here is to give all of the voters a good idea of which candidates stand for what,” said Chamber CEO Dominik Knoll. “For us, it’s important that it’s neutral and all-inclusive.”
Szerlip took issue with Nafissi’s characterization. “I find the ad-hominem of ‘special interest’ to be a convenient way to say they don’t want to participate. Frankly, anyone who wants to vote for you has a special interest,” Szerlip said.
“There are two types of special interests — those that represent people with contracts with city, businesses, unions; then there are special interests like Rescue Our Waterfront, which represents residents,” Nafissi said.