Citizen to print 3-week political forum

Dear political candidates and the voting public:

The Citizen is planning to devote a large amount of news space for three consecutive weeks just before the July 20 elections to allow an unfettered (except for word limit) dialogue among candidates for all local and Fayette legislative and judicial contested races.

The Citizen invites you to participate without charge in this unprecedented opportunity to communicate your position to the voting public.

Here’s how it will work:

The limit for each candidate’s initial e-mail essay and two subsequent e-mail responses is 400 words per essay. This will be strictly enforced, even to the point of cutting off a thought in mid-sentence, once the 400-word limit is reached.

All essays and responses must be received by the deadlines below via e-mail. Those received after deadlines will be omitted. Send all essays to editor@TheCitizenNews.com.

Faxed, printed, hard-copy submissions will be discarded. Submissions received as Word attachments or in any form other than the body text of the e-mail message will be discarded.

Candidates who decline to participate according to the rules detailed above will be listed next to the participating candidates as “Declined to participate.”

We will publish the first round of candidates’ essays June 30. The responses will be grouped by contested race. Candidates, please supply a high-resolution facial photograph for use with your essay.

All candidates may respond in the second and third weeks as they choose. Each candidate may rebut opponents’ statements in the two subsequent weeks.

Except for profanity and clearly libelous statements, the content of the responses will be edited ONLY for grammar, subject to the strict 400-word limit.

We encourage and expect a free-wheeling debate among candidates on the issues involved in the contested campaigns.

Deadlines are as follows:

Essay 1 (June 30 publication): Final version of your 400-word e-mail essay must be received at The Citizen no later than 5 p.m., Thursday, June 24.

Essay 2 (July 7 publication): 5 p.m., Thursday, July 1.

Essay 3 (July 14 publication): 5 p.m., Thursday, July 8.

These deadlines are fixed, regardless of intervening circumstances.

Citizens, encourage your candidates to participate in this unique three-week political forum.

Candidates, don’t disappoint your supporters by failing to participate in this printed debate for the benefit of all of Fayette County, free to you.

Cal Beverly, publisher
The Citizen
Fayetteville, Ga.

editor@TheCitizenNews.com

(The above is 394 words.)