Oakland County voters will soon have opportunities to hear directly from judicial candidates in all forthcoming contested primaries for Oakland County judgeships.
A series of judicial forums throughout the community will provide voters with the chance to hear these candidates speak about pertinent issues before ballots are cast.
These forums are the result of a partnership--now in its fourth judicial cycle--among the Oakland County Bar Association, the League of Women Voters Oakland Area, and the Detroit Free Press that aims to sponsor judicial candidate forums in all contested judicial races in Oakland County.
The purpose of this partnership is to disseminate information about judicial candidates as widely as possible in their communities and to encourage the active participation of Oakland County citizens in voting in judicial elections as well as to assist them in becoming far more knowledgeable and informed voters.
The forums are open to the public and are video recorded so that they may be aired on cable channels in the communities where the races take place. As soon as the recordings are available, they are loaded on the OCBA website at http://www.ocba.org/OCBA-Partners-to-Host-Judicial-Candidate-Fora.id.2521.htm as streaming video.
This partnership is nonpartisan and the respective organizations will not support or oppose candidates prior to the forum. The Detroit Free Press may or may not endorse judicial candidates preceding the elections. The partners in the Judicial Candidate Forum project strive to provide factual, nonpartisan information to citizens regarding candidates' qualifications and views.
Each forum consists of two panelists who ask questions of each of the candidates. One panelist is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association and one panelist is from the Detroit Free Press. The forum is moderated by a representative of the League of Women Voters. In each forum, the community is invited to attend and submit questions for responses by the candidates.
Additionally, all candidates have been asked to complete a Judicial Candidate Questionnaire. Once completed, the questionnaires are loaded on the OCBA website as well. That way, OCBA members and the members of the community will be able to read the candidates' questionnaires as they answered them in addition to viewing the candidates' performance at the forum.
The schedule of forums is found below in chronological order:
* Sixth Judicial Circuit Court - open seat
Tuesday, June 19, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Thomas M. Cooley Law School-Auburn Hills Campus Appellate Courtroom (L48), 2630 Featherstone in Auburn Hills.
Candidates:
P. Daniel Christ
Sahera G. Housey
Karen D. McDonald
Jason D. Pernick
Layne A. Sakwa
* 48th District Court - challenge
Wednesday, June 20, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Bloomfield Township Public Library, Meeting Room One, 1099 Lone Pine Road in Bloomfield.
Candidates:
Joshua I. Arnkoff
Judge Diane D. D'Agostini, incumbent
Gary R. Sanfield
Steven L. Schwartz
* 46th District Court - open seat
Tuesday, June 26, 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Southfield Public Library, Large Meeting Room, 26300 Evergreen Road in Southfield.
Candidates:
Charesa D. Johnson
Stephen P. Korn
Omar S. Najor
Debra Nance
Donna M. Posey
William R. Seikaly
Towana Tate
* 44th District Court - open seat
Thursday, June 28, 7 to 8 p.m. Royal Oak Public Library, Auditorium, 222 E. Eleven Mile Road in Royal Oak
Candidates:
Carlo P. Ginotti
Derek W. Meinecke
Edward M. Nahhat
Published: Mon, Jun 11, 2012
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