By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@sbnewspaper.com
San Benito’s iconic La Villita Dancehall on Robertson St. hosted a packed house on the evening of Monday, March 27, as it was the site of a Meet the Candidates Forum for candidates vying for seats on the San Benito City Commissioners and the San Benito school board of trustees election slated for May 6 of this year.
The event was sponsored by the San Benito Chamber of Commerce. The local chapter of the Texas State Teachers Association/National Education Association (TSTA/NEA) assisted in organizing the event and San Benito News Publisher Ray Quiroga also helped coordinate the forum and served as moderator for the evening.
Quiroga noted that the NEWS has taken part in the forum since the early 2000s, and that Monday night’s attendance was by far the largest on record.
He added that the last time the NEWS was involved in organizing the local forum was the year of the COVID-19 lockdown when elections were moved from May of that year to November.
All 15 candidates, eight for the school district and seven for the city commissioners’ race, had RSVP’d prior to the night’s engagement, but Michael Vargas, candidate for school board Pl. 7, had earlier called to bow out of the event, citing a professional emergency. The remaining seven school board candidates, as well as all seven city commission candidates attended.
After opening with an invocation and acknowledgments, Quiroga stressed that the event was intended to be a forum, not a debate. Candidates were asked to refrain from directly referencing or otherwise criticizing and attacking their opponents during the forum.
Candidates were then provided five minutes to introduce themselves and to discuss their platforms.
Thereafter, there was a 15 minute intermission, at which point a representative from the Chamber, TASA/NEA and the moderator vetted questions fielded from the audience in writing and the community beforehand. The public did not directly ask questions or address the candidates. After the intermission, each candidate was provided with three minutes to answer a vetted question posed by Quiroga.
The Diaz family offered the venue for the night and Pct. 3 Constable Adrian Gonzalez provided security.
The forum can be viewed in its entirety on the San Benito News website and Facebook page.
Early voting commences April 24-May 2 at the community building.
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1 comment
Why is Michael Vargas running didn’t he resign for driving while intoxicated? The constable works for the county why is he providing security for an event in the city? Is the San benito police dept not capable of providing security? The constable needs to do his daily duties instead of playing security.