SCPR "ELECTION 2009 SERIES" (VOL 7): NORTH CANTON CANDIDATES TO BE ON INTERNET TV . VOTERS CAN KNOW WHO THEY ARE VOTING FOR AND WHY.

Yesterday, the SCPR scolded "most" of the candidates running for office.

Unbelievably, candidates in all but a hand full of Stark Communities are not taking advantage of forums (the SCPR and The Rep) to let voters in their community know where they stand on issues/policies and programs in the respective areas.

Why are they hiding?

Are they running just to run?

Well, the SCPR well known for incisively analyzing elected Stark County officials will be working hard to smoke the candidates out so that you and I know who we are voting for and what they stand for.

Other Stark County organizations are hard at work getting candidates in forums in which they reveal to voters their positions on the public questions in their villages, cities and townships.

One such effort is a collaboration between the North Canton Chamber of Commerce and the North Canton Schools.

Yesterday, the SCPR got an email from Doug Lane.  Doug is president of the North Canton Chamber of Commerce, to wit:

Martin,

While involvment in the forum you profiled in today's SCPR may be sparse,I want to commend the candidates for North Canton City Council, School Board and Mayor for participating in NCVotes.

NCVotes is a collaborative voter education project of the North Canton Area Chamber of Commerce and North Canton City Schools.

All but one candidate sat down for a ten-minute interview with Jack Baker and Dottie McGrew.

The interviews will be available next week as podcasts on the Chamber website and the NCCS TV11 website. They will also be shown, grouped by office sought, on the TV11 cable channel.

This will allow voters 24/7 access to the candidate's views and the chance to supplement their more traditional sources of votereducation. The Hoover students, under the leadership of Tom Wilson, provided the techincal (sic) expertise.

Doug Lane

President

The Stark County Political Report applauds the North Canton Chamber and the North Canton City Schools for affording this opportunity for North Canton voters to better know their voting options.

Candidates, get out there to every available forum.

Voters have the right to know what your views are and why you are running for elective office.