The first in a series of candidate forums hosted by the League of Women’s Voters of San Joaquin County kicked off Thursday — but not without a slight hitch.
Unfortunately, the event only made it to the halfway point after a candidate in one of the day’s featured races didn’t show.
Four Mabalon Forum events are scheduled over the span of a week and will cover multiple city, county and state races, but began Friday with those vying for seats on the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees.
The Delta College trustees Area 1 race, which covers south Stockton, features two candidates with a vast difference in political experience. Candidates Ralph Lee White and Shelly Stoll Swanson started off the debate with a spirited discussion of the issues in their attempts to sway voters.
White is a former Stockton councilmember who has run for several offices, including Stockton City Council this year. Stoll Swanson is a first-time candidate and a former accountant who is married to a Delta College professor and had three children attend the college.
Among the topics discussed were new contracts for educators and the college’s desire to get a bond measure on the ballot for facility improvements.
White said several times during the forum that he felt Stoll Swanson was given the questions in advance, an accusation she and the organizers denied, stating White and Stoll Swanson were both given a list of general topics in preparation for the event.
In his closing statement, White took issue with his opponent’s husband being on the Delta faculty, calling it a “conflict of interest.”
“She should withdraw,” White said after the event. “Her husband is a professor, and because of that there’s many things she won’t be able to vote on.”
Stoll Swanson said she checked with legal representation before filing to run for the seat.
“I expected that. We checked, and legally, there’s no conflict,” Stoll Swanson said. “My husband is a tenured professor. If he wasn’t tenured, I couldn’t do this because he would probably have to come to the board to get tenured. But he’s been there 24 years. There’s no conflict.”
But only one candidate – current Stockton City Councilmember Dan Wright – turned up for the second half of the event, which was scheduled to feature the Delta College trustees Area 2 forum.
Wright dressed for the occasion wearing Delta College colors – black suit, black shirt and gold tie – and was ready to go. But he didn’t have an opponent and the event was therefore canceled.
Officials of the League of Women’s Voters said candidate Julie Kay, a nursing instructor at Delta College, had informed them that she could not attend, but businessman Samuel Anderson was expected to participate. League rules forbid a forum from moving forward unless there are at least two candidates.
Although the forum was canceled, Wright was granted five minutes to address the audience.
“I’m disappointed,” Wright said. “I’m disappointed because I was looking forward to answering the questions.”
Anderson, Kay and Wright are running to fill the Area 2 seat covering central Stockton.
Wright is currently a member of the Stockton City Council representing District 2. He also unsuccessfully ran for Stockton mayor earlier this year, unable to make it out of the March primary election in the top two.
The candidate forums will continue next week:
- Sept. 24, with candidates running for State Assembly District 13, San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors District 1, and State Senate District 5 attending the event from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- On Sept. 25, people will get a chance to meet and hear from candidates running for City of Stockton Mayor City Council Districts four and six. This event will also begin at 6 p.m., with the last event starting at 7:30 p.m.
- The last forum will take place on Thursday, Sept. 26, covering the Stockton Unified School District Area District 4 starting at 6:45 p.m.