Acorn candidates forum setFree Access


COME ONE, COME ALL—The Acorn will host a candidates’ forum for school board and park district hopefuls Oct. 25 inside the main hall at Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks.

Want a chance to hear from local office-seekers just before Election Day? The Thousand Oaks Acorn will host a forum from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 25 at Goebel Adult Community Center, 1385 E. Janss Road, T.O.

Co-moderated by T.O. Acorn editor Kyle Jorrey and Acorn Newspapers editor-in-chief John Loesing, the event will feature candidates running for Conejo Valley school board and Conejo Rec and Park District board of directors. The venue seats around 300 people, so voters are encouraged to view a livestream of the forum hosted on the Acorn’s Facebook page if they can’t arrive early.

The T.O. Acorn has received responses from all eight candidates running for three seats on the school board saying they will take part in the forum. The five individuals competing for three seats on CRPD’s board of directors have also given notice they plan to be on hand to answer questions from the Acorn.

Jorrey said he’d hoped to invite those seeking seats on the Thousand Oaks City Council to the Oct. 25 event as well but that with 11 candidates in that race alone, it was simply too many participants to cram into an already two-and-a-half-hour forum.

“We’re glad to see such a large field but we also want to be able to give the candidates time to really lay out their positions, to let the voters get to know who they are,” he said. “Right now the school board race is the hottest topic in town. And we’re the only forum scheduled to date that will give voters a chance to hear from those running for CRPD. Those are important seats as well.”

City Council candidates, meanwhile, will be featured in a forum hosted jointly by the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce’s and Cal Lutheran University at 6 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 11 in the Lundring Events Center at CLU, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks.

The event is free and open to the public. The moderator will be Herb Gooch, former chair of CLU’s political science department.

The forum sessions will cover the following three local elections: candidates for Thousand Oaks City Council from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Ventura County Community College District trustee from 7:30 to 7 p.m., and Conejo Valley Unified School District board from 8 to 9 p.m.

Candidates will make statements and answer questions prepared by the Chamber and Gooch.

If time is available, the public will have the opportunity to submit written questions for the candidates. For more information, visit ConejoChamber.org.

Election Day is Nov. 6.