Any candidate that agrees or even begin to believe that the League of Women Voters are capable to moderate a debate without entrenched skillful political bias is probably very delusional, desperate, or has no other options available. There is a reason that citizen submitted questions have to be General and Apply to all candidates .. Specific, direct, and focused questions are difficult to spin, elude, or outright evade. It leaves incumbents and others immuned from questions of character, past performance, inside interests, and exposure of stealth agenda's. Voters don't select their politicians .. Politicians select the voters. No one has ever accused the LVW of being a neutral, disinterested, or non-partisan political entity. This affair will be like viewing a spanish bull fight.. the bull gets to dress as a target .. and the Matadore gets a Lance, a Stiletto, and backup Banderilleros on horses to drive the final blows. Nice Theater.. but not exactly a civilized process. DiSalvo walks away.. the bull is eaten.

Cool Fusion states that: “There is a reason that citizen submitted questions have to be General and Apply to all candidates .. Specific, direct, and focused questions are difficult to spin, elude, or outright evade. It leaves incumbents and others immuned from questions of character, past performance, inside interests, and exposure of stealth agenda's.”

Here’s my response: there are two types of local candidate forums or debates: the League of Women Voters’ preferred method that ensures fairness by requiring that all candidates answer the same questions in the same amount of time, and the alternative method, an open-mike forum allowing candidate-specific questions. The first method gets to the issues; the second method is ripe for abuse by both audience members and campaign volunteers. Anybody remember past open-mike forums in this town sponsored by individuals? There were two that I do...

CF, you, of all people, should abhor the second method having borne the brunt of it in the past. But if you are so sure that it would be of benefit to North Andover’s voters to do it your way, go right ahead and sponsor your own candidate debate using whatever rules you want. If you think you can do a better job, do it.

The LWV's candidates forum would be infinitly more interesting, edifying, and certainly more entertaining if the roles were reversed and the candidates instead were get to ask direct questions to the LWV moderator focusing on many of the multiple non-mainstream issues avocated by the League of Women Voters leglislative agenda and have each candidate in turn critique her responses in debate form.

Oh, Let me guess ... Someone stole Bill's sweetroll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AaqfoHudOPI#t=66s

Alex, I will take "Leagues" for $200. What community organizing League believes that citizen voters are too shallow and ignorant to be held responsible to independently digest information and formulate their personal preferences, but must be chaperoned by political experts in order to insure that their ballots are cast to tabulate the right way? If you replied "What is the LWV"?, then congratulations - you just nailed Double Jeopardy.

When the mirrors are all shattered and the toxic smoke clears, the naked identity of the LWV will be exposed as it truely exists. An agenda driven partisan coterie that demands a controlling interest of the local voting process to insure that their slate of candidates are presented in the best of all possible lights in order to be elected and re-elected. One wonders what would have been the severe negative consquence if the LWV had moderated the Abraham Lincoln/Stephen Douglas Debates. An optimistic end result of this contrived theater would be for Chief Gallagher to lock tne doors of the Senior Center and stream a wide yellow tape around this crime scene.

Despite the epidemic of political narcolepsy that abounds, most people can easily discern the difference between a beauty mole and a tick. Only those that graduated with advanced degrees in Scientology could ever conceive the asinine thought that any member of the LWV was an unenrolled / independent voter. Spare us the silly Nurse Ratched proclamations to the contrary.

Not "seems", Bill. J'accuse the LWV of attempting to shape this election. 1920 you say? The Ku Klux Klan was reconstituted and surged in 1920 and the German NAZI party was formed as well, and we are very aware how they controlled the debate and the rot and scars that followed as a consequence. Women have enjoyed suffrage for six generations of newly borns dressed in pink and now the LWV is more than overripe by many scores of campaign seasons, and like mushy cantaloupes - it's time to compost. How else to explain the re-election of the districts current representative, dispite Tierney's history of family criminality and Federal indictments .. or closer to home - the past scandals that surrounded the LWV selected School Board's dealing with the superintentent of schools turpitudes, or the fact that the area was powerless for over 10 days due to an October ice storm even when LWV favorite Representative I'talian was the chairperson of the Utilities Oversight Committee and was informed years in advance of the severe lack of National Grid local responders. Can you say LWV debate moderators? This debate charade by a self-serving, agenda driven, cadre of claques must be treated like an overgrown Goiter. BTW: your systematic "never thought" symptoms can be easily cured with a strong dose of Spirits of Hartshorn".

Bill, Your hyperventilating again. Take a Zoloft. I only conjecture that debates and open town meetings be moderated by some persons NOT dedicated to the proposition that "The Ends always Justify the Means". If the LWV is allowed to transform the moderator's gavel into a sledge hammer and the Finance Committee to be populated with hacks as GWB appointed to his insipid Securities and Exchange Commission .. what is left of citizen governance? The League of Woman Voters is an entrenched and mobilized advocacy group with agenda driven objectives supported by entwined liaisons, business connections, and political operatives. One of many which is to evolve current transparent open town meetings to favor Town Council governance. Can you say Lawrence? If DiSalvo gains control of the moderator position and gets to appoints future Finance Committee members .. we WILL be living in a Wizard of Oz Community.

OK.. a petite appetizer for a starter. The Senate legislation in question WASN'T about Particle Pollution emissions which IS linked to Asthma.. but dealt entirely with EPA CO2 limits.. the natural flora-growing molecules with which Al Gore terrorized our children innocent minds was going to destroy the earth with Global Warming. Well, a decade+ later.. the Polar Bear count has expanded, the sea ice extents are normal, and key members of the UN IPCC have resigned in disgrace. This LWV promoted legislation would have cost our jobless economy over $300 billion according to the neutral CBO and even the Democrat controlled senate voted it down. It wasn't about Scott either, it was about restoring the Mass. seat back to those that cringe before the LWV and in the case of McCaskell (D-Mo) .. some would call it "Fragging" one who dared to step out of line.

The LWV's "The end justifies the means" attack Ad follows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Kjasx0K_g

When we get to see a complete LWV's donor list .. it all will be self-evident. I'm in solitary and the warden just tapped my Smartphone .. Gotta Go.