Election Season 2019 And The Lakewood Observer

[Jim O'Bryan]

As many of you longtime Deckers remember, during the last two elections the city and many others went nuts, treating the elections more like a team sport than as an educational process of figuring out what is best for Lakewood, and our long term future.

In that spirit, we have set up a program for all candidates, for complete access to the Observer in print. Simple and straightforward.

They may submit articles to the print edition after…

1) Talking to me, or one of the editors about what the Observer project is and how it works.
2) Agreeing to answer 10-15 "candidate questions" submitted by Observer readers and editors that will appear online and in print (with consideration given for space) with each candidate being given an equal amount of words.
3) Agreeing to answer follow-up questions based on their "candidate question" replies to address questions readers might have.

That is all we have asked for.

So far, the following candidates have agreed to answer your questions:

Mayor's office:
Meghan George

Council candidates:
Ward 1: TBD in Sept 10 primary: Matthew Fredrickson, Lindsey Grdina, Tess Neff, Laura Rodriguez-Carbone
Ward 2: Brad Presutto, Jason Shachner
Ward 3: Jeff Wise
Ward 4: Dan O'Malley

School Board candidates:
Andrew Meyer

Of course all candidates may use their Deck accounts in anyway they see fit right up through the election.

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[Amy Martin]

This from Jason Shachner:

Early in my life I was aware of the fundamental unfairness that success is often dictated by things beyond your con-trol. Things such as your zip code, your race, your famil-ial wealth, religion, or sexual preference.

I didn't realize we were still living in the 90's when the term "sexual preference" -- was erroneously in place of "sexual orientation".

The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary, in its 2002 edition, provided definitions for "sexual preference" and "sexual orientation":

Sexual preference: "The preference one shows by having a sexual interest in members of the same, opposite, or either sex."

Sexual orientation: "The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. Replaces sexual preference in most contemporary uses."

[Jim O'Bryan]

To find out how to submit your questions for the candidate questionnaire go to...

http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2019/09/04/help-candidate-questions-written-by-you

Thank you.


Jim

[Jason Shachner]

Hi Amy,

Thank you for pointing this out and speaking up. I admittedly did not catch my error and sincerely apologize for my mistake. A person’s sexual orientation is not a choice, and it's important that our words reflect that. Language matters, and I appreciate you correcting me.

Sincerely,

Jason