May 31 Forum Features Primary Contests

City Council candidates in a Democratic Primary contest will take part next week in a forum endorsed by neighborhood associations.

The forum, from 7 to 9 p.m. May 31 at Cook School, will include Delois “Dee” Dameron and Vera Greaves, who are vying for the First & Fourth Ward at-large council seat; and Tony Rucker and Cory Storch, who are seeking the Second Ward seat.

Greaves is an appointee to the unexpired council term of Freeholder Linda Carter. She and Rucker, who is making his second run for a council seat, are running on the Regular Democratic Organization line. Storch, a two-term incumbent, and Dameron, making her initial bid for public office, are running under the New Democrats banner.

Winners of the June 7 primary contest will go on the Democratic line for the November 8 general election for four-year terms commencing on Jan. 1, 2012. Republican Bill Michelson will also be on the November ballot for the Second Ward seat. Independents may file June 7 to run in November.

Although the Clarification: local League of Women Voters does not hold primary forums, sponsors agreed to use the traditional nonpartisan LWV format and have engaged a trained moderator, Dawn Clarke of the Springfield LWV. The format will include two-minute opening statements, written questions from the audience and three-minute closing statements. Clarke will screen questions for appropriateness and whether they should be posed by ward or in general.

The Friends of Sleepy Hollow and Hillside Area Neighborhood Watch are primary sponsors, but all neighborhood associations and block groups are urged to lend their backing and to encourage members’ attendance. Organizers expect the event to be taped by the Plainfield Cable Television Advisory Board for broadcast on local access Channels 96 and 34.

--Bernice