On Tuesday, January 23rd the NY23rd Democratic Candidates will meet at the historic Smith Opera House in Geneva for an “Issue-Focused Forum”. This will be different from other Meet & Greets– the whole night will be questions and answers. They have eliminated the three-minute per candidate introductions by having their written biographies available as attendees enter the theater .
Although the organizers are creating questions on many issues, you are invited to hand in your questions in as you enter. If time allows, questions can be asked from the audience. The goal is to hear the candidates’ responses to our concerns.
This is NOT just for Democrats. This event will give all the opportunity to hear the alternatives to Rep. Reed. In order to give feedback to the candidates, you will be asked to fill out a “My Top Three” card and hand it in as you leave.
The Smith Opera House, one of the oldest operating performing arts theaters in the Country, has a seating capacity of 1,408. It is at 82 Seneca Street in Geneva. There’s plenty of parking in a public lot across the street. This is the first meeting of all of the candidates in the North-Eastern part of the NY-23rd. It is a short distance from Seneca and Yates Counties. It is a 40 minute drive from Watkins Glen, 50 minutes from Naples, an hour from Ithaca and an hour an 10 minutes from Corning.
This is being sponsored by a wide array of individuals and organizations such as ReedLastTerm, several Indivisible groups, the Geneva Democratic Committee, Tools for Social Change and others. For more information about the Forum follow this link.
New NY 23rd 
Do you know if this is going to be videotaped and available on line?
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I do not know, but will ask.
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What about the independent candidates? are you going to include them, or offer a separate forum… ?
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The Independent Candidates have been involved in the forums put on by the Citizens for a Better Southern Tier (They also included Rep. Reed’s campaign manager). I have included their information on pages on the NY23rd Blog. It looks like the Issue-Focused Forum has decided not to have them involved. Why? It could be that the Democratic Candidates will be passing their petitions from March 6 to April 13, and the Independent Candidates will not be passing theirs until September. One of the Independent Candidate was running as a Democrat, but for some reason switched—maybe (and I’m guessing) he didn’t want to run in the Primary–as an Independent all he wopuld have to do is to get 1,350 signatures from any registered NY23rd voter.
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The independent candidates have chosen to run as independents, they may not wish to be associated with the Democratic Party, and the Democrat Party candidates may not want to be associated with the independent candidates views.
I think it was wrong for Citizens for a Better Southern Tier to give Reed’s representative, who is not a candidate, the status of a candidate. In one instance, Reed had just finished speaking and could easily have stayed to speak for himself.
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