Thought there was no election until 2010? Think again!picture-2

On MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16 all 5 candidates for Philadelphia District Attorney (election on May 19th) will be present for a discussion forum!

The Candidates and Their Platforms Are:

    Brian Grady: stopping witness intimidation; targeting drug dealers for punishment while treating users; coordinating and sharing information; targeting violent offenders on probation and parole while deemphasizing nonviolent and petty offenders; reducing juvenile crime.
    Dan McCaffery: anti-gun and narcotics task force using Pennsylvania’s RICO law; municipal corruption strike force; intensive monitoring of juvenile probationers; diverting drug, alcohol, and mentally ill offenders away from criminal punishment toward alternative sentences; and focus on prosecuting repeat offenders.
    Dan McElhatton: Gun control and targeting gun violence; community partnerships; specialized public corruption, fraud, and economic crimes units; victim-witness services; victim notification of sentences; technology upgrade.
    Michael Turner: zero tolerance of public corruption; aggressive gun enforcement and control; community relations; victim-witness services and combatting witness intimidation; cutting staff and reducing imprisonment of nonviolent offenders; restorative / community justice; gun-free schools zone; tracking repeat violent offenders; truancy prevention and intervention; quality of life crimes; helping elderly victims; special outreach and services for hate crimes and domestic violence.
    Seth Williams: community-based prosecution

Candidates will each receive 2 minutes for opening and closing statements. There will then be a moderated panel for 20-30 minutes and then they will entertain questions from the audience.

At this event, you will be able to meet the candidates and the campaign staffers and look for opportunities to get involved.  It’s a great place to look for internships on local campaigns where you can make a large contribution and impact.

Whether you want to get involved or just want to know about Philadelphia politics, please attend our District Attorney Candidate’s Forum!

The moderator for this event will be Stephanos Bibas  a professor of criminal procedure at the Penn Law School.  Professor Bibas is a former federal prosecutor from New York City and serves on Mayor Nutter’s Advisory Committee on Ethics and Campaign Finance.

WHAT: DA Candidates’ Forum
WHERE: Terrace Room, Claudia Cohen (formerly Logan) Hall, 249 South 36th St
WHEN: Monday, February 16th at 5:30 PM

More Information…

Short Moderator Bio

Stephanos Bibas (STEF-uh-nohs BEE-bus, phonetically), a professor of criminal procedure at the Penn Law School, who is a former federal prosecutor from New York City and serves on Mayor Nutter’s Advisory Committee on Ethics and Campaign Finance.

Forum Format

The forum at Penn will be held in the Terrace Room of Claudia Cohen Hall (249 South 36th Street) at 5:30PM on Monday, February 16th and will be hosted by the Penn Democrats and Drexel Democrats.  This building is in the Perelman Quadrangle and the links to the relevant map of where it is on campus of the the specific building and room are in the links in the parenthesis (Map - http://www.upenn.edu/admissions/tour/map.php?map=2 Building - http://www.perelmanquad.com/facilities/logan_hall/index.php).

The format of the forum will be in a panel style format with the candidates sitting for the majority of the time.  All candidates have confirmed for both currently scheduled forums and we will have a wide variety of questions that will be directed at each individual candidate.  There will be a two minute opening statement for each candidate.  The order will be chosen randomly for the opening statement so as to not give any candidate an unfair advantage.  There will be a timekeeper directly in front of the podium to signal one minute, 30 seconds and “time” with note cards.  We will ask that the candidates stay on time and there will be a motion to indicate that time is up and the candidate will be cut off if that is necessary.  We are not anticipating any direct responses from one candidate to another.  We are hoping that the candidates respond directly to their audience considering we want to keep this in a forum style and avoid debating between the candidates.

We expect the opening statements to take 12 minutes. The direct questions will take up around 30-35 minutes and the Q & A period will take around 15 - 20 minutes so as to keep the forum as near to one hour as possible.

The questions from the moderator can either be for the entire group or for an individual candidate.  If it is directed at the entire group, then each candidate has one minute to respond with no opporunity for a response.  If the question is directed at an individual candidate, then that candidate has one minute to respond and each candidate will have the opportunity for a 30 second response after that individual finishes their response.  As with the opening statement, we will strictly enforce these requirements and interrupt candidates that don’t adhere to them.

The Q & A session is expected to last 15-20 minutes and will be a similar format of response to the previous two parts of the forum.  Anyone who asks a question will be required to direct that question at one candidate.  That candidate will then have one minute to respond.  After this, the other candidates may also respond for 30 seconds if they so choose.  Time will also be strictly enforced in this segment of the forum.

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