'Conversations with Candidates' continues with Turbett, Forsythe, McGrath

The “Conversations with Candidates” series from North Country Matters on cable channel 30 continues this week, as they air more talks this week, and record talks with District 10 county legislator incumbent Pat Turbett, 118th Assembly District candidate David Forsythe, and 122nd Assembly District candidate Brian McGrath.

The broadcast schedule for this week on WCKN, Time Warner Cable Channel 30 in Potsdam and Canton, is shows on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 20 and 21, with Karl Ortmeyer, another candidate for county Board of Legislators District 10, at 10 p.m. both nights; and Alex MacKinnon, District 4 incumbent, 10:30 p.m.

On Friday, Oct. 22 the Turbett conversation airs at 10 p.m., followed by the Forsythe conversation at 10:30 and the McGrath conversation at 11 p.m.

On Sunday, Oct. 24, all of the current conversations will air, starting at 11 a.m., one very half hour.

The voter education partnership sponsoring the Conversations with Candidates contacted McGrath's campaign to offer him a slot after his opponent, Ken Blankenbush, refused to agree to a public candidate forum for the 122nd seat in St. Lawrence County, according to the program’s organizers, which would offer voters in all areas of the district an opportunity to hear from the candidates vying for an open seat.

The remaining two conversations will be taped on Oct. 29 with Gavin Regan, county board District 11, and Russell Finley, District 8.

Anyone with Internet access may watch the shows on YouTube. They are uploaded at http://www.youtube.com/user/danieledullea. In addition, they can be heard as podcasts from http://wckn.com/Cablecast/Podcasts/17.rss or on iTunes at itpc://wckn.com/Cablecast/Podcasts/17.rss if you have iTunes installed.

The civic partners for these programs include AAUW-St. Lawrence County and AAUW-Jefferson County, the League of Women Voters of St. Lawrence County, North Country Public Radio (NCPR), the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, WPBS-TV, the North Country Region of NYS-PTA, and the Center for Excellence in Communication at Clarkson University.

The partners say these conversations are an exercise in civic and civil engagement to restore our political process, which has become dominated by big money, special interest organizations and the political parties who have swamped our system beneath a tidal wave of money, pressure, advertising, and political calculation designed to manipulate rather than inform voters.