Democratic forums planned for 1st District

DES MOINES — Two of three Democrats seeking their party's nomination for the U.S. House 1st District have agreed to a series of forums. The third candidate is a maybe.

Five forums are being planned with each one focusing on a particular issue. Tentative plans call for the first forum to examine environmental issues, according to Kurt Meyer of St. Ansgar, who led the committee that organized the forums.

The idea, he said, is to drill down in topic areas to give voters an opportunity 'to size up their candidates talking about the issues that will be important to the campaign, issues that will be dealt with by a future Congress.'

The environmental focus will be broad, Meyer said.

'There are a lot of issues in the environmental basket,' he said, 'pipelines, fracking, ethanol, the RFS, climate change.'

Two candidates, Monica Vernon of Cedar Rapids and Gary Kroeger of Cedar Falls, have agreed to participate. Vernon looks 'forward to engaging with my opponents and voters on the issues that are so important to all of us here in northeast Iowa.'

Pat Murphy of Dubuque is considering whether to participate. He took part in 12 debates and forums when he won the nomination two years ago, but said he doesn't like what his campaign manager called the narrow focus of the debates.

'Being a member of Congress doesn't allow you to focus on one issue a day,' Mike McLaughlin said Wednesday. The format might allow the candidates to simply repeat their talking points rather than engage in an actual discussion, he said.

In 2014, the forums consisted of Murphy answering questions, 'and the most frequent response from the others was, 'I agree with Pat.' '

If Murphy doesn't participate, McLaughlin said, 'I guess they will have to repeat what their Washington consultants tell them to say.'

Kroeger is 'fine with whatever format I'm asked to participate in' because he hears voters asking for two things: new ideas and civility.

'That doesn't mean that differences shouldn't be critically reviewed, but I believe people would like to discover our plans without the vitriol of disagreement,' Kroeger said.

Meyer was disappointed by the Murphy campaign's unwillingness to commit to the forums.

'This wasn't meant as an la carte menu,' he said.

McLaughlin said the campaign has agreed to a forum next month being planned by KCRG-TV9 and Loras College. Unlike the party-sponsored events, he said, any topic will be fair game.

Each party-sponsored forum will be one hour and available on television and livestream, Meyer said. Audience members — at the forum and at home — may submit questions.

Murphy, Vernon and Kroeger are seeking the nomination to face first-term Republican Rep. Rod Blum of Dubuque. In 2014, he defeated Murphy, who had defeated Vernon and three others for the nomination.

The primary election is June 7.