The North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership and the Clayton Chamber of Commerce will host a “Hometown Debate” at the Clayton Center on Tuesday, October 9 at 7:00pm.
Continuing its popular “Hometown Debate” series it began in 2016, IOPL is hosting four nights of debate in late September and early October, addressing four of the six proposed amendments to the state Constitution.
“The goal of these events is to encourage and enhance education dialogue at a local level – equipping voters with information they can use to make more informed business, policy, and electoral decisions,” said NCIOPL Board Chair Nelle Hotchkiss.
The debate in Clayton will focus on the proposed amendment of increasing legislative control over appointments to the bipartisan elections and ethics board. The doors to the Clayton Theatre will open at 6:30pm, followed by the debate at 7:00pm.
“We are pleased to bring this public service opportunity to our community,” said Dana Wooten, CEO of the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. “NCIOPL’s mission is centered around fair political discourse on issues, and these debates will provide the opportunity to do just that.”
The debate will be taped and broadcast by Spectrum News. Spectrum will air the debate in its entirety on its website at www.spectrumlocalnews.com and an abbreviated version on its program, In Focus, on Sunday, October 14 at both 11:30am and 8:30pm. Streaming coverage and online sources will also be available.
The debate will be moderated by Spectrum’s Loretta Boniti, and the panelists are Senator Dan Blue (District 14), Representative David Lewis (District 53), Allison Riggs (Senior Attorney, Southern Coalition for Social Justice), and Dallas Woodhouse (Executive Director, NC Republican Party).
The remaining debate in the series will be at the Gastonia Conference Center on October 16. The previous debates were held at the Meroney Theatre in Salisbury on September 25 and the Turnage Theatre in Washington on October 2. All the debates are free to the public and start at 7:00pm.
NCIOPL is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate future political and community leaders in modern campaign strategy, ethical decision making, and governance, such that its participants will have a sound grounding in ethical behavior, consensus building, and cooperative and collaborative leadership. No other program in North Carolina offers such a comprehensive curriculum in strategic, nonpartisan political leadership development.
