Governor candidates forum to be held tonight

The first candidates' forum following the filing deadline in the 2010 race for governor will be held at 7 p.m. May 12 at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant sponsored by a partnership of the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Radio, ConservAmerica and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. The forum will focus on three key challenges facing the next governor: rebuilding the state economy, creating jobs and safeguarding Michigan's natural resources.
The filing deadline for major party candidates was May 11.
The moderated, non-partisan forum will be broadcast live from 7-9 p.m. on Michigan Radio and played on statewide public television and live-streamed online at the Detroit Free Press (www.freep.com) and the Michigan Radio (www.michiganradio.org) websites. The forum will afford the candidates an opportunity to address the critical connection between economic and environmental issues, and the best public policies in both of these high-stakes areas.
Invitations have gone out to seven candidates with the final forum lineup to be determined at the filing deadline. Confirmed candidates include Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, state Sen. Tom George, Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder and state Rep. Alma Wheeler-Smith.
"At a critical time in Michigan, candidates who would lead this state must afford the voting public every opportunity to know their views on issues of vital importance to our future," said executive director Lisa Wozniak. "Michigan's economy can't afford a governor who doesn't understand the simple truth behind our state's Pure Michigan ads: protecting our natural resources creates a healthier economy."
The forum at CMU's Plachta Auditorium will be free and open to the public on a first-come basis. The event will include questions posed by members of the general public that were submitted at an earlier date.
The 2010 forum follows a similar, successful event, sponsored by the Michigan LCV Education Fund, the Free Press and Michigan Radio/TV that kicked off the 2002 governor's race, the last year in which the job was open, with no incumbent eligible to run. The pre-primary 2002 forum drew an audience of 800 people to Brighton High School and was covered by 25 media outlets.
The May 12 forum hopes to raise the curtain on the most important election in recent Michigan history and enable the voting public to start the process of making well-informed choices in the Aug. 3 primary and the Nov. 2 general elections.