Rep. Kaufman's Open House Forum: Election Aftermath

Rep. Jay Kaufman's award winning public policy forum, "OPEN HOUSE," is back for a post-election wrap up, examining the recent election results in Massachusetts that saw, among other races, Gov. Deval Patrick re-elected for a second term.

The forum will be held on Thursday, Nov. 18 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the historic Lexington Depot, 13 Depot Square. Joining Rep. Kaufman will be John Walsh, Massachusetts Democratic State Party Chairman, and invited guest Jennifer Nassour, Massachusetts Republican State Party Chairwoman.

Together, they will examine the election results at all levels, from Constitutional Officers, to Massachusetts Congressional races, to candidates for state representative and state senate, and everything in between. What happened to the republican groundswell nationally that didn't quite make it in Massachusetts? How effective were the blitz of television and radio advertising? Did negative campaigning backfire for some candidates? How does this impact the U. S. Senate election for 2012? Where do we go from here?

As with every forum, audience participation is encouraged and questions and comments from the floor will shape the discussion.

Upon taking office in 1995, Rep. Kaufman sought to provide a vehicle for discussing the challenges and opportunities facing our community and Commonwealth on a regular basis. While most of his colleagues appear occasionally on local cable access shows, the format is invariably one-sided, as there is no real way to engage the viewer. In the early '90s, the open town meeting format was just coming into its own, and offered a new, albeit challenging, way to engage constituents in important public policy conversations.

Over its first 15 years, OPEN HOUSE has addressed issues ranging from reinventing public education to gay marriage, property tax relief to campaign finance reform, the shrinking middle class to stem cell research, the nature of political leadership to the challenges of effecting fundamental change in a democracy.

In 1997, OPEN HOUSE was awarded the prestigious Beacon Award, cable television's equivalent of an Emmy, as the nation's best government relations series.  The series was also named the best television series by Massachusetts Cable Television Commission. The OPEN HOUSE series is produced through a partnership between Representative Kaufman and LexMedia, which records the forums for broadcast in Lexington, Arlington and Woburn.