Gossels Gears Up for 15th Annual 'Ask the Candidates Live'

Fifteen years ago, Peter R. Gossels had the idea to get Wayland's Annual Town Meeting candidates in front of a camera and into every television household in town.

Gossels' goal was and continues to be "to introduce the voters to candidates running for contested offices and to give Wayland residents an opportunity to put questions to the candidates by telephone in full view of the audience watching our program."

This year, "Ask the Candidates Live" will take place on Thursday, March 28 from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on Comcast channel 9 and Verizon channel 38.

The contested races this year are for seats on Wayland's Board of Selectmen and School Committee. The incumbents for both have declined to run for re-election. For the Board of Selectmen seat, Tony Boschetto and David Gordon Cliff are vying for the position. On the School Committee, Donna Bouchard and Jeanne Downs are competing for the open seat.

"Ask the Candidates Live," allows viewers to call into to the WayCam studio at 508-358-3742 to ask their questions directly to the candidates. Gossels will play host and moderator for the Q&A; he'll pose questions of his own as time allows.

Gossels said that in the years before "Ask the Candidates Live," Wayland voters had limited opportunities to get to know candidates, including reading their statements in local media, attending the League of Women Voters Candidates Night, or perhaps visiting a "coffee" hosted by a candidate but not necessarily attended by his or her opponent.

"Our program gives every registered voter (and those residents who are not registered) the unique opportunity to see the candidates on their TV screen, to watch them respond to questions and to put their own questions to them by telephone," Gossels said. The LWV Candidates Night features questions put in writing and submitted to the moderator who could paraphrase or combine that question with others. Additionally, elderly and handicapped individuals could be unable to attend Candidates Night, Gossels added.

"As a result, those voters, who watch our program, are far better informed about each candidate then they would have been if they had to rely on the limited information that used to be available before we went on the air," he explained.

"I submit that is a significant accomplishment."

This year's "Ask the Candidates Live" will air on March 28 from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. It will be recorded and rebroadcast.