City Council questionnaire: Almost done.
The posts are all written and in the queue. They will start running shortly after 1 p.m. today. As of this moment, just one candidate who shall not be named missed the deadline and did not submit answers. I’m hoping something will arrive in my inbox so I can get the answers onto the nine separate posts I’ve created.
The posts contain the question and the answers, with minor editing for clarity, spelling and style. I altered the order in each post. Anyone whose response was on top of the list in one post was at the bottom of the one that followed. The fist post followed the order in which the post was received.
I did not add any comments of my own. At a later time, I’ll sit down and evaluate the answers I receive and I might even correspond with the candidates and ask for clarification on some points.
Until then, I anticipate lively debate and commentary. What I do NOT want to see in the comments section on these particular posts are a bunch of insults and invective hurled at these candidates. No one twisted them to respond to these rude and admittedly biased questions. As a courtesy, I ask my readers to tone down the insults and snarky comments and be polite for once, OK? I’m not going to censor anyone unless it’s a serious violation of The Rules, but I would consider it a personal favor if the you ASK questions and state your OWN opinions without questioning the honesty, integrity and genetic background of these people.
And I put these posts together over a two-hour period after a long day at work. I ask any user with editing privileges to fix any obvious errors.
UPDATE: I’ve decided to release three a day for the next three days. Normally, I’m not fond of series when they appear in newspapers or blogs, but nine posts all on the same subject are a bit much.
Also, I’ve been accused of ripping off the idea for a questionnaire from fellow Peoria blogger, PeoriaIllinoisan. I admire and respect this blogger, and I concede that his his similar project back before the primary inspired me to get off my ass and do something similar. But he did not invent candidate questionnaires and is certainly not the first blogger to do them. In fact, I’d like to see him do the same thing. I’m sure his new questions and their answers could only help voters decide for whom to vote.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
I don’t have editing privileges….but it looks like they are are scheduled to go atthe same time – a relative deluge. How about 1 per day?
I just may do that. There are nine questions to be answered, and I might run three at a time.
Jim Montelongo didn’t respond to my questions either. At least he’s consistent.