Lake County League of Women Voters Ejects Citizen Activist From Meeting

LAKE COUNTY- The League of Women Voters held their candidate forum this evening, hosting several candidates for seats at the county and state levels. During the meeting, local citizen activist Brian Massie was reportedly asked to leave the event for attempting to film the candidates speaking. According to his reporting through Lobbyists for Citizens, Massie attempted to film the candidates presenting at the forum, including Lake County Commissioner John Plecnik, State Representative Jessie Styles, and candidate Belinda Grassi.

According to his reporting through Lobbyists for Citizens, Massie attempted to film the candidates presenting at the forum, including Lake County Commissioner John Plecnik, State Representative Jessie Styles and candidate Belinda Grassi. According to Massie, The League of Women Voters, who were hosting the event, asked Brian to leave as they were not permitting any filming of the events. This represents a departure from previous candidate forums which have been recorded and posted to their websites.

Massie echoed concerns many have over the political leaning of the League of Women Voters as their forums have traditionally been stacked with biased selections of 'experts', such as when they held multiple property tax abolition informationals that did not host representatives of the Ax Ohio Tax initative to share their perspective on the issue. The question remains whether the organization can truly hope to 'inform' the public with its public forums if it does not permit transparency within them.