The Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Snoqualmie Valley Record, announces a series of candidate forums, the first of which is a Primary Candidate Forum, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 11, at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge. The public is invited to meet and greet the candidates starting at 5:30pm, with a no-host bar and light appetizers.

These forums provide the candidates the opportunity to respond to issues-based questions and allow the public to compare and contrast candidates on their positions.

The primary candidate forum will follow a moderated question and answer format. Questions were obtained from the public via multiple outreach efforts, and no additional questions will be taken from the audience. Primary candidates include (in order in the county voters’ pamphlet):

Snoqualmie Mayor – Fuzzy Fletcher, Steve Pennington, Edward J. Mortensen, Brad Toft and Matt Larson;

Snoqualmie City Council Position 2 – AJ Tong, Katherine Ross and Lesley Sheppard.

The moderator for this forum will be Snoqualmie resident, Clayton Fong. Fong has a long history of senior management positions in government service for a U.S. President and for a Governor of California. He was a member of the White House Presidential staff as the Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, and he served as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs. Fong was the Governor of California’s liaison to the Asian Pacific American communities, and is currently the owner of CSF Strategy Communications.

The General Election Candidate Forums will be held in September and October, and will include candidates for King County Council, North Bend City Council, Snoqualmie Mayor and City Council, and Snoqualmie Valley School District Board of Directors.

The Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce is committed to being the voice of business in the Valley while providing value to its members. The Chamber brings in engaging and informative monthly luncheon speakers, provides candidate forums prior to elections (in collaboration with the Snoqualmie Valley Record), advocates for state and local government matters important to business in the Valley, and hosts many other networking and educational activities for our members and interested residents, community leaders, and businesses.