Politics & Government

Debate Preview: Candidates Square Off on Live TV Wed. Night

The five candidates in the Board of Selectmen race and the three candidates in the School Committee race will take each other on during tonight's live debate.

All eight candidates hoping to win a spot on either the Board of Selectmen or School Committee in the upcoming town election on April 24 will be participating in a live televised debate on Wednesday night.

The annual candidate's debates will run from 7-9:15 p.m. on March 28 live at WCAT.

The School Committee candidates’ debate will kick off the evening at 7 p.m. and run for an hour.

Find out what's happening in Wakefieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Running for School Committee this year are three candidates for two spots: Janine Cook, , and John Bengtson. Incumbents and are not running this year, leaving their two seats up for grabs.

At 8:15 p.m., the candidates in the Board of Selectmen race will square off for at least an hour. Given that there are five candidates, the debate may be extended, said David Watts, Jr. producer for WCAT. Running for Board of Selectmen this year are Brian Falvey, incumbent , Phyllis Hull, Phillip Renzullo, and . Incumbent decided not to run for re-election.

Find out what's happening in Wakefieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 “With no incumbents running for either of the two seats on the School Committee and only one incumbent running in the Board of Selectmen race this year’s town election is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in some time,” said David Watts, Jr., producer of WCAT.
 
Both debates will be held in Studio A at WCAT’s studios at the rear of Wakefield High School. The public is invited to view the live debates in WCAT’s lobby and conference room. As with past debates, this year’s edition will be moderated by Wakefield Town Moderator Bill Carroll.

Questions to the candidates will be posed by Mark Sardella of the Wakefield Daily Item, Sara jacobi of Wakefield Patch, and Bob Charlton of the Daily Times Chronicle.

Both debates will be televised live on WCAT’s government channel, which is Channel 13 on RCN,  Channel 16 on Comcast and Channel 42 on Verizon.


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