Merced County League of Women Voters is organizing a District 5 Supervisor candidates forum on April 20 in the Los Banos City Hall. According to League President Susan Walsh, it will start at 7 p.m.
Walsh explained that the later start time is to “hopefully draw in a more robust audience,” including commuters. It is also because there are only two candidates for the position, allowing the forum to be shorter than normal.
She expects the whole forum to last roughly an hour to an hour and a half. The moderator for the forum will be Los Banos Unified School District Board President Anthony Parreira.
Citizens will be able to attend the meeting and submit questions to be screened and asked via the moderator. They could also watch the meeting by livestream. Walsh explained that similar questions will be combined, and those that target or are offensive will not be asked.
There might be ways to submit questions before the forum, but that has not been decided yet. They have decided against it for previous forums because, Walsh explains, it could lead to accusations that they provided the questions ahead of time to the candidates.
Only two candidates are running in the race: incumbent Scott Silveira and political newcomer Miguel Alejandre.
Silveira has been sitting on the board since 2019 and was a Los Banos councilmember from 2010 to 2018. Silveira is a born and raised local to the district. Silveira lists securing funding for the Dos Palos Water Treatment Plant as one of his major accomplishments on his campaign website.
Silveira cited his agricultural experience as helping him “understand really a lot of the challenges that the district faces.” He said that as supervisor, he tries to balance the needs of commuters and agriculture, “and do what’s best for all the residents in District 5.”
Alejandre moved to Los Banos in 2019 and has created multiple gyms within the district. He entered the local political scene by speaking up against the handling of ARPA funds in Los Banos during former City Manager Josh Pinheiro’s controversial employment.
Alejandre has since been a common sight at local government meetings and posts summaries of them online. He told The Express, “I’m a proud father, husband, believer of Christ, and I’m here to represent the community. I’m not just a part of one group, I’m part of everybody.”
Alejandre and Silveira have confirmed to The Express that they will be attending the forum. Walsh explained that the reason the league does these forums is, “We want every registered voter to vote, and we want to do our part to make sure they have the information they can use to make an informed choice.”
