Mayoral Candidates to Debate 3 Times Before Primary

With three weeks to go before the primary election that will likely determine who Bethlehem’s next mayor will be, there will be three more forums during which the public can hear the two candidates debate and discuss the issues.

City Council colleagues Bob Donchez and J. William Reynolds have met at least twice before in mayoral candidates forums.

They differed on very few issues at the first one hosted by the city’s Latino community at the Fowler Hispanic Youth Center in South Bethlehem. They’ve also met once at a forum hosted by a West Bethlehem neighborhood group.

Now in the campaign’s home stretch, the last three scheduled forums are being hosted by the League of Women Voters of Northampton County, the Bethlehem City Democratic Committee and the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

All three are open to the public and one will be taped for television.

The League of Women Voters event will be Tuesday night at 7. Though it will be hosted in the ESSA Community Room at PBS39 headquarters at SteelStacks, it will not be broadcast.

The City Democratic Committee Debate will be held Thursday night at Moravian College’s Prosser Auditorium in the Haupert Student Union Building.

That event will feature an undercard—a debate among the six Democratic candidates for City Council. That is scheduled to get under way at 6:30 p.m., with the mayoral debate to follow.

The forums will be moderated by former mayor and Lehigh County executive Don Cunningham. The panelists will be reporters Nicole Radzievich of The Morning Call and Lynn Olanoff of The Express-Times and Bethlehem Patch Editor Daryl Nerl.

The last of the mayoral forums will be hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce in the Grand Ballroom of the Historic Hotel Bethlehem on May 16. It will be taped for airing on WFMZ-TV’s Business Matters, which is hosted by Chamber President Tony Iannelli.

Doors to the event will open at 4 p.m. The program taping is scheduled to take place between 4:15 and 5 p.m. The chamber plans to charge a nominal fee for those who stay for a reception that follows the forum from 5 to 6 p.m.

The taped program will air on WFMZ-TV at 7:30 p.m. on May 20, primary election eve.

As both Donchez and Reynolds are Democrats and no Republican has entered the race, the winner of the May 21 Democratic primary will very likely be the city's next mayor.