Candidates for mayor and the Pleasanton City Council will respond to voters' questions and tell the community how they would govern the city at tonight's Candidates Forum starting at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the City Council chambers, an event hosted by the Pleasanton Weekly.

The 90-minute forum will be the candidates' last public debate before voters can start casting their ballots by mail next Monday.

The candidates are Council members Cheryl Cook-Kallio and Jerry Thorne, who are seeking election to the mayor's post, and Karla Brown, Erlene DeMarcus and Jerry Pentin who are seeking election to the City Council, where two seats need to be filled. Mike Harris, a fourth council candidate, has dropped out of the race although his name is still listed at the top of the council ballot, which is already printed and distributed and cannot be changed.

Those attending the forum will be given cards as they enter which they can use to write out their questions for individual or all candidates. The moderators of the forum, Gina Channell-Allen, publisher of the Pleasanton Weekly and its editor Jeb Bing, will then ask the candidates to answer these questions as well as others they will ask as well.

The forum, which is being sponsored by the Bay East Association of Realtors and the Valley Real Estate Network, will be videotaped for later broadcast on community television's Channel 29 and also on the Pleasanton Weekly's website at www.pleasantonweekly.com.

Questions for individual or all of the candidates may also be sent by email up to 6 p.m. today to editor@pleasantonwweekly.com.

The doors to the council chambers, located in the Pleasanton Civic Center at 200 Old Bernal Ave., will open at 6 p.m. The Pleasanton Weekly will provide refreshments at that time.
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