Speaking portion: 7:00 pm, approximately 45–60 minutes

Open house: immediately following, until 8:30 pm

Sam Temple, candidate for Rice County Commissioner, has organized a forum for the August 11 Faribault City Council primary. Every candidate on the ballot has been invited to answer the same three questions in front of voters.

THE FORMAT
A moderator will open the event with a welcome, the logistics, and the disclosures below. The moderator will not be a candidate for any office and not a family member of a candidate for any office. The moderator will read the three questions and call on speakers. Due to the high volume of candidates, there will be no follow-up questions, no cross-examination, and no questions from the audience during the speaking portion.

Every candidate will answer the same three questions in a lightning round, one minute per answer. Speaking order will be randomized separately for each question, so no candidate is always first and no candidate is always last.

Candidates who cannot attend have been offered the option of submitting written answers, which will be read aloud by the moderator in the same rotation as the live answers.

The three questions, sent to candidates in advance:

What distinguishes you from the other candidates?
What is one concrete policy you would champion?
What is one thing about Faribault you hope doesn't change?

THE OPEN HOUSE
After the speaking portion, the room will be open until 8:30 pm. Each candidate who wants a table will have one. Voters will have the opportunity to ask specific questions one-on-one with the candidates.

VIDEO
The event will be filmed. The full, unedited recording will be published July 22 to Sam Temple's campaign Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and organizing website. The raw footage will be made available to all candidates.

Individual candidate compilations will be posted on July 24 for ease of viewing.

DISCLOSURES
This event is paid for by Sam Temple's Rice County Commissioner campaign, as part of his belief that any local campaign should be a vehicle for encouraging community participation in local politics. Sam's campaign is hosting and organizing this event.

A candidate's participation is not an endorsement of Sam's candidacy and it will not be presented as one.

By organizing this event, Sam Temple is also pledging not to endorse anyone in the City Council primary.

Sam's sister, Lexi Temple, is a candidate for Faribault City Council. She had no role in the questions, the moderator selection, or the format, and receives no advantage — the same rules and randomized order apply to her as to every candidate. The audience will be told this before the first question.

Sam is a candidate for Rice County Commissioner District 3, which is not on the August 11 primary ballot. The event is open to the public and to the press.

Paid for by Sam Temple for Commissioner

Large data centers are arriving across Minnesota, and the only local power we have to protect Rice County is through the county and the city governments. Health and safety concerns, water use, electricity demand, noise, and air quality are all concerns our neighbors have about data centers. 

Our current elected officials have not protected us from these potentially hazardous data centers. 

Join Sam Temple, candidate for Rice County Commissioner District 3, for a presentation on what data centers mean for Faribault and what authority local government actually has to set standards and protect residents. 

A town hall with Temple will follow, first on data centers, then open to any question you bring.

Afterward, stay to meet candidates running for Faribault City Council, including Lexi Temple. All City Council candidates are encouraged to attend and meet voters in this open house.

Monday, July 6, 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Buckham Memorial Library, Great Hall. 

Join me for a small community conversation about recent events at both the Faribault City Council and the Rice County Board of Commissioners. This will include a primer on two topics: how local law enforcement policies expose taxpayers to significant liability, and how local housing priorities serve the investment class more than the working class.

Finally, I will explain my theory of change and outline next steps. How do we continue applying pressure to local leaders? How do we communicate the stakes of these issues to our neighbors? What does it take to elect someone new in Faribault? If any of these topics interest you, please attend and join the discussion.

This meeting will take place in the Buckham Memorial Library’s Great Hall. Please ask library staff if you have trouble finding it.

Where: Heritage Park

When: Sep. 25 from 12:00-2:00

Topics: Historic buildings, preservation, and tourism