Newsmakers TV returns from summer reruns this week with two election shows: a conversation with all five candidates in the wide-open District 2 City Council race on the Mesa and an in-depth interview with unopposed incumbent Meagan Harmon from downtown's District 6.
All the special guests were in the studio at TV Santa Barbara's fabulous World Headquarters on Thursday night for programs to be posted Friday and begin airing on Cox Cable Channel 17 over the weekend.
First up: the quintet of hopefuls running to replace termed-out council member Randy Rowse sat down together for their first joint appearance of the November 5 election campaign - with several of the contenders meeting each other for the first time.
Tavis Boise, Brian Campbell, Luis Esparza, Mike Jordan and Teri Jory discussed and debated a raft of district-specific and citywide issues, from housing and homelessness to safety on Cliff Drive and the tangle of town vs gown conflicts at Santa Barbara City College.
Then Meagan, who early this year won temporary appointment to the seat vacated by Supervisor Gregg Hart and last week was voted in for the remainder of his four-year term by council colleagues, sat down to talk policy, politics and personal history -- and to call Jerry a "senior citizen" -- in her first full-length interview of election season -- and her first TV interview ever.
Stay tuned for links to both shows on our You Tube channel shortly.
Images: (L-R) Luis Esparza, Teri Jory, Mike Jordan, unidentified geezer, Tavis ("I'm a Hugger) Boise, Brian Campbell; Meagan Harmon on the set. (Hap Freund photos).