Austin American Legion Post No. 91 concluded its role in the 2002 election campaigns Monday night.

The second of two candidates forums was hosted by Post No. 91. Cmdr. Jim Goudy called the forums an "experiment in democracy."

Austin city candidates participated in the experiment and so did state legislative candidates.

Tonight and Wednesday evening, the League of Women Voters-Austin Area hosts the final candidates forums, beginning at 7 and 8 p.m. each evening on KSMQ-TV, where viewers may call-in questions.

Second Ward city council candidate Dick Pacholl was alone to face questions. His opponent, Jeff Kritzer, was out of the country on business.

Airport, Tax Increment Financing, city fund balance and a chemical spill in the Cedar River were the kinds of questions came from over 50 people in attendance.

A possible showdown between 1st Ward incumbent council member Mickey Jorgenson and challenger Vaughn Bothun didn't materialize. Bothun's stringent comments about "illegal aliens" in Austin put him on the defensive after last week's AAUW forum.

Jorgenson defended the current city council's track record Monday night and Bothun said the airport and new ice skating arena were issues that should have been decided by the community at referendums and not the seven-member city council.

At Large candidates Dick Chaffee, incumbent, and Wayne Goodnature, challenger, squared off, with Goodnature talking about Chaffee backing out of a state senate race.

Goodnature is an Austin 1st Ward council member. If he loses next Tuesday's election to Chaffee, he will still hold that spot. If he wins, he creates a vacancy in the 1st Ward that, Chaffee said, will be filled by the mayor's appointment and "not by the people of that ward."

Goodnature said Chaffee's own change-of-mind exhibited when he filed for a state representative seat only to fail to win the DFL endorsement and then returned to run for At Large council member "ticked me off."

Austin incumbent mayor Bonnie Rietz fielded tough questions about her role during the 1985-86 Hormel Foods labor dispute and strike.

Like Jorgenson and Chaffee before her, she extolled the many accomplishments of the council in recent years.

Mayoral challenger Gary Hanson admitted, "I'm not much of a public speaker." Hanson valiantly plugged away at the need to preserve and use the city's historic buildings and to create job opportunities that rival or surpass those paid by the city's largest employers.

Jeff Anderson, a Republican candidate and Jeanne Poppe, a DFL candidate, continued to examine the state budget crisis and other legislative issues in the District 27B race.

The state senate portion of the forum included for the first time a write-in candidate, Jennifer LeeAnn Ney, who says she has the endorsement of the Green Party.

Incumbent state senator Grace Schwab and DFL-endorsed candidate Dan Sparks, who unlike Ney, will be on the Nov. 5 ballots, offered responses to questions.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com