The “Community Court Of Public Opinion”

The People Speak “Community Court of Public Opinion” will be a public conversation and grassroots process designed to address specific campaign allegations, accusations, and attacks made against participating candidates. These facilitated conversations will strive for accuracy, fairness, balance, and relevant context, not according to legalistic or quasi-legalistic standards, but per the common sense, decency, and folk wisdom of the people.

This will be a forum where candidates who are attacked or who anticipate being attacked can engage in dialogue with open-minded, fair, and impartial members of the community. The People Speak envisions bringing all key parties into the room for a real time inquiry, where an accuser and the accused can engage with the people of the community and with each other in a facilitated process that will yield a deeper understanding of the matter at hand.

The end result will be a highly publicized “Sense of the Community” statement regarding an allegation or accusation.

The Sense of the Community statement will serve as a new and powerful reference point for the issue at hand, re-contextualizing a campaign accusation and framing it around higher, more authentic community values.