Recording of La Grande Public Safety Candidate Forum deleted after being online for only a few hours

Published 9:00 am Thursday, October 20, 2022

“I just really was disgusted by how some of the candidates used that forum and I think they took advantage of the unions of the firefighters and La Grande city police. It was divisive. It was nasty. I was just really uncomfortable with how that forum ran,” he said in a video on the EOAlive.TV Facebook page addressing why he removed the recording.

Five candidates running in contested elections gathered at the La Grande Fire Department to discuss public safety. The La Grande Fire Department’s Firefighters Local 924 Union and the La Grande Police Association hosted the forum.

Candidates had the chance to speak about important safety issues in La Grande — from wildfire risk to staffing and retention concerns with the fire and police departments. But public safety wasn’t the only thing on the agenda.

Candidates were given 10 minutes to introduce themselves and then speak about any topic related to public safety. Dustin Alam, president of LGFD Firefighters Local 924 Union, said he intended candidates to use this time to talk about what they stand for and how they plan to address public safety issues if elected. Given the lack of a moderator, Alam said they wanted to keep the format as simple as possible, which is why there was no time set aside for rebuttal.

One candidate in particular used this time to directly attack their opponent.

Cody Vela, who is running against former City Councilor Corrine Dutto, used this time to speak about his opponent and how he perceived her approach to public safety. None of which Dutto had an opportunity to address because she was the first to answer. During her time at the podium, Dutto addressed how the needs of law enforcement, firefighters and first responders are changing and need to be considered on an ongoing basis.

Alam and Clapp spoke before the recording was removed from EOAlive.TV’s platforms, according to Alam. He said while Clapp agreed to stream the forum, the unions did not have a contract in place with EOAlive.TV for the streaming. Alam said he understands this is Clapp’s business and that it is his decision to make.

“The bottom line is that at 2:30 a.m. I got up, removed all those videos from our platforms because I felt terribly uncomfortable with how it was portrayed,” Clapp said in the video. “At the end of the day I’ve gotta live with myself. I’ve gotta live with what we produce and what we put out.”