Imagine this – A Los Alamitos City Council political forum without shenanigans, dirty tricks, or campaign antics.

The seven Los Alamitos City Council candidates will strut their stuff tonight at a “Candidates Night” jointly sponsored by the Los Alamitos Area Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters of North Orange County. The seven contenders – three incumbents and four others – are chasing three seats in the November 2 general election. The politicians will be required to face the issues – no nonsense tonight.

The big question is, of course, who decides which questions are issues and which are nonsense. The answer: The League of Women Voters of North Orange County and their moderator Frann Shermet.

“We will not allow any personal attacks, the candidates may not do any campaigning, and neither can anyone in the audience,” Shermet told OC180NEWS. “And we hope people will ask relevant questions - they have to be relevant to city issues.”

Of course, what is a relevant question to one person could be considered a personal attack by somebody else. In fact, that might be a pretty good summary of the entire Los Alamitos City Council campaign. But, Shermet understands those trade offs, including some of the specific examples such as the infamous Dean Grose watermelon racial slur cartoon. Grose’s email distribution of the racially insulting message caused him to resign from the council in 2009.

We asked Shermet if she would allow questions about that issue. “I don’t think so in this campaign – this is a different campaign,” she told us.

We asked her if questions about the watermelon cartoon might be relevant for establishing Mr. Grose’s character. “That may be so, but there are no personal attacks,” she said.

She did however suggest that the way the question was presented might affect their decision. “We will try to run a tight ship regarding those kinds of questions and the way they are asked.” But…“if we construe it as a personal attack, the question won’t be allowed.”

The format provides each candidate with a three minute opening statement. This will be followed by the formal question period where each candidate will have one minute to answer every question. Next will be a more informal session where questions maybe directed to specific candidates. In this part, the other candidates will have a chance to answer the question if they want. The wrap up will give each politician a one minute closing statement.

The fun takes place tonight, October 14, starting at 7:00 PM at the Los Alamitos Community Center, 10911 Oak Street.