The Beverly Hills City Council approved candidate forums hosted by the Municipal League of Beverly Hills and the Southwest Beverly Hills Homeowners Association at its March 24 meeting, with the conditions that moderators sign civility statements and ask fair questions to each candidate.
The approval comes in the wake of a contentious candidate forum during the 2022 election cycle in which Councilmember Lester Friedman said he was unfairly singled out and subjected to biased questioning. During the forum in question, the late former Mayor Bob Tanenbaum, then head of the Beverly Hills North Homeowners Association, grilled Friedman on campaign flyers that featured photos of him with the fire chief and police chief, which Tanenbaum said violated election law. Friedman defended the photos at the time, arguing they were taken prior to his campaign and did not violate election law as they were not originally intended for political use.
