A candidate forum for the Portola Valley Town Council race on Thursday evening attempted to exclude journalists and all non-residents of Portola Valley. This reporter showed up on behalf of The Almanac, with support from some residents -- including one of the event's sponsors -- to observe and report on any news relevant to the upcoming election for three council seats.

The nonprofit Portola Valley Residents hosted the forum at the Town Center at 6:45 p.m. on Oct. 13. All five candidates attended the forum for a meet-and-greet with the audience, followed by an open-mic Q&A moderated by resident Judith Murphy. The event was described as a "private meeting."

I waited at the door wearing my press pass until I caught someone’s attention, who directed me to Neil Weintraut, an organizer of the event. I began to ask if there was a way I could attend the event quietly, but halfway through my question he took me by my shoulder and started leading me to the door.

"You posted an article saying you knew this and you still showed up," Weintraut said.

Once outside, I encountered a group of residents who were upset about the press being banned from entering the forum. Two of those residents included Council member Maryann Derwin and resident JoAnn Loulan, executive director of the Democratic Messaging Project, both of whom had spoken out against the exclusion of non-residents in the lead-up to the forum.

Derwin and Loulan went in to speak to two people at the door, who Derwin says were members of Portola Valley Residents, before leading me into the forum.

"JoAnn Loulan and I would not hear of (press being banned) and argued with the folks at the door, most ungraciously on my part, and they relented," Derwin wrote in a statement that she posted on The Almanac's Town Square.

I sat between Loulan and Derwin in the front row, where Weintraut approached us. He repeatedly asked if I knew I was not permitted to enter and came in anyway. Derwin and Loulan attempted to tell him that they had brought me in.

"I repeatedly interrupted to explain that it was me and JoAnn who were the defiant ones, not Cameron, and annoyed, the gentleman told me to stop interrupting," Derwin wrote. "I called him an as***le at which time he jumped up, grabbed his iPad, turned it on "record" and pounded me in an insane attempt to admit that I did in fact call him an as***le, which I did."

Derwin added that she stands by the comment.

Weintraut attempted to get me to say that I had defied him, to which I told him that others at the door had told me I could come in. He then asked for a front-page retraction of “an article” that was factually incorrect. He did not clarify which article was allegedly inaccurate.

Weintraut allowed me to stay in the meeting. Residents asked questions about mandating electric appliances and the overdue city audit, among other topics, while I took notes.

"Looking back, I am unsettled by the fact that had JoAnn and I not been willing to fight for Cameron, the sponsors of the community event would have succeeded in barring the press in a shameful act of chipping away at democracy in Portola Valley," Derwin wrote.