Morris County Leagues Provide Candidate Forums And Debates

Morristown NJ

29 October, 2021

5:52 PM

Description

Press release from LWVNJ: Oct. 29, 2021 As a service to voters of Morris County, the League of Women Voters (League) of the Morristown Area, Warren and West Morris Counties, and Mountain Lakes worked as a team to organize and execute nonpartisan candidates debates and forums for the November elections. Beginning in mid August 2021, the team of three Leagues made a significant and sustained effort to bring together candidates running for State Senate and Assembly, County Commissioners, local municipal offices, and local boards of education. We are pleased to announce that our concerted effort paid off. The League triumvirate sponsored an unprecedented number of candidate forums this election season in Morris County, many of which were co-sponsored by organizations that share the League's longstanding commitment to ensuring a nonpartisan arena for political engagement. All forums were live-streamed and are available for viewing on League YouTube channels. Nonpartisan debates and forums are a time-honored and indispensable way for voters to learn about candidates and their platforms. The League strongly believes that voters deserve to hear from their candidates in all races, from the most local grassroots level to the national level. While many debates were arranged without contention, some events could not be scheduled due to candidates' resistance, non-response, failure to appear at pre-arranged debates, or inability to find a suitable date for all parties over extended periods of discussion. When an open and fair debate cannot be accomplished, the voters lose and democracy suffers. The following is a list of successfully executed forums, their co-sponsors, and viewing links. We encourage constituents to view these debates for informed voting. Additional voting information and candidates' positions can be found at VOTE411.org. 10/26 Morris County Commissioners Co-sponsored by Morris County Chamber of Commerce John Krickus (R), incumbent Thomas "T.C." McCourt (D) Aron "A.J." Oliver (D)Stephen Shaw (R), incumbent Deborah Smith (R), incumbent Dina Mikulka (D), unable to attend; opening statement was read Ederle Vaughan (working Families Party), did not respond to the invitation to debate 9/22 Chatham Borough Council Co-sponsored by Morris County Branch of the NAACP Freddie Bicknese (R) Carolyn Dempsey (D), incumbent Jocelyn Mathiasen (D), incumbent 9/28 Chatham Township Committee Co-sponsored by Morris County Branch of the NAACP Katherine R. Abbott (D), incumbent Mark Lois (R) 9/28 Mount Olive Board of Education - 1-year unexpired term Amy Rubin John Voli Lisa Fenton, unable to attend; opening statement was read 9/28 Mount Olive Board of Education – 3-year term Elizabeth Ouimet, incumbent Anthony Strillacci, incumbent Jennifer Aquino, unable to attend John C. Petrie, unable to attend Marc Orzillo, unable to attend Danielle Fico Woelki, did not respond to invitation to participate 9/29 Morristown Council Co-sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Morristown Alumnae Chapter Kristi Dimogeradakis (Restore Government Integrity) Toshiba Foster (D), incumbent Michelle Harris (Restore Government Integrity) David Silva (D), incumbent Nathan Umbriac (Restore Government Integrity) John Thomas, Jr. (Restore Government Integrity), did not attend 10/5 Morris School District - Morris Township Co-sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated-Pi Theta Omega Chapter Kathleen "Katie" Cole Linda K Murphy, incumbent Dawn Teresa Parkot 10/6 Morris Township Committee Due to personal issues with 2 candidates who could not attend, only opening statements were read.Mark Gyorfy (D), incumbent Tara Olivo-Moore (D) Sandi Garcia (R), unable to attend; opening statement was read Joseph Calvanelli (R), unable to attend 10/7 Mount Olive Town Council Jordan Bernstein (D) John Ferrante (R), incumbent Antoine Gayles (D) Baramdai Sharma (D) Nicole Spaldo (D) Gregory Stewart (R), incumbent Daniel Amianda (R), incumbent, unable to attend; opening statement was read John Mania (R), incumbent, unable to attend; opening statement was read 10/11 Chester Board of Education Simone Campbell Sara Kalashian, incumbent Dana Levens Thomas G. Murphy Sarah Schultz John Barounis, unable to attend; opening statement was read Carolina Rodriguez, declined to participate Matthew R. Downs, did not respond to invitation 10/25 Chatham School District - Chatham Borough Ann Ciccarelli, incumbent Chris Delsandro, incumbent Lara Freidenfelds Brian Hargrove 10/25 Randolph Twp Board of Education Co-sponsored by Randolph PTO Council Thomas Duffy Michael Giordano Peggy Kurtz Michael LoCascio Allison Manfred, incumbent Yong Wang, incumbent 10/27 Mountain Lakes Board of Education Panel Discussion Arun Don, PhD Meghan Leininger, incumbent We reached out to the candidates but were unable to arrange forums for the following races:LD23 Senate and Assembly LD25 Senate and Assembly LD26 Senate Montville Township Committee Chatham School District - Chatham Township Mendham Township Committee Montville Board of EducationHanover Board of Education This press release was produced by LWVNJ. The views expressed here are the author's own.