Thursday, May 8, 2014

Jumping knee-deep into a Hudson County Freeholders race this morning

Everyone loves a good debate. America has a fine history of great debates. It's part of the American fabric that if you run for an office at some point you'll have a debate with your opponent. It's the American way. Lincoln v Douglas, Kennedy v Nixon, Lloyd Bentsen v a well-dressed piece of soap; voters expect debates.

Sadly, Caridad Rodriguez a candidate (and not even the incumbent so that's a twist), for Freeholder of Hudson County in the 7th District election said she'd just rather not debate Freeholder Chairman Jose Munoz. Too much else going on. We're not going to run her made for the media release about how she prefers to get her message out. We're going to tell Ms. Rodriguez that the last person who hid from a debate in these parts was former mayor Healy in 2009. Are YOU a Healy kind of candidate Ms. Rodriguez? We certainly hope not. If you'd like to know what makes voters happy it's a debate. Yes they have turned into "This other person sucks" too often however that doesn't excuse you from doing it. Nobody in America is above debating their opponents in a public forum and we think if Ms. Rodriguez continues to stonewall that yes, it should count against her with voters. Debates are one of the last places candidates or officeholders aren't completely insulated from the public. We need more of them, not less.

No comments: