bubble speech (colorful symbol set)

For those of you who didn’t have a chance to go to the debate on October 25th where only one candidate appeared (Sharon Hubberman), or the October 27th debate held at Beth Mordecai, you have an opportunity to see the four candidates on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at Olive Street from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Regarding the debate at Beth Mordecai – Yes, we have read some of the comments left on Facebook and contrary to certain individual’s comments – IT WAS NOT RIGGED! It was not exactly what we had envisioned like we had at the first debate and we also had a couple of surprises.

First of all we need to thank those involved that made this debate happen. We had stated a few weeks earlier, because October being a very busy month, we didn’t think we could pull off a debate this year. We received a call in mid-October from Ron Miskoff who said that Rabbi Saks had contacted him about the Amboy Guardian having a debate because many of the residents felt it was needed and we had a successful debate in 2012 held at the same location. It was ironic in 2012 Beth Mordecai was not the first choice for the debate. Our first choice was a much smaller place and thank God we chose Beth Mordecai because more than twice as many people showed up for the debate, than the first place could hold.

We had a short period of time to prepare for the debate, must importantly to notify the candidates and verify that they would be attending.

We have to give kudos first and foremost to Rabbi Ari Saks. He was there three hours before the doors were to open setting up the microphones and he was able to accommodate all that we requested. We also would like to thank Messengers of Peace Founder Stephanie Rodriguez (Marquez-Villafane) who manned the clock and her mother, Nilda Rivera, who passed out and collected the index cards from the attendees. The two of them did the work of four people and were cool, calm and collected.

We had also asked those in attendance to please hold their applause until after the debate was over, so some of you were at fault, too for not following those rules. Once it started, it was hard to stop. Emotions ran high, which is a good thing because it shows people care about the issues. This the first time since we’ve been publishing that a Sitting Council Member challenged the Mayor in an election.

People came over to us and said that at times the audience was out of control, and we agree. That’s why I went up on stage to try to rectify the situation to no avail.

We realize that some of the candidates seemed to be hitting below the belt and should have been warned. We specified in the rules of the forum no disparaging remarks to the other candidates. And we realize that there were too many rebuttals. There was supposed to be one rebuttal per candidate per question.

Of course, the candidate that took the brunt of the bullets was Mayor Diaz, because that is the position that all of her opponents want and she wants to retain. In 2012, there were 5 other candidates who were vying after the position. It was easier for her back then, because she was only going for a second term. Although the field had narrowed down, she was hammered because of the third term she is seeking.

Joel Pabon was a target also, but not as much as the Mayor. There are two things that Wilda Diaz and Joel Pabon have in common. They both upset the applecart when they were first elected and they did that by walking the neighborhoods and speaking individually to residents just listening to their concerns. Secondly, they both have a track record as elected officials where people can go back and look at decisions that they have made. Sharon Hubberman and Miguel Nunez are no babes in the woods when it comes to politics. They have both run for political office before; Hubberman for Mayor in 2012 and Nunez for Council in 2012 and 2014 so all four candidates know what they’re getting into and have spoken in front of large audiences before and should be well aware of all the hot topics in town, even without having to give them a list.

Lastly, we understand that the Moderator decided to push the envelope, which took us aback. You never know what will happen in debates because  candidates have to think on their feet.

In spite of the difficulties that occurred that may have made some of the candidates uncomfortable, we want to give those candidates KUDOS. They were extremely gracious to us and to each other at the end of the debate.

It’s easy to be an armchair politician when you are not in front of a large audience trying to defend yourself. As a whole, we found that they were for the most part gracious under fire.

Let’s be honest. Politics in Perth Amboy is unique. If you look at the players between 2008 up until this year, you see how there has been a shift as to who is supporting whom. Not only political candidates, but residents themselves have shifted their support between different candidates.

All we can do is sit back and wait for the final results after the election is held on November 8, 2016. The paper is coming out on Election Day and we will not have any negative political ads or letters in that issue. We also stated in last week’s paper (10/26/16) that we would not publish any negative ads or letters to the editor attacking any candidates. We did this because the candidates would not have any chance to respond back to those criticisms.

Check www.amboyguardain.com for election results that will be FROM THE MACHINE ONLY. We will post updates as soon as we can. If you feel that candidates once they get in office tend to let you down, the only thing you can do is run yourself. You never know. You may be surprised. C.M. & K.M.