Opinion: A Truly Wide-Open #NJSen Debate

By Charlie Barr | The Save Jersey Blog

Debate StageOn November 4, 2014, New Jersey will choose between seven candidates for United States Senate.

Seven?

Yes. Seven, Save Jerseyans.

Cory Booker and Jeff Bell are the two political heavy-lifters when it comes to money and party loyalists. But the other five candidates? Not so much. I don’t believe that necessarily warrants their exclusion from a political process that should, of all things, be inclusive.

On Tuesday, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey called for an open mic debate between “the major party candidates.”

Daniel J. Douglas, director of the Hughes Center, stated that New Jersey deserved an open debate – open to the public and open to the media.

I congratulate The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey for being willing to host a debate at all. From witnessing countless political debates and being involved in a few here and there, I know how much time, effort, money, organization, and dedication it takes to pull off a successful debate.

But I ask Daniel J. Douglas: if New Jersey deserved such an “open” debate, why not “open” the debate to all of the candidates?

After all, isn’t an “open” political debate good for a political climate such as New Jersey’s?

While it’s great that “all media outlets will be invited to attend and be given equal access to communicate to their audiences, via television, radio, print or web,” I think it’s equally- if not more- important that all seven candidates are given equal access to communicate to potential voters, supporters, and residents of New Jersey.

While we all wait for the same old excuses – polling threshold, time, space concerns, etc. for excluding the third party candidates to come from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey – I kindly encourage both Cory Booker and Jeff Bell to decline the offer for a debate unless all candidates and their views are represented.

90 seconds won’t cut it either.

It is impossible for New Jersey to have a political debate they they “deserve” unless the debate is truly open and includes views and opinions that may be similar or the total opposite of yours.

That’s why we call it a debate.

In order to help get the ball rolling so The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey can easily reach out to the five other candidates (no Google searching required!), the names and Facebook links of the candidates are provided below. That way, all that is required is a simple copy and paste of the initial Twitter invite that was cordially sent to Cory Booker and Jeff Bell.

First up, Eugene LaVergne of the D-R Party. Then there is Antonio Sabas, running as an Independent. Jeff Boss, also an Independent, who ran for almost every political office in NJ. Hank Schroeder, running for the Economic Growth Party does not have a Facebook page nor a website (sorry guys). And last but not least, Joseph Baratelli, Libertarian Party candidate.

Until some formal excuse is issued from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, or until they actually have time to copy and paste the Twitter invite to the other five candidates running for United States Senate, I encourage Jeff Bell to withdraw his support for the debate and hope that Cory Booker will not accept the invite.

If The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey continues to unfairly ignore the other five candidates (and I’m sure they will), I hope that all seven can agree to hold a true open debate- one open to all of the candidates, the public, and the media.

The political debate process should be open. No excuse, higher authority, or fancy-schmancy-politically-correct press release will discourage opinions from entering or being heard in the political arena.

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7 Comments

  1. They’ll fight ever having the independents on the same stage…well, maybe Bell won’t, because EML would take Booker APART.

    As to the argument that the independents bear insufficient community support…18% of Registered Voters in NJ are Republican – which means, necessarily, that 82% ARE NOT. 32% are Democrat, which, naturally, means that 68% ARE NOT. How many are registered “unaffiliated” (changed from “independent” to dilute the impact of the real numbers)? A hair under FIFTY PERCENT.

    Most voters are “AMERICAN” before they’re D or R.

    Put more plainly, here’s how little support the majors have from the rank and file….(article to follow)

    A Battle Royale is about to commence – and it will forever affect the integrity of your ballot.

    Thanks to a victory by our organization in Judge Mary Jacobson’s NJ Superior Courtroom in Trenton last Fall, your ballot may look very different, this year – if the clerks follow the law.

    NEITHER the Democrat NOR the Republican Party met the required statute to be “gifted” preferential ballot placement, as they have received in the past.

    Such placement is earned at each primary election, by demonstrating sufficient support of the voting public. That support is measured in a very specific way.

    Each party must “poll” – that is to say that each party must turn out voters equal to 10% of the total votes cast for NJ Assembly in the prior November’s election.

    The parties “qualify” for a State-funded primary by collecting at least 10% of the ballots cast in November – after which, Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno then issues a “Certification of Political Parties”, affirming which political organizations met the lawful requirements at the polls, and are therefore eligible to conduct a primary election on the taxpayers’ dime.

    The parties, having conducted their primaries, must re-qualify by a sufficient turn-out in order to enjoy the preferential ballot position in the November election, positions granted to them as almost a foregone conclusion for years.

    What is the number of voters who had to show up in June for each party to maintain “major party” status?

    372,197 VOTERS

    Doesn’t sound like much, does it? After all, it’s STATE-WIDE.

    So, how did they do?

    Well, on June 3rd, the Democrats managed to cajole only 199,329 people to showing up to cast a ballot in the primary – 53.55% of the minimum required.

    No dice.

    Another way to put that is only just over 5% of the people who showed up last NOVEMBER even bothered to show up this June.

    The Democrats don’t qualify for a ballot column, and, by the law passed by New Jersey’s Legislature, they are to be treated just like individual “nomination by petition” candidates.

    Oh, by the way – as they held a State-funded primary, they’re specifically not entitled to a “bracket request”.

    “Bracket Request?”

    I’ll explain that in a moment.

    You would think this would be great news for the Republicans…and it would, except that they managed to inspire only 152,686 people to go to the polls in June – That’s 46 thousand fewer voters than the Democrats!

    That’s only 41.02% of what they were minimally required to receive.

    IF you got a “41” on your math final, you’re probably headed to summer school. No worries, though – your pal with the “55” would be right there with you.

    These two parties have coerced, cajoled, and manipulated the game in their favor for decades.

    Now, when they stumbled, someone was watching.

    We were.

    We proved in court last year that the standards weren’t being met, and sued all 21 County Clerks successfully. Judge Jacobson ruled that the standard must be complied with, and she threw out the argument used in the past that a voter casting a ballot for Governor, Lt. Governor, Assembly person 1, Assembly person 2, Senator, Mayor, Councilperson, Freeholder, County Clerk, and Dog Catcher is not, in fact, TEN VOTERS. (Hence the “math summer school” analogy)

    The County Clerks ALREADY KNOW that neither party qualifies for a column this year.

    How?

    We told them.

    They are relying on being “procedurally unaware” of the failure of both parties to meet the standard, because Lt. Governor Guadagno’s office is delaying certifying the results of the Statewide primary election. (although her certification is not a requirement – the County Clerks know the total ballots cast in THEIR OWN COUNTY, and we were kind enough to inform them of the totals reported.

    The Lt. Governor is to provide her certification 86 Days before the election. Last year, when she thought we weren’t paying attention, the certification was offered mid-July. Now, they’re milking every last day out of the Statute, but they did the math wrong.

    According to the laws of New Jersey, the drawing for position is to take place 85 Days before the election – in fact, it is to take place at 3:00 p.m. – the statute is THAT SPECIFIC.

    As 86 days before the election falls numerically on a Sunday, it must be given the prior Saturday, not Tuesday. In the statute, 87 minus “Sunday” is 86, but 85 is never 86.

    Nice try. Maybe they can carry her books to summer school.

    Not only do the Clerks know this to be true (since they had to write checks to cover costs, as they LOST), Essex County Clerk, Chris Durkin, in a dignified appeal to the public in the Newark Star Ledger, agreed with our position – earning him no little scorn from the Pharisees of his own party.

    Now, to the dreaded “Bracket Request”…

    (Want to see a party boss wince? Ask him what a bracket request is.)

    Independent (“nomination by petition”) candidates, as guaranteed by their right of assembly, may associate on the ballot by making a formal request that they be “bracketed together”.

    In other words, they may request a column. This is not allowed for the major parties – their primary DETERMINES their column…in fact, a candidate may not run in a primary and ALSO run as an independent for the same office.

    Our organization qualifies for its own column in 17 of the 21 Counties.

    That means that, if the Clerks actually follow the law, the only column that is legally allowed to appear on the mail-in ballots, the sample ballots, and in the voting booth belongs to us.

    The ONLY one.

    They’re so used to having it their own way, they can’t fathom that they’ve failed such a simple task…garnering a mere 10% support from among their own rank and file.

    If some of them had their way, we would appear ON THE BACK of the ballot. I wish that were a joke.

    The parties’ attorneys have argued that the columns are not “preferential”, and, yet, the in-fighting over the “party line” in the primary can (and has) reach epic proportions.

    In fact, there is evidence that in Burlington County in Congressional District Three, the party rank and file were bamboozled by their own leadership, who told members of their convention that “nominations could not be made from the floor, according to their “by-laws”.”
    For that to have been true, the Burlington County Republican Organization would have had to actually HAD by-laws.

    At that time, and at this writing, THEY DO NOT -largely, it would seem, because, if they did, they might actually have to follow them.

    There is a lawsuit before the courts at this moment, specifically about this issue. (“Germann v Layton et al”)

    Clearly, neither party has the grass roots support it once had. YOU have a chance to make a real difference in the November Election. There are qualified independents on the ballot, who wear no “party handcuffs”.

    If it applies in your district, show these clowns the door.

  2. How can you say the others appear to be nuts until you have had a chance to hear them speak? Given the opportunity to debate publically might open up possibilites for the lesser known candidates to make headway, and growth in numbers for policitical parties like the Democrat-Republican Party and the Libertarian Party. Or is that what the D’s and the R’s are afraid of? I consider myself a strong Republican but I want to hear all sides before I vote.

  3. The same should be true for lower races as well. There are candidates other than the “big two” in many races, like Freeholders and various congressional districts that deserve to be included in the debates.

  4. In my opinion we need to open the debates to any candidate who is on the ballot. Despite what the two major parties would have you believe, they do NOT have a lock on the brightest or best candidates. While they may run someone who has the money to self fund, many times the other candidates have a better understanding of the issues as well as an understanding of what the average person thinks. Without a political staff, focus groups and mass media buys the 3rd parties are forced to understand all the issues, and to process the ability to answer questions consistently, honestly and without a focus group. Democracy demands that we give each candidate a chance, an opportunity, to be heard in a public forum not just those with the deepest pockets or the backing of a big political party boss.

  5. To people who say no never have open debates. But it is hilarious how you have no problem spending taxpayer money on your primary election. The 2 party system has ruined this country time for a change.

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