One usually hears complaints during election season of voter apathy. But you can count on Plainfield politicos to give things their own little twist.
How about this?
The Plainfield League of Women Voters has had to cancel its candidate forum, originally scheduled for November 1st, due to candidate apathy.
With apparently no Republican candidate in the Wards 1/4 at-large race, and no response from the Republican candidate in the Ward 2 race, Plainfield's League chapter had no choice but to cancel the forum, according to League officers.
Meanwhile, the League's candidate profile and questionnaire, scheduled to run in the Courier News also had to be cancelled owing to failure by the candidates to supply materials for the ad -- inclusion in which is FREE to candidates on the ballot.
"It is unfortunate that the candidates have failed to take this opportunity to communicate their positions on important topics to the voters," said Plainfield LWV chapter president Veronica (Roni) Taylor, "though we are certainly appreciative of Councilman Storch's willingness to participate."
The Plainfield chapter, which has hosted candidate forums for decades, and always provided the community's main occasion to see and hear all candidates at one time, will save a lot of money according to Taylor.
"The expense of running a full-page ad in the Courier is one of our major costs in a given year," she says, "and the upside of the candidate's apathy is that we will have more resources to use on other chapter projects, including the presidential campaign which is just beginning to heat up."
For my money, a one-party town like Plainfield can be said to be just like the Soviet Union only better -- the Soviets were quite proud of their 'fair and open' elections process -- and were always pointing out how superior their system was to the contentious American electoral system, and easier, since there was a single candidate for each office.
Just like the Soviet Union but better: we don't have the Russian winters.
- Website: "The League of Women Voters of Plainfield"
-- Dan Damon
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2 comments:
Why wouldn't the council candidates at least want to take advantage of the free airing of their views on Plainfield? Even if they didn't want to go to the forum they could answer the questions. The league usually asks good questions related to Plainfield current events. Is it possible that they didn't want to answer them? I suggest that Plainfield voters NOT VOTE for any of these candidates and instead write in Mickey Mouse. As a non-candidate is doing just as good a job as these people. Let's show them the same contempt they appear to show to the voters.
What candidate in their right mind would waste their time at this candidte forum. If you've ever attended one in recent years, you would know that of the 40 people in attendance, there are fifteen people from each candidates camp, 5 from the League and another 5 who may not have made up their minds on voting yet. While every vote counts, you would be better off talking to those 5 people one on one. Show me a candidate that actually goes out to meet the electorate in this city. The Democratic candidate doesn't have to and the Republican candidate doesn't have a chance. The last person that won an election without the backing of the "Green Machine" was an incumbant that had previously had the backing.
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