The political season is underway, but so far the chances to see the candidates together are few. One live debate is scheduled for the six “official” West Windsor Council candidates, another live debate will be held for state legislative candidates, and one virtual debate will be held for the Council candidates in the pages of the October 21 issue of the West Windsor-Plainsboro News.
On consecutive Mondays, October 24 and 31, the West Windsor Retirees Group and the Village Grande Civic Association will host public debates with all official local candidates at 10 a.m. at the West Windsor Municipal Complex, Room A.
The debates will be telecast live and rebroadcast until Election Day, November 8, on Comcast (channel 27) and Verizon (channels 41 and 42).
The first debate, October 24, is highlighted by the six running for West Windsor Township Council in the November 8 election. Councilman George Borek will be joined by Lindsay Diehl and Kristina Samonte, running on the slate known as “West Windsor Moving Forward.” They will debate “Strong Leaders for West Windsor,” with Lauren Kohn, Bryan Maher, and Gary Zohn.
West Windsor Retirees Group Leader Ron Slinn said the debate will be thorough and fairly standard, meeting the basic rules of public debate. The two non-political citizen associations have organized several events over the years.
Slinn summarized the format, which allots time for questions from audience members. “Candidates will be invited to make brief introductory and closing statements in randomized order. The audience will be invited to submit, on cards provided, printed questions that will be reviewed by an independent two-person review panel and presented to the candidates in alternating order by a moderator. Each candidate would have 90-second to answer each question. On request, 30-second rebuttals will be allowed. A muted bell will be rung when the allotted time has been reached: twice 10 seconds later when the candidate is expected to stop speaking promptly,” he said.
Slinn added that the 90 minutes scheduled for the qualified Council candidates’ debate should allow for at least six or seven questions.
The West Windsor council race debate will run from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and will be immediately followed by two candidates on the Mercer County Executive ballot, Jonathan Savage and Brian Hughes, from 11:40 to 12:15 p.m.
On Halloween, October 31, New Jersey District 15 races will get the spotlight as Reed Gusciora, Bonnie Watson-Coleman, Peter Yull, and Kathy Kilcommons face one another on the state assembly ballot. That debate will be followed by a state senate district 15 contest as Shirley Turner debates Don Cox.
Newspaper Forum. The West Windsor-Plainsboro News will publish its Candidates Forum in the newspaper on Friday, October 21. All candidates — official and write-in — for West Windsor Town Council are invited to participate. Standard questions will be asked of candidates, who will be asked to respond within a set word limit.
