Candidates have not yet decided on
questioning format
BY TARA PETERSEN
Staff Writer
The debate over the debate issue could finally be over.
As it now stands, there will be at least one opportunity for residents to question the two candidates for Millstone Township Committee, independent incumbent John Pfefferkorn and Republican challenger Robert Kinsey.
Roger Staib, Republican municipal chairman and former township committeeman, has said that Pfefferkorn did not respond for 10 or more weeks to Kinsey’s e-mailed request to debate.
Kinsey sent an e-mail in August saying that he wanted to set up a debate with the League of Women Voters as a potential moderator.
Staib said it is obvious that Pfefferkorn did not want to debate.
According to Tom Ridgway, Pfefferkorn’s campaign spokesman, Pfefferkorn was fully willing to debate and was simply waiting for Kinsey to clarify the topics for the debate.
The Kinsey camp sent an e-mail message to Pfefferkorn Oct. 5 stating that it had set up a moderator for Oct. 21 with the league, and that the debate would take place at 8 p.m. at the municipal building.
Ridgway said last week that he contacted the league on Oct. 7 to set up two debates for 8 p.m. — one on Oct. 14 at the community center, and the other on Oct. 21 at the Millstone Middle School.
Richard Cambria, a temporary office manager with the league in Trenton, confirmed that he spoke with Ridgway on Oct. 7.
Staib said Kinsey will not participate in the Oct. 14 forum since there was not adequate time to notify the public.
“This is not a Chinese fire drill,” Staib said Monday. “The residents of Millstone Township must be given the opportunity to be allowed ample time to coordinate their schedules for a debate. Where was Mr. Pfefferkorn 12 weeks ago?”
Ridgway dismissed the accusations that Pfefferkorn did not respond by saying there was plenty of time to set up the debate.
“I don’t understand why this needs to be done weeks and months in advance — it’s not necessary,” Ridgway said Monday. “They keep complaining that they haven’t heard from us in 12 weeks. It’s all just endless chatter.”
According to Ridgway, Pfefferkorn plans to go to the community center on Oct. 14, and if Staib is not there, he will use the time to answer questions from residents who have attended.
Each side has been in contact with the other to iron out the details for the only date agreed upon by both parties — Oct. 21.
Ridgway said that they would use the moderator and location chosen by Staib and Kinsey.
The debate will be televised, but there is no word on whether it will be aired live or taped and rebroadcast.
As of press time, the Oct. 21 debate at the municipal building will be either 60 or 90 minutes in length, with a 90-second opening and a two-minute closing statement allowed for each candidate.
During the question-and-answer period, the response time will be two minutes, and the moderator will decide whether to allow both candidates to answer the question.
The moderator can also choose to disallow a question if it is a personal attack or if it is unrelated to election issues.
Otherwise, a candidate will not be permitted to decline answering a question.
During the debate, no written or printed materials can be brought in or used by the candidate.
The Examiner, the Messenger Press and the Asbury Park Press will all be allowed to ask two questions each.
The league moderator, who is in charge of timing the answers, will show a yellow paddle when there are 15 seconds remaining and a red paddle when time is up. The candidate will be allowed to finish his sentence, but after that should not continue speaking.
Though the candidates have agreed to the basics listed above, they have not yet decided how the questions should be asked.
Ridgway said that residents should be allowed to ask questions at the microphone, and that the moderator should only stop the questioner if it is determined that the question asked or statement made is a personal attack or unrelated to the election issues.
Staib, however, said that it is customary and more desirable to have questions submitted to the moderator on an index card so that the forum is more organized.
He added that it is better not to put the moderator in the position of having to interrupt residents who have begun to make political statements.
League moderator Phoebe Edwards, who confirmed Tuesday that Kinsey’s party first contacted her five to six weeks ago, said that she preferred using index cards “if this is going to be a hot debate.”