Manalapan residents deserve to hear a debate among candidates

The time-honored tradition of full debates between candidates has been breached by the Republican candidates for Township Committee in Manalapan.

The Republican candidates refused to participate in the format proposed by the League of Women Voters because it would permit the candidates to respond directly to the statements made by each other on the issues raised by the moderator.

As anyone who has watched the presidential and vice presidential debates knows, it is during the responses, or rebuttals, that the differences between the candidates become clear.

Their decision is especially disappointing because they had agreed to the League of Women Voters’ format in August, as did their municipal leader, Steve McEnery, in 2007 when he told this newspaper and its readers that he wanted to see candidates involved in a “give and take” during the debates.

The excuse given by the Republican candidates is that the opportunity to respond to each other would favor Mayor Michelle Roth. Why would the format favor Mayor Roth? Would it be because it would expose their inexperience and lack of substance?

Without debates, we are only left to judge the Republican candidates by their words and deeds so far. Bill Garcia has only lived in Manalapan for two years, and although he claims he will cut municipal spending in the budget he can’t provide a single specific examples of what types of expenses he would cut.

And while he claimed to want an election free of petty bickering, he wasted no time getting into the name-calling and personal attacks in his comments reported in the Oct. 1 News Transcript.

Ryan Green is no better. He asked us to elect him to the Manalapan Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education only a few months ago, making a long list of promises that he claimed he would pursue if elected, and now says he will abandon that position if he is elected to the Township Committee.

Manalapan’s citizens deserve better – we deserve the leadership, experience and proven records of accomplishment that Mayor Roth and Don Holland represent.
Gerard D. Ward
Democratic Municipal Leader
Manalapan