BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer
Avery Grant LONG BRANCH — Some city residents were outraged when Mayor Adam Schneider and the current council did not attend last Monday’s community-sponsored election debate.
“This just shows the arrogance of [Schneider],” said Avery Grant in an interview Monday. Grant is president of the Long Branch Concerned Citizens Coalition (CCC), a community group which hosted the candidates’ forum at Salem Baptist Church.
In attendance at the debate were mayoral candidates Kevin Brown and Alfie Lenkiewicz along with council candidates Tom Anzalone, Harold Cooper, Donald Riley and Lenkiewicz’s “The New Wave Team” – Ralph DeFilippo, Stephen Molnar, John Ferraro and Carlos Nieves. Leonard Goldschein, of The New Wave Team, did not attend because he was observing Passover, but he did send a prepared statement.
Cooper forfeited his opening statement at the debate to read a letter addressed to the CCC and the League of Women Voters, which moderated the event, from The Schneider Team
“We received word of this debate first by word of mouth, and then by registered mail,” Cooper read, “and as it turns out, we had previously scheduled campaign events for that evening. Unfortunately, the Concerned Citizens Coalition neglected to confer with us to work out the date, time and rules for a debate.”
“Instead, the group unilaterally scheduled a debate before knowing whether or not anyone could make it,” the letter continued. “We are happy to debate the issues with our opponents, but the Concerned Citizens Coalition’s premature scheduling of this particular debate precludes us from attending.”
After reading the letter, Cooper said, “As a black man, I am highly insulted.”
Grant called the current administration’s decision to not participate in the debate an “example of the incompetence and arrogance of Mayor Schneider and his team.”
“It is absurd,” Grant added. “I have participated in four elections and I have never been asked to coordinate on a day or time or place. You have priorities and if it is more important not to show up that is [Schneider’s] decision.”
Grant said letters were sent to the 16 candidates running in the May 9 municipal election inviting them to participate in the forum at the beginning of the month.
“It would be virtually impossible to confer and coordinate a date with 16 candidates because of 9,984 combinations (16 candidates times 16 options times 39 days),” Grant stated in a letter to The Atlanticville.
Grant ran for office in one municipal election and three school board elections and now currently serves on the city’s board of education.
“When I ran for mayor, [Schneider] let it be known that he would only participate in one forum too,” Grant said.
In an interview Monday, Schneider said he and his council slate had previously committed to a “coffee,” an informal meeting with residents, for his campaign without knowledge that a debate would be scheduled for that same evening.
Schneider said that he and current council members David Brown, Dr. Mary Jane Celli, Michael DeStefano, Anthony Giordano and John Zambrano will participate in a debate next Monday at the Ocean Place Resort & Spa on Ocean Boulevard at 7 p.m.
The Schneider Team’s letter to the CCC, states that the Monday debate would be sponsored by “the fair and impartial League of Women Voters.”
But LWV co-chairwoman Zena Gurman said the League is not sponsoring the event, but will be in attendance to moderate the debate.
Grant said, “I feel sorry that Mayor Adam Schneider is incapable of controlling his arrogance. This is a severe lack of concern for the public, who deserve as much accessibility to the candidates as possible.”