Republican Candidates Avoid Election Debates In Two Bergen County Towns

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — The 2023 general election has kicked off with early voting beginning Oct. 28, and Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7. But in several Bergen County towns, candidates avoided a forum in which they could answer questions in real time.

It happened in Glen Rock on Oct. 4, when a group of Republican Town Council candidates said they wouldn't attend a League of Women Voters debate. The Democratic candidates showed up for the event, but the League had to cancel, as per their rules.

The slate of Republican candidates — Hughes, Garofalo and Murray for Glen Rock Council — said in a thread, "Our candidates, our volunteers and I all felt that the LWV procedure had become unfair," and that the "process was not neutral and the organizers were pulling for the D's."

Over in Fair Lawn, a slate of three Republicans declined to participate in a League of Women Voters event, too.

"We do not agree with the SELECTED QUESTION FORMAT that The League Of Women Voters use to decide which questions are going to be asked. This method does not enable the opportunity for ALL residents of Fair Lawn to ask questions or voice their concerns," the slate wrote in a letter on TapInto.

Several Republican groups around the state, including in Morris County, declined to participate in the League's annual forums this year and last year.

The refusal may be part of a growing trend.

"Before 2020, I never saw anyone refuse," complained a letter writer in Morris County this year.

New Jersey Spotlight News, a statewide investigative news site, said that it had sent questionnaires out starting in August to collect candidate information, which they planned to publish verbatim — but they had a higher level of non-participation from both parties than before, and even less participation from independents.

"As of 11 p.m. on Oct. 25, just half of the Democratic candidates for Senate participated, while only 36 percent of Republican candidates for Senate participated," Spotlight noted.

In one case, a Fort Lee Republican candidate called Spotlight to deliberate over whether to participate. According to Spotlight, he "said there was only one trusted nonpartisan newsletter in the state he reads every day. He forwarded us the newsletter, which turned out to be the NJGOP Rapid Response newsletter."

Spotlight quoted Micah Rasmussen, director of Rider University's Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, as saying, about modern candidates, "They don’t want to be pinned down, and they don’t want to be put on the spot." Read more of that story here.

Want to post a letter to the editor or event on Patch? Follow these instructions.