Dear Editor:
In response to Mr. Sean Baldwin’s letter (campaign manager for WIN) that appeared in you paper last week, the public should know the following. WIN requested an open public debate in which the Weehawken and You ticket entertained. However, WIN’s written request contained no structural format. I as campaign manager for the Weehawken and You team proceeded to reach out to all the local media outlets to establish the debate structure. Without a location and a structure no pubic debate could be successful.
We contacted Cablevision, who declined to hold a public debate. We then contacted the Weehawken Reporter who agreed to a candidate forum but not to host an open public debate. We further contacted the Jersey Journal who also declined to hold an open public debate, but agreed to a candidate forum.
At no time did Mr. Baldwin ever mention to me or anyone else in the Weehawken and You campaign anything concerning the League of Women’s Voters to moderate or participate in any public forum. No request was ever relayed to us. However, the two newspaper forums that we have participated in proved to be a tremendous method of exchanging our viewpoints for the entire public. An open public forum must be particularly formatted and it is my firm belief that WIN never seriously intended to do that. I might further add that Mr. Baldwin’s team had available to them another forum for public questioning and discussion.
Since his team decided to run, there have been three Township Council meetings, which as we all know are open to the public. I did not see Mr. Baldwin’s candidates ever attended these Council meetings or asking a question.
Ed Keating
Campaign Manager Weehawken and You [Ed. note: The Weehawken Reporter also intended to participate in the television debate, but Cablevision was unable to host it due to time constraints.]