LD16 Democrats: GOP Candidates Dodge Debates in LD16
CONTACT:
Austin Lyle, Campaign Manager
406-459- 3019
GOP Candidates Dodge Debates in LD16
Incumbent Republican State Senator Kip Bateman and Republican candidates for Assembly, Donna Simon and Mark Caliguire, have refused to participate in the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum
September 12th, 2017
Princeton- Republican State Senator Kip Bateman and Republican Assembly candidates Donna Simon and Mark Caliguire won’t give voters a chance to hear them debate their Democratic opponents in this year’s campaign. The GOP threesome has informed the League of Women Voters that they refuse to participate in the Candidate Forum the League planned to host.
All three Democratic candidates, Laurie Poppe for State Senate, Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, and Roy Freiman for Assembly, willingly agreed to participate in the well-established League of Women Voters Candidate Forum. It is a traditional venue for candidates to share ideas with voters and clarify differences between their positions on important issues.
“Voters deserve to hear where all the candidates stand on the issues – the Republican ticket can’t just run away from their record, Maybe Kip Bateman, Donna Simon, and Mark Caliguire didn’t want to defend their support of Chris Christie’s disastrous agenda in public,” said Austin Lyle, campaign manager for the Poppe, Zwicker, and Freiman team. “Or maybe they just don’t have good ideas for making New Jersey more affordable, building a strong economy, supporting quality schools, or protecting our air and water.”
Bateman, Simon, and Caliguire have run an increasingly negative campaign without any focus on the issues voters care about. Meanwhile, support is growing for Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, Roy Freiman and Laurie Poppe.
The League of Women Voters holds candidate forums across the state to give voters the chance to attend in-person events to hear where candidates stand on the issues. Because of the Republican ticket’s rejection of the original proposed date and refusal to offer alternatives, the forum in LD16 will not be held this year, the League has said.
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Somerset GOP Chair Al Gaburo released a statement in response to this press release: go here.
