Debate for real, avoid the softballs
We’ve already made the case for a debate of some sort for the Hamilton mayoral race. We offered to organize a debate, but because Mayor Kelly Yaede is upset that we’ve written stories critical of her administration and because she doesn’t like one of our opinion columnists, she’s refusing to do any Trentonian debates.
Cool.
We get it. She doesn’t like us. We’ve ruffled feathers and that’s part of what we are supposed to do.
We’re not supposed to kiss up to elected officials.
Our job as an independent media outlet is to question those in positions of power, and often that means not being buddies with the subjects of our stories.
If they were always happy with the stories we wrote, that would mean we’re just doing PR for them and not really trying to hold anyone accountable.
Our goal is to make sure we raise the hard questions and try to make sure our elected officials give the tough answers.
No matter who wins in November, we’re still going to try to hold that mayor accountable and ask tough questions and dig like journalists should.
Yaede asked the Hamilton Post to moderate the debate, but they said it wasn’t feasible for them for a list of reasons.
They are a solid news outlet that would have done a great job if it happened, but it makes sense that they had to decline.
Now Yaede is trying to play games with the debate format and have her buddy Joe Fabrizi moderate a debate on his radio show.
Democratic challenger Jeff Martin is not trusting that it would be a fair and balanced format or setting.
He’s got good reason for those doubts.
Fabrizi has been employed by the Yaede administration as an inspector in Hamilton Township. It’s a part time job, but it’s still enough to raise big questions about his ability to be impartial, and at a bare minimum gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Fabrizi has proven those fears to be reasonable with a softball interview recently on his radio show. Neither Yaede or Fabrizi disclose the conflict of interest at any point before or during the broadcast. Yaede’s administration later acknowledged the connection after The Trentonian called them out on it.
Fabrizi’s line of questioning just set Yaede up to go right into her campaign talking points as if they were a practiced stump speech.
While we’d hope that Mr. Fabrizi would give an impartial debate and give both candidates a chance to tell voters why they should vote for them, given the fact that he’s been drawing a paycheck from Yaede’s administration and the fact that Fabrizi has been long-time friends with Yaede’s slate-mate Vinnie Capodanno, it doesn’t look like a fair game for Martin to play.
Martin should officially decline that invite and both Yaede and Martin should find a truly objective platform.
We have offered that objective platform by organizing the debate and having a moderator from outside of our staff, like we did with the Trenton debates. We also believe that having columnist Jeff Edelstein as the moderator would be a nice, neutral option, seeing as he’s got a proven track record of hosting mayoral debates and a proven track record of not pissing too many people off.
Yaede’s own words in her denial give the impression that she believes she’s hurting The Trentonian in some way by not participating in “any event promoting The Trentonian,” but what she doesn’t understand is that these debates are not for The Trentonian, they are for the voters. We don’t profit in any way by organizing a debate and frankly have more than enough work to do already.
So be declining our debate, you’re not hurting The Trentonian. You’re hurting the voters.