Our Views: Debates are vital part of democracy

The Island Now

Ignorance is not bliss.

On Dec. 9 voters will go to the polls to select a new commissioner for the Manhasset Lakeville Water and Fire District, two Great Neck Park District commissioners, one commissioner for the New Hyde Park Fire District and one for Garden City Park-New Hyde Park Fire District.

They will do so without a complete picture of the candidates. 

The voters, the few who show up, will often be pulling levers for people who they know next-to-nothing about – unless they happen know one of the candidates personally or are avid readers of weekly newspapers – for positions that they know little about. This is not how a democracy is supposed to function.

The cure for this dysfunctional day at the polls is simple: Each candidate who is not running unopposed should have agreed to at least one public debate. 

The candidate could open that debate with a statement that begins something like this: “This is who I am and this is why the commissioner position is important and this is why I am the best woman (man) for the job.”

If the debate were covered by local television, it’s not likely that large numbers would watch, but those who did would be armed to make an intelligent decision.

As usual the League of Women Voters has made a credible effort to schedule debates in the upcoming elections. 

According to Judy Jacobson with the League of Women Voters of Port Washington-Manhasset, only three candidates said they would participate in debates no matter what – Neil Leiberman, who is running for the three-year commissioner position in the Great Neck Park District, Sharon Epstein, who is running for the two-year position and former Nassau County Legislator Lisanne Altmann who is running for a commissioner position on the Manhasset Lakeville Water and Fire District.

Lieberman, a former guidance counselor and physical education teacher, and the husband of Great Neck News columnist Karen Rubin, said his opponent, current park Commissioner Dan Nachmanoff accepted a revised invitation to debate on Dec. 3. He then cancelled. Nachmanoff said when he agreed to the debate he had forgotten he was scheduled to be at the Greater New York Dental meeting that same day. Lieberman said the candidates could have rescheduled for the original Dec. 1 date.

Not happy that the debate was called off, Leiberman said, “We need more participation from people [in the parks district]. One of the ways is to allow them to see us debate on TV.” 

Nachmanoff replied that he did not have control over the proposed debate, and that it was being run entirely by the league, not the parks district. He added that most people in the parks district know both him and Leiberman. 

Altmann said she agreed to debate her opponent, Mark Sauvigne, but he dodged the opportunity. Sauvigne said he was willing to debate but communications problems between him and the League of Women voters prevented it from happening.

If people want to run for public office, they should be willing to take part in a debate so that the voters who care will be able to know clearly how they see the position that they are running for and where they stand on important issues. In 2014 there is no excuse for not debating. The League of Women Voters is willing to go to great lengths to facilitate these debates.

If TV coverage is not available, the print media will be there. In addition the debates can easily be posted on the Internet.

If the districts are going to ask voters to come out on a cold December night, they should make sure the voters have the information they need to make an informed decision.

Otherwise they may as well just put all the names in a hat.

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