At the request of readers and residents after the Board Of Education (BOE) “Meet The Candidates” Night on October 13th, all four (4) residents running for two seats on council were invited to a similar forum. As of this publication, two of them – Third Ward candidate Kevin Kolbeck and Fourth Ward candidate Michael Connelly – have not accepted requests for a council “Meet The Candidates” debate.
Third Ward candidate William Fahoury and Fourth Ward candidate Jackie Hurdle were contacted separately and each agreed to a forum where residents would be able to ask questions to candidates of their respective wards in a public setting.
Mr. Kolbeck was contacted but before any terms or dates could be offered, his response was simply, “Absolutely not.”
Mr. Connelly stated he would have to give the information to his campaign manager and have him reach out to the newspaper. That was almost two weeks ago and there has been no response from anyone representing Mr. Connelly or the candidate himself.
As it relates to interviews, Mr. Fahoury has already sat with Roselle Park News and Ms. Hurdle has scheduled a date for her on-the-record conversation. Neither Mr. Kolbeck nor Mr. Connelly responded to requests for interviews.
Out of the seven residents running for three Board Of Education (BOE) seats, candidates Loren Harms, Matthew Leingang, and Joseph Signorello have spoken with Roselle Park News. Agron Meshi had scheduled a date but it has been re-scheduled due to a conflict on the newspaper’s part.
BOE candidates Scott Nelson, Kimberly Powers, and Jeff Regan have not responded to formal invitations for an interview. The only communication the newspaper is aware of by Mrs. Powers and Mr. Regan is a flier attributed to their, apparent, joint campaign for the school board.
All interviews will be published next week. This will allow residents and voters to hear candidates’ platforms and positions on issues before election day – November 8th.
A copy of the Kimberly Powers & Jeff Regan flier is included below:
