Mayoral Debate 4/18/13
Photo by Elijah Goode - L-R: Mayor Robert L. Bowser, Kevin
Taylor, Carol Clark, Lester Taylor
All Politics Are Local radio
show sponsored a mayoral debate with the candidates running for
the office of the Mayor of East Orange, NJ. The program was
hosted by All Politics Are Local radio show from 6:30 PM
to 8:00 PM on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at Bethel Presbyterian
Church, 274 Dodd Street in East Orange, NJ. MAP
Three candidates for the office of Mayor of East Orange, NJ have
confirmed: Essex County, NJ Freeholder Carol Clark, Mr. Kevin
Taylor, and Mr. Lester Taylor. Mayor Robert L. Bowser showed up
at the last minute, but announced that he would have to leave
early, because of a scheduling conflict.
Photo by Elijah Goode
"The debate team believes in
civil civic discourse. We believe that words affect people's
lives," said Jonathan Alston, English teacher and debate
coach at Science Park High School in Newark, NJ. "Thursday's
debate will be a chance to hear what the candidates believe on
the issues that affect our lives." Alston, also a co-host of
All Politics Are Local, moderated the debate.
"Our community must be engaged with our elected officials in
a smart and critical way," said Bashir Akinyele, co-producer
and co-host of All Politics Are Local, and history
teacher at Weequahic High School in Newark, NJ. "Debates
aren't times where we come to support our candidates; debates are
times when we must listen very carefully to see if our candidates
support us."
I didn't think I would be able to
attend, because of the last minute nature of the debate, but I
got a ride and a photographer and I was able to record the entire
debate from start to finish. For those who were not able to
attend, I will attempt to make a written transcript of everything
that was said. It may take a few days to type it all up, but I
will try to add some more to it each day. Anyone who was there
who has a recording of the event can check the accuracy of my
work.
The event began by having members
of the audience write questions on index cards. These were handed
in to the moderator who chose several of the cards to read the
questions to the candidates at the end of the moderator's
questions for the debate. Next the moderator read the rules to
the candidates and to the audience.
Jonathan Alston: To the audience.
The candidates have all agreed to the rules that we have for the
debate. (garbled) you need to hear why the candidates want you to
vote for them and to learn more about them. This is not a
campaign rally. You will hear issues discussed in a civil civic
discourse. The (garbled) that each candidate will vote on can
save or destroy lives. We need to listen to what they say. You
may have come to the hall thinking firmly that you would vote for
one particular candidate. As you listen carefully to what each
one says, there's a possibility that you may change your mind.
This is not a time to rally your candidate, but it is a time for
your candidate to prove himself to you.
The first rule, and this is
really important, no cell phones. Please. Do me a favor and take
your phone out right now and turn your ringer off, so that you
know that your ringer is off. If, during the deabte, you have to
take a call, please quietly leave the hall.
Secondly, no cheering for any
candidate. That takes away from the debate. Civil civic discourse
means that you listen to the ideas of the candidates.
Third: There is no applause at
the end of a person's speech or rebuttal. Applause at the start
and the close of the debate is the only time that applause is
appropriate.
Fourth: There are no signs or
campaign paraphanalia in the hall. If you take out signs or
paraphanalia, we will politely ask you to leave because the
campaign is for outside.
Again, no talking during the
debate to allow the people next to you to hear what's happening.
You've already written your questions down, you can give them to
Chris Randall.
If you have any small kids who
are crying, please take them out so they don't disturb the
debate.
The person timing the debate
segments was set up to do so at this time.
We were asked to give all the
candidates a round of applause. The candidates were then
introduced by name. It was explained that Mayor Robert Bowser
would have to leave the debate early to get to another event and
that his leaving was not meant as a sign of disrespect to the
audience or to the other candidates. The debate opened with each
of the candidates giving a 1 minute introduction statement.
Photo by Elijah Goode
Lester Taylor: Thank you. My name
is Lester Taylor. First I would like to thank Bethel Presbyterian
Church, as well as Rutgers University All Politics Are Local,
the sponsor of the debate. This is a very critical time, an
important election within East Orange. I am a product of the
public school district, went to Montclair State University and
went to Howard University School of Law. I saw the elder of the
church with a Howard Mom shirt on. I'd like to say she's
not the only Howard Mom in here because my mom is here
and my dad is here as well (garbled). My wife Bibi and I live on
(?) Avenue, Bibi is a lifelong resident of East Orange, a
graduate of Clifford Scott High School and together we have three
children, ages two, four and fourteen years old. I chose to come
to East Orange. I didn't come here kicking and screaming like
some others have. It was my choice to live here. I wasn't born
here; it was my choice to live here. I have to say, ladies and
gentlemen, that times have changed in the city of East Orange. It
wouldn't take a lifetime to realize that. Over the last seven or
eight years of my being here I realized it was time for a change.
We need to elect leadership that will lower property taxes,
create new development in our city, create good jobs for our
residents, create a better educational system, recreational
opportunities for our young people, deal with services, adequate
services for our seniors, and deal with the issue of harrassment
of our police department, provide our men in blue, both police
and fire the adequate resources to keep our community safe. I am
a candidate for mayor of East Orange. I ask everyone in this room
respectfully, humbly, to vote on June 4th, vote Line A, vote for
Lester Taylor, vote for change. Thank you.
(Lester Taylor had more than a
minute to speak, so at this time the moderator and the time
keeper had a discussion about holding up a 30 second sign, then a
10 second sign so the candidates would know when their time was
up. The timekeeper thought the candidates had 90 seconds to
speak, and it was clarified that there were 60 seconds in a
minute.)
Photo by Elijah Goode
Carol Clark: Good evening
everyone. I want to thank Bethel Presbyterian, All Politics
Are Local, and all of you for coming out this evening for
this mayoral debate. I am currently chair of Essex County
Freeholders. Previously I have served as counsel person including
East Orange and also a teacher, a social studies teacher
educating East Orange. I was born and raised in East Orange, New
Jersey, a proud product of the public school system. I'm on Line
C, which is a Clear Choice to Build a Better East Orange. I have
the most incredible team of running mates, um, we know that we
want to rule the city of East Orange. Voters, we are called
Democrats Connecting People For Progress. The operative word here
is Connecting. There has been a disconnect and a failure of
leadership quite frankly, over (garbled) and that is one of the
reasons that I am running for Mayor, because we know that we can
build a better East Orange. Thank you very much.
Moderator: Mr. Kevin Taylor.
Photo by Elijah Goode
Kevin Taylor: Good evening everyone. My name is
Kevin Taylor and I'm running for Mayor of the City of East
Orange. I'm running because this election has gotten to me. I'm
running because we must put people over politics. I was raised
and educated in the City of East Orange. My entrepreneurial
spirit was born here in the City of East Orange. I went off to
the University of Maryland where I met my wife, Sandy, then I had
my two children, Kevin and Kelsey and of course I have my mother
here in the City of East Orange. This is a very important
election. We have an opportunity to choose the mayor of this city
so we can move the city forward. This is about us. We have
untapped, (a person walks back and
forth in front of the candidates) we
have untapped situations here that we have to build on to create
an East Orange that we can all be proud of. When I grew up in the
city of East Orange, East Orange was a beautiful city. We have an
opportunity to bring that back. I believe that we dedicate on the
city of East Orange in front of us instead of behind us. We must
be able to...
Moderator (interrupting) : That is Time. Mayor
Robert Bowser.
This is followed by the moderator
discussing with the time keeper how to hold up the signs to let
the candidates know when their time is almost up.
Photo by Elijah Goode
Robert Bowser: Good evening everyone. Thanks to
all who were involved in this debate this evening, and to the
candidates, I'm sorry that I won't be able to stay, but I'm
running for re-election, and I'm running because there are a lot
more things we need to do in our city. It has always been my goal
to make the City of East Orange a model for the state, as well as
across the country. But we have a lot more things to do. 82% of
our property is residential. We need to have more amenities, we
need to have more jobs, and have more businesses. The one thing
that has happened over the last four and a half years is we've
got a transit village designation. That's going to be a big thing
to encourage businesses to come, as well as have some jobs and
some new businesses. So, I think that's going to be good, and,
and as the economy is fully coming back, everything will work.
Photo by Elijah Goode
Moderator: Now for the first question, and the
first question and the first person we'll pick is Ms Clark.
You'll all get to answer the first question, but you'll be the
first to go, Carol. The topic of the first question is Police and
Public Safety. And for background, Reporter Julia Terruso wrote in the March 25th Star
Ledger, "Creative writing," is how one East Orange
police lieutenant described a typical day on the job. In order to
tally a high number of tickets he might break up a fight just
over the Newark border and report it occurred in East Orange,
issue jaywalking tickets or cite a parent who has double-parked
outside an elementary school to run in to pick up her child.
Anything to fill what he describes as his ticket quota.
"They’re telling us you’re not stopping enough
people and that’s not nearly enough tickets," said
Elaine Settle, an officer with East Orange for 28 years.
"It’s getting to the point where you feel like if
someone’s walking down the street, minding their own
business, they want you to engage them."
Councilwoman Alicia Holman recently called for
New Jersey's State Attorney General and the Essex County
Prosecutor's office and asked them to investigate. The Mayor has
vigorously refuted the charges as politically motivated and said
the officers on average give only 2.65 per day (I have been unable to verify this last
statement). Question: Does the East Orange Police
Department unnecessarily harrass and ticket the residents of East
Orange or are the officers coming forward only a small,
disgruntled, politically motivated minority?
Each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer.
Ms Clark.
Carol Clark: Where there is smoke, there is
fire. I say that to say that you will not usually get a large
number of ... you will not usually get a large number of police
officers to come out publicly to make those kinds of claims if
there's not some type of issue. What that issue is, I don't know.
But it bears looking into. It bears correcting. I had an
opportunity to speak to police just prior to coming over here
because I happened to be (garbled). The way I look at this is
when you have the right kind of leadership, either with the City
or the Police Department, you are going to create a culture, a
culture that I want to see created in East Orange is community
policing, not of colonialization and oppression. People should
not be afraid of their Police Department. They should be
welcoming. People, the people and the Police Department should
have a symbiotic relationship with one another. They have to have
a close and personal, an up-close and personal relationship with
one another, and so, if that is going on, it needs to stop, cease
and desist immediately.
Moderator: Mr. Kevin Taylor.
This is followed by some more
directions to the timekeeper. The candidates suggest that the
timekeeper move to the center where they can see him, so this is
done. A chair is found and the timekeeper moves to sit in front
of the candidates.
OK, so, 90 seconds. Mr. Kevin
Taylor.
Kevin Taylor: Ladies and
gentlemen, these are very serious issues. Our residents are
riddled with tickets. Some residents in the parking community
buildings here in East Orange are seriously wondering whether
they are going to pay rent or pay tickets. This is a serious
issue in the city of East Orange. We have to make sure that the
police officers are able to have their own discretion as giving
tickets and allowing the respect of the residents of the city. We
have an opportunity here to make sure that these officers are
being respectful in the city. This is, with respect to the Police
Department, we have to make sure that they're policing our city
in a better way. We have to inject not just the COMPSTAT we want to make sure
we have (garbled). We have to make sure we go back to police
officers in our community. We have to make sure we have better
police morale. We have to make sure they have a better
relationship with the citizens and the police. We also have to
make sure that we have a subpolice stations around the City of
East Orange. The city must be safe, because right now, ladies and
gentlemen, it is not safe, as we... as we sit here today. This is
a serious situation. Before the situation gets serious we must
make sure it's addressed. Of course in the city out there are
several officers have complained, we must be make sure that an
investigation...
Moderator (interrupting): That is
Time.
Kevin Taylor: Thank you very
much.
Moderator: Mayor Robert Bowser.
Robert Bowser: To speak directly to the
question; there is no quota system, because I know the Police
Chief is well aware that this is illegal and he can be brought up
on charges. And if there is going to be an investigation, then
let the investigation come. For somebody to sit up here and say
that the city is not safe, compared to 2003, we have reduced
crime in the city in all categories by 79%. And I know those
statistics don't mean anything if you talk about well cars, theft
has gone down you know 48% - 50%- and you had your car stolen
last night, it doesn't mean anything to you. But East Orange
Police Department is here to prevent crime from happening. If you
take care of the little things, then the big things won't happen.
And in addition to that, I notice that numbers thrown out all
over the place about how many tickets have been written and all
this other stuff. You can go back twenty years and you will find
out that the number of tickets that have been given out within
this year has been in almost approximately the same. It falls
between a range of 35,000 to about 45 - 46,000. You can divide
that all out to confirm about six or seven tickets maybe per day
or more. Work out the numbers. (
researcher's note: 35,000 tickets divided by 365 days = 95.9
tickets per day) Um. So the cops already, the police
officers (garbled) already have discretion to give a ticket or
not give a ticket. They can give a warning. And that's the way
that they've been trained. The East Orange Police Department is
one of the best trained departments in the State of New Jersey.
Moderator: That is Time. Mr. Lester Taylor.
Lester Taylor: Thank you sir. The question is
whether the East Orange Police Department is unnecessarily
harrassing... harrassing and it tickets people and or are
officers on the force (garbled). Being that I am not a member of
the police department or the... the administration I can't answer
the question visually as to whether they unnecessarily harrass or
give tickets by way of policy. But I can say that I am totally
against, 100% against police officers violating citizens'
constitutional rights. It is a shame that perception or feeling
of our residents are that they are a target and and and and uh
point it out more so than between other police that are not of
and so must address not so much just the issue of whether a small
number are coming forward just disgruntled. I don't believe that
at all. I commend all of our law enforcement officers, the men
and women in blue, for doing a hard job (garbled) to keep us
safe. But we must address the issue of morale within the police
department. (Garbled) Last week I spoke to a dozen officers who
had echoed the very same sentiments that were reported in the
article. Um (audience noise) and I have also the names of a dozen
or so that were names didn't make the newspaper. The issue of
morale in the department is a shame. You have officers in the
department that feel more like players on a Rutger's basketball
team than they do about professional law enforcement officers in
the city of East Orange. We must (garbled) a policy that enforces
peoples' rights and protects people, not violates those rights.
Moderator: That's Time. Um. Now each candidate
will have a chance for a one minute rebuttal. (words
to timekeeper) We'll start this part with Mr. Kevin
Taylor.
Jim Gerrish 4/18/13
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