CLIPS COMPILED BY MICHAEL A. HARRIS/EXAMINERNY.COM
A candidate forum scheduled for Wednesday night has drawn controversy after a Republican candidate’s name was abruptly dropped from the program and press release earlier this week..
The Public Advocate candidate forum to be held at Pace University is being hosted by the Manhattan Young Democrats and was supposed to give young Democrats the opportunity to hear from the four Democratic challengers running in the September 15 Democratic Primary, club president Al Benninghoff told ExaminerNY.com. The event has been months in the planning, going back as early as June.
"It is an opportunity for our members and the public to meet all of the Democratic candidates and decide who they want to vote for in the hotly contested September 15 primary, all of those whose last name isn't Green," said Benninghoff, referring to former New York City Public Advocate Mark Green, who is running, but declined the Manhattan Young Democrats request to participate. "Why would we have any candidate who is not a Democrat participate?"
But the calendar posted on the Pace University website listed Republican candidate Alex Zablocki, along with some third party candidates as participating in tonight's debate and a press release issued by Pace University clearly listed Zablocki's name, along with those of incumbent Betsy Gotbaum, who is not seeking reelection and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who isn't running for Public Advocate.
"I thought that it was kind of strange that [Pace] would put my name up without speaking with me first," said Zablocki. "I called them and they directed me to the Manhattan Young Democrats, who said that they'd let me speak, but not take questions, because this was a Primary forum, I told them I disagreed with that and why, but they said no and that was fine. Then just last night I found out that my name had been taken down from the website. I contacted the Manhattan Yound Democrats, who told me that I would not be allowed to address the audience."
"Alex spoke with Heather James [the Manhattan Young Democrats member who will serve as moderator] and was told that he could come and participate just like anyone else, but would not be permitted to speak," said Benninghoff, who told this reporter that he was completely unaware of any information having been posted on the Pace University website. "That definitely did not come from us. We never would have listed Betsy Gotbaum or Marty [Markowitz], who aren't even running, let alone a Republican."
"It's a game of he said, she said," said Zablocki, who told ExaminerNY.com that he will attend tonight's debate anyway. "There was a press release that said I was going to be there, so I'm going to be there. I don't want to be noted as absent." Zablocki, still upset over the entire situation said that he was cautiously optimistic that if he's there they might let him speak and saw his presence as a form of protest.
But why is it that up until a few days ago Zablocki's name was on Pace's website and what about the press release?
"It appears that there was a clear case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing here," said Pace University spokesman Christopher T. Cory. "There was some miscommunication between the Manhattan Young Democrats and Pace University. As soon as we learned of the mistake we corrected it."
On August 12 Pace updated the calendar to remove Zablocki's name, along with Green and the third party candidates and on August 13 an updated press release was issued, something Zablocki says that he just learned of last night.
"Pace University would welcome Alex Zablocki back and gladly offer him the opportunity to speak at a later date," said Cory.
UPDATE:
FOLLOWING PUBLICATION OF THIS ARTICLE THE MANHATTAN YOUNG DEMOCRATS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON:
Manhattan Young Democrats (MYD) prides itself on providing a resource for young New Yorkers to learn and become informed on the politics of this great city. The Public Advocate Forum that was held on August 19, 2009 served to educate New Yorkers on the upcoming Democratic primary for Public Advocate, and we are extremely grateful to Pace University for providing us with the space and resources to host this event. Only the Democratic Candidates for Public Advocate were invited to participate in the forum, and of those invited, only Mark Green declined the invitation. However, it is on record that MYD did extend a warm welcome to Republican candidate Alex Zablocki to attend as an audience member and submit questions via our crowdsourcing tool.
While MYD cannot endorse any candidate running for any position in a contested primary, gomyd.com, the official blog of MYD, has posted information on Republicans and Democrats alike to better inform our members and our readers of the pool of candidates who are running for political positions in New York. MYD is dedicated to staying true to our mission of educating our members so that they themselves can make well-informed decisions. In the coming days, gomyd.com will be posting information on the candidates for Public Advocate and those blog posts will be inclusive of both Republicans and Democrats. MYD would like to wish all of the candidates the best of luck.
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