Riverhead GOP leaders defend decision to opt out of candidate forums

Riverhead Republican leaders defended their decision to skip two of three candidate forums hosted by local civic associations — claiming the events are biased because Democratic Party officials lead the organizing groups.

The three incumbents — Town Supervisor Hubbard, Councilman Kenneth Rothwell and Councilman Bob Kern — have drawn heat for boycotting the meet-and-greets scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 4, hosted by the Jamesport Civic Association and Heart of Riverhead Civic Association, respectively.

The trio will only participate in an Oct. 16 forum hosted by the Greater Calverton and Wading River civic associations at Riley Avenue Elementary School.

The GOP candidates object to Laura Jens-Smith, current Democratic Committee chair and former Democratic town supervisor, who leads the Jamesport group. They also cite concerns about Heart of Riverhead president Cindy Clifford, a Democratic Committee member and former employee of Ms. Jens-Smith.

“While we certainly believe in open debate and political discourse being a crucial and necessary part of the election process, we also, wholeheartedly, believe that the debates should be hosted by a nonpartisan unbiased entity,” Mr. Hubbard said in a statement sent to Riverhead News-Review on Friday, Sept. 26.

The supervisor called demands to participate in three forums “absurd” and “unreasonable,” noting that even presidential debates are limited to just one or two.

Mr. Hubbard said he previously proposed having a “nonpartisan, unbiased third party, local journalist” moderate a debate at Polish Hall, but claimed Ms. Jens-Smith rejected the idea.

Ms. Jens-Smith disputed the Republican claims in a Friday interview, saying no specific location was ever provided for the proposed alternative debate.

“My [Democratic Committee] candidates will debate them anywhere, anytime, anyplace — we are not limiting ourselves to any number of debates,” she said. “We believe that this is a service for the voters.”

She criticized the part-time council members for refusing to dedicate three hours over 40 days to voter forums, calling their scheduling concerns “shameful” and a “lame excuse.”

Ms. Jens-Smith emphasized she will not moderate the forums and described them as question-and-answer sessions rather than debates. The Jamesport Civic Association operates as a non-partisan organization that doesn’t endorse candidates, according to representatives.

“The purpose of the civics is for people to engage in a community and to be able to talk about what’s going on in that community. Officials from the town come and speak at our civics. We don’t say you’re a Republican you can’t come, or you’re a Democrat, you can’t come … We invite everybody,” Ms. Jens-Smith said. “It’s the Republicans that are making this civic engagement political.”

The Jamesport group maintains its invitation to Republican candidates for the Sept. 30 forum at Jamesport Meeting House.

Steven Kramer, vice president of the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association, said members are “very disappointed” by the Republican decision.

“Accepting the invitation of the Greater Calverton civic only serves to reinforce the view of many of our members who feel their voices and votes do not matter to Town leadership,” Mr. Kramer wrote.

In a statement, Ms. Clifford said civic leaders are “committed to and perfectly capable of separating personal political beliefs” from their service to civic members and Riverhead Town. She said the civic associations work to build a greater sense of community, boost engagement and strive to maintain a standard of being “non-partisan, while entirely pro-Riverhead.”

“Our members and guests benefit from having conversations, sharing lots of ideas and hearing different perspectives. We like to believe that our input is welcomed when we bring it to the town board, regardless of anyone’s personal beliefs,” Ms. Clifford wrote. “Instead, we are seeing our different opinions used in an attempt to separate ‘us’ and ‘them’. That is the polar opposite of our continual efforts to collaborate for Riverhead’s greater good.”

Ms. Clifford said the Hon. Greg Blass, a former Suffolk County legislator, family court judge, commissioner of Department of Social Services and “lifelong Republican,” will moderating the candidate forum for the Heart of Riverhead on Saturday, Oct. 4.