Tuesday night found us looking for something different to do in Greenburgh. We’ve been helping various neighbors who have been struggling due to the tropical storm. We ended up at a White Plains forum for the County Legislative Districts 5 & 8. The candidates are William Ryan, the democratic incumbent, and Dr. Iris Pagan-Montcrieffe, the republican challenger. Naturally, late to the party, was unchallenged first year District 8 incumbent Alfreda Williams. Just because you’re running unopposed is no reason to be disrespectful to the public.
We’ve been to many forums for candidates. Some are impressive with the amount of preparation and work that yield fruitful information. Others appear to be slapped together and do little to inform the constituency of policies, ideas or revelations. This one fell short of the informative ones and proved why its easy for so many to not find interest in politics.
There were some generic questions asked and some specific ones. Dr. Pagan seemed a strong contender to Ryan in the beginning of the evening. In fact, we'd say she was impressive as a challenger and “won” the first round of questions. At one point, Dr. Pagan, took an opportunity to tersely correct Ryan when he mistakenly called her Ms. Pagan, “It's DOCTOR Pagan, Mr. Ryan.” Ryan apologized and answered the particular question. We felt she could have handled that with a little more class. Afterwards, however, she appeared to stumble and even be at a loss for words. We can be somewhat forgiving to her as a candidate and not having answers for every issue, but can't ignore bad manners.
When Williams went to the podium, she often carried notes with her. While that was an obvious gaffe for Williams, it was the only time she sounded coherent. We’ve never been a fan of Williams mostly because she’s a legislative place holder. Her daughter was in the audience with either a friend or county employee and they seemed to be the only ones applauding for her after she spoke. Shortly into the forum Williams began to falter repeatedly - no notes. We’ve witnessed this before at forums when she ran for the county legislative position the first time. And, as she so often does when she’s at a loss, she plays the race card and starts her Feiner-like deflection about prejudice existing and how she experienced it. Frankly, we're not interested. Stick to the issues, learn the facts, and be the bigger person - THAT’s your job!
Ryan, a tried and true politician was certainly much stronger than the other two. A Scarsdale woman asked the three about the bond rating and using the reserve funds to lower the tax burden. Ryan asked Williams if he should field the question or did she want to? In her only smart move of the night, she told Ryan to take it. We’re confident there was no way for her to answer this. Ryan told this woman that she should be happy they used the reserve funds and kept her taxes in Scarsdale down. Really? Scarsdale residents are really worried about county taxes? He handled the question well and included the woman in it by name. Smooth.
Upon exiting the forum, a woman from the group asked what we thought of the forum. We were polite and said it was a weak event with obvious agendas. The questions were written with a position in mind and too convoluted. She claimed to not like Pagan as a challenger as she was weak on the issues. Yet, the two incumbents didn’t impress her either, especially Williams, who appeared to be unintelligent, uninformed and clueless. She added that it makes sense she’s a politician as a government job is probably the only way she could get work. We agreed and dejectedly told her try living in Greenburgh. It’s a sad state of affairs. It’s too bad that Republican Chairman Doug Colety has abandoned Greenburgh, conceding it’s defeat to the democrats ad infinitum.
Most of these forums are a waste of time because the people who host them are only interested in their specific issues. The candidates bring their supporters and they ask softball questions of their candidates and hardball questions of their candidates opponents. That kind of balances things out. Most use the League of Women Voters as the mediator - for a fee. Their operational function is almost comical. Can this or should this change? Probably. Will it change? Probably not. Did last night’s forum help anybody choose a candidate? Probably not. Were most disappointed? Probably. Will we be happier with the election? Probably not.
Vote anyway! We must change how our government works.
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