The Marlboro ‘Womens League of Voters’
MARLBORO – The League of Women Voters is now a pariah to some on the right.
Historically speaking, this seems a bit odd.
The League’s roots date back to the women’s suffrage movement and its core mission has always been increasing voter participation.
Admittedly, candidate debates run by the League often leave something to be desired.
They tend to be too structured, do not allow much back and forth and many times ask questions that are too esoteric.
Until recently, however, their stance as a fair-minded group has not been seriously questioned.
Beginning two years ago, Republicans opted out of League debate or forums, convinced they would not get a fair shot.
That is continuing.
We recently took a look at a school board race in Marlboro, which offers a good example of what is likely going on throughout New Jersey.
Two 3-person slates are battling it out over such issues as “parents rights” and claims the government wants to co-parent students.
One slate is known as Marlboro Values Protected or MVP.
The other is Partners Improving Education or PIE.
You’ve got to love the acronyms.
A local League had wanted to hold a candidates’ forum on Wednesday.
But the MVP slate is not going to do it. Here is the group’s verbatim social media message:
For weeks prior to their announcement Womens League of Voters asks for local PTA and PTOs to organize their forum. Marlboro townships overwhelming response was that NO ORGANIZATION was willing to host the event. The questions are provided from the Womens League of Voters who presents as a non partisan organization but many involved community members know that is far (left) of the truth… parents and community members want REAL unbiased information. MVP: Marlboro Values Protected refused participation in the forum being hosted, curated, and endorsed by Womens League of voters as did many other Parental Rights candidates in surrounding neighborhoods…and here’s why:
The Womens League of Voters advocates heavily for the following:
-They are heavily focused on Social Issues: Engaging in advocacy around issues like healthcare, education, and environmental policy, aligning heavily with extreme liberal, progressive values.
Opposition to Voter ID Laws: Criticizing strict voter ID laws that conservatives support as necessary for election integrity, they believe in support and promote loose standards with no credibility.
Because we believe in integrity and transparency, we wanted to be upfront and honest with our community.
We will (be) hosting Q and A sessions before the election, and look forward to answering your questions there!
Thank you for your continued support as we fight to keep Marlboro Values Protected, and MTPS great!
Many will note that the above calls the organization the “Womens League of Voters.”
That may be some sort of sarcastic criticism.
Or it may just be a dumb mistake.
Did you see the police report on Aldo Patruno from
MVP. What a disgrace and liability for Marlboro. What unemployed, middle aged man thinks it’s ok to go and threaten the superintendent to the extent that the police needed to be called.
League of Women Voters is a highly progressive organization. It states its own priorities on its website that goes far beyond voter engagement. The public deserves a forum hosted by a much more neutral host.
I am writing as President of the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County (LWV Monmouth), on behalf of our 380 members in Monmouth and Ocean Counties, to clarify information about our league and the forums we are organizing for candidates in the 2024 election.
First, we want to let voters know that the league-organized forum for Marlboro Board of Education candidates will take place as scheduled on Wednesday, October 16, at 7pm, via Zoom. Interested people can register to see it live at bit.ly/LWV-marlboro . They may submit questions when they register or using our dedicated email lwvforum2024@gmail.com using the subject “Marlboro BoE.”
Three candidates, Nirav Kadakia, Brian Cohen, and Jenna Corraro have agreed to participate in the forum. While the other three candidates have not responded to our invitation, we would still welcome their participation. They just need to contact us. As Boards of Education, by definition, are non-partisan, we do not recognize slates or slogans in planning forums, consistent with our state league guidelines.
LWV Monmouth, the largest league chapter in the State of New Jersey, is proud of its non-partisan and professional reputation for conducting candidate forums. This year we organized a record number of 16 candidate forums including Congressional Districts 3, 4, and 6, the Monmouth County Commissioners, six municipalities, and six boards of education.
Locally, we have not experienced the trend cited by Mr. Snowflack that “Beginning two years ago, Republicans opted out of League debate or forums, convinced they would not get a fair shot.” We invite anyone to visit our website lwvmonmouth.org and see videos of the nine events completed so far this election cycle in testament to our non-partisan, professional and informative forums. We do this work with all volunteers in pursuit of our mission to empower voters and defend democracy.
As Mr. Snowflack points out, league forums are highly structured. That is intentional so that a decorous discourse can take place to hear exactly where candidates stand on issues and how they intend to govern. We do not permit cross-conversation that amounts to name-calling. We don’t believe that the questions our local league uses are” esoteric,” since questions used at the forum come directly from the voters who register for the forum. We curate them for redundancy, civility and appropriateness to the candidate’s office.
Turning to the statement released by the MVP slate running for Marlboro Board of Education, we offer some clarifications. Yes, we offered the local PTAs and PTOs the opportunity to sponsor. When planning Board of Education forums, we often seek out forum sponsors from the town’s parent teacher organizations since they have a very invested and interested public to promote the forum. When we do not have a sponsor, we offer the forum directly and without a fee since we believe that boards of education function best when candidates are able to focus on school district issues rather than fundraising.
And yes, since throughout its 104-year history, the League has advocated for issues. The LWV was founded in 1920, with the passage of the 19th amendment that finally guaranteed a woman’s right to vote after 60 years of such advocacy by League predecessors. However, we maintain a strict line between those advocacy efforts and the voter activity we perform including conducting voter registrations and organizing candidate forums.
Our proof is the available videos we welcome the public to view at LWVMonmouth.org. We invite anyone questioning our neutrality to specifically view the forum conducted on October 7 for Marlboro’s neighbor — Middletown Twp’s Board of Education at https://lwvmonmouth.org/vid72.php. All five candidates participated.
We believe that any candidate who seeks public office should be willing to participate in a non-partisan, public forum, as the League offers, to tell voters why they wish to represent them.
Here is a recording of the forum conducted last evening by the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County with candidates for Marlboro Township Board of Education.
https://lwvmonmouth.org/vids.php