The Madison Eagle published an editorial questioning the decision of the Republican candidates to turn down the opportunity to debate in advance of the November election. An excerpt is below and the piece points out the disservice to voters and the baseless and false claim that the League of Women Voters conducts partisan candidate forums. There could be nothing further from the truth. And truth and transparency matters.

“The Republican candidates for Madison Borough Council are doing a disservice to the public, and probably themselves, by ducking a debate with the Democrats.

As journalists with years of experience covering municipal elections, we have heard all the excuses for why candidates avoid debates. Usually we find it is incumbents or members of the majority party who refuse to debate, likely because they see no benefit in ceding to their challenger a slice of the monopoly they enjoy over public discourse and attention.

But that is not the case here. In a town with an all-Democratic Borough Council, it is the Democrats, Councilwoman Rachel Ehrlich and Tom Haralampoudis, who wish to debate and the Republican challengers, Lenora Clark and Matt Van Natten, who are skipping out.”

Read the full content of the Editorial here. If you are not a subscriber to the Eagle, you should be. Local journalism matters now more than ever.