With one claiming to be unavailable and the other refusing to return phone calls or emails, it appears that the BronxTalk debates for the Democratic primaries in the 80th AD and the 33rd SD will be held without participation from the incumbents.
On Wednesday, a staff member in Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera's office told BronxTalk producer Jane Folloro that Rivera had a "campaign street effort" all week and would therefore be not available to tape a debate with challenger Robert Giuffre that was to have aired on Monday, September 6 at 9:00pm and through the week during BronxTalk's regular schedule.
As a result of Ms. Rivera's absence, Mr. Giuffre will be interviewed alone by host Gary Axelbank on the program.
In the hotly contested 33rd SD primary, neither Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. nor his chief of staff Alex Diaz have returned any of numerous phone calls or emails requesting the Senator's participation. As a result, only challengers Gustavo Rivera and Dan Padernacht will debate live on the program on Monday, August 30 at 9:00pm.
"This is yet another low in Bronx elected representation," said Axelbank. "One would think that incumbents would be eager to boast of their records on the eve of a primary or at least feel a sense of responsibility to their constituents and the democratic process itself. Unfortunately, that's not the case. It's the height of arrogance and disrespect."
For more than fifteen years, BronxTalk has been seen live each Monday night at 9:00pm on Bronxnet's Cablevision channel 67. It's also on Verizon Fios channel 33 and streamed live at bronxnet.org. Produced by Jane Folloro, BronxTalk is repeated each day at 9:30am, 3:30pm, and 9:00pm. Archives are available at blip.tv; search for "BronxTalk."
Told ya she wouldn't come...
ReplyDeletethat doesn't exactly make you kreskin. lol
ReplyDeleteUtterly disappointing (albeit unsurprising) and a discredit to us as constituents interested in making an informed choice in the Sept. 14th primaries.
ReplyDeletenick... you are all too correct and it's terrbily sad.
ReplyDeleteif you look at the sum total of what has transpired this summer with Hector Ramirez not participating in his debate, an absolutely dreadul performance by Peter Rivera and Luis Sepulveda in theirs, and now two debates in which the incumbents have offered an extended middle finger to their constituents. is it any wonder that the bronx has dreadul performance in employment, health care, the environment, etc.?
At least Peter and Luis showed up. That's half the battle...
ReplyDelete