7th District opponents welcome debate challenge

The other candidates in the 7th Congressional District GOP primary responded favorably to Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks’s challenge today for four debates.

"We are happy to debate," said Amanda Woloshen, spokeswoman for state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon). "We have actually already accepted a debate from Channel 9. Any opportunity for Leonard to express his record of true fiscal conservatism is always welcome."

Peapack-Gladstone businesswoman Kate Whitman’s spokesman Anthony Attanasio also said his candidate would welcome a chance to engage.

"We would expect the debates to be conducted by legitimate outside groups and organized in a fair and open process," Attanasio said. "So far, no one’s made any formal requests."

The campaign of former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield questioned the timing of Marks’s challenge but was still agreeable.

"We’re always happy to debate, but we’ve already had multiple forums, that’s what we’ve been doing since January," said Hatfield spokesman Ben DeMarzo. "We’re open to the idea but we’re doing a lot of door-to-door and we’re involved in a heavy grassroots campaign to engage voters one on one."

Dismissing the candidates’ forum of the past few weeks as stiff question and answer sessions, Iraq War veteran Thomas Roughneen of Watchung aggressively accepted Marks’s offer.

"I issued my own challenge for debates back on March 21," Roughneen said. "I said ‘dump the canned speeches.’ It’s just crazy to think that two minute speeches in which two of the candidates are cycling through notes could be considered a debate.

"If you want to be a congressman, you should be able to speak from the heart," Roughneen added.

The candidate said he wants debates in which candidates receive candidate-specific questions.

"One of the problems with what we’ve had so far is we’ve gotten a lot of vanilla questions and everyone seems to agree," Roughneen said. "The devil’s in the details."

Darren Young of Summit, a late entry in the race, said he wants debates as a way of contrasting his stands on the issues, particularly regarding the War in Iraq.

"Our troops in Iraq have fought with bravery and they have accomplished their mission," said Young. "Now the Iraqis must pick up the ball and begin to rebuild their nation. It is time to begin a staged withdrawal and bring our men and women home with the honor they deserve."

Young has filed in all four counties under the slogan "Constitutional Republicans Protecting the Liberty Platform," and is aligned
with U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin, as well as a delegate slate and freeholders in select counties, according to Sabrin spokesman George Ajjan.