Zenkin Drops From Bedford Candidate Debate Over Stated Conflict of Interest
Due to withdrawal by one candidate, the Bedford League of Women Voters has cancelled the Oct. 23 candidate forum.
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The Bedford League of Women Voters (BLWV) announced Tuesday night's candidate forum between the candidates for the 21st Middlesex District State Representative seat and the 3rd Middlesex State Senate seat has been cancelled, according to Joan Bowen of the BLWV.
"The Bedford League of Women Voters regrets that it must cancel its candidate forum on October 23 due to Friday’s cancellation of an earlier acceptance by Walter Zenkin, candidate for State Representative, 21st Middlesex," according to a press release sent out by the BLWV.
Zenkin, R-Burlington, was set to meet Ken Gordon, D-Bedford, for their debate in the last week, before Zenkin's withdrawl on Oct. 19. It was the only debate between the two candidates scheduled to take place in Bedford, with the public in attendance.
According to a press release from Gordon's campaign, Zenkin withdrew from the debate "citing what he perceived as a conflict of interest involving one of the event’s organizers."
Gordon said he is disappointed in losing the only scheduled debate in front of the Bedford community.
"I'm frustrated from the point of view of the voter," Gordon said. "We haven't had the type of debate where members of the public could attend and ask questions directly."
In announcing his withdrawal, Zenkin said his concern was one member of the BLWV, charged with organizing the debate, was married to Gordon's campaign treasurer, according to a press release from Adam Senei, Zenkin's campaign manager.
"While we believe the League of Women Voters to be a noble institution with a rich history rooted in the woman’s suffrage movement, this is a brazen conflict of interest," Sensei said in the press release.
Sensei said the Zenkin campaign believes the League of Women voters should have disclosed the connection between the event organizer and members of the Gordon campaign.
"This type of behavior exemplifies all that our campaign is against in Massachusetts state politics; a culture of one-party rule and insider deals that have characterized Beacon Hill for the last several years," Sensei said.
When confronted with the perceived conflict of interest the event organizer "continued to act evasively," according to the press release.
"Based on our experience in dealing with the event’s organizer, we determined that this event would do little to present interested voters with the genuine discourse they deserve," Sensei said in the press release.
Following Zenkin's withdrawal, the Bedford Chamber of Commerce (COC) offered to take over sponsorship of the debate, following which Zenkin stood by his withdrawal from the forum.
"Zenkin’s campaign was unwilling to reconsider its refusal to attend the debate even after the [COC] offered to take over sponsorship, which would have removed the involvement of the person alleged by Zenkin’s campaign to be the problem," Gordon said in the press release.
"I'm aware there were two events proposed which would have seen a debate happen in front of the Bedford community," Gordon said. "Both were rejected."
Executive Director of the Bedford COC, Maureen Sullivan, said when the COC Board of Directors heard about Zenkin's withdrawal, they immediately wanted to step in to try to make the debate happen.
"We thought it was important to have a debate in front of the public before the election," Sullivan said.
The COC does not have any plans to try to reschedule the debate before the election, according to Sullivan.
Gordon said he is not aware of any communication between the two campaigns attempting to reschedule a debate in front of the Bedford community.
Bowen said the BLWV does not have any other candidate forums or other events lined up for the weeks leading up to the Nov. 6 election.
"Our interest was in providing a forum for State Senate and State Representative candidates that would represent this area," Bowen said.
Tom Murphy
8:39 pm on Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Another case of Zenkin chickening out of an adult conversation on the issues. He didn't even bother to comment himself in his excuse but hid behind a proxy - his campaign manager.
Reminds me of his excuse when his initial election papers to run as a Democrat candidate were incorrect. He placed the blame on someone else and suddenly became a Republican.
If he is going to hide when he is trying to get elected what will he be like when elected?
He may have blanketed the Town of Burlungton with lawn signs but lawn signs don't vote - Thank the Lord!!
Chris Gittins
9:26 pm on Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Zenkin campaign misrepresents the issue as inside politics.
Here are the facts:
1) Zenkin’s stated objection to the debate was the participation of one member of the LWV.
2) That person was involved with logistics issues only, e.g., establishing the debate location and seeing that the candidates were invited. She was to have no involvement with the debate itself.
3) Following Zenkin’s objection to LWV sponsorship, the Bedford Chamber of Commerce suggested it could replace the LWV as sponsor so that the person who was the cause of Zenkin’s concerns would have no involvement of any kind with the debate.
4) Zenkin refused to participate even if the Chamber of Commerce were to sponsor the debate.
If Zenkin wanted to give the voters of Bedford an opportunity to ask questions of the candidates and evaluate their responses, he would have agreed to the Chamber-sponsored debate. He did not. There are two possible explanations for Zenkin’s actions: Either he does not want to debate Mr. Gordon or he does not want to debate before Bedford voters. Both explanations are unacceptable.
Chris Gittins
Bedford, MA
Inside Burlington
11:44 pm on Saturday, November 3, 2012
There's a simple reason why Mr. Zenkin refused to debate Mr. Gordon. He can't win a discussion on the issues. If you've been in Burlington and seen Mr. Zenkin in action, you know that he is an extremely poor public speaker, rarely able to express his thoughts or arguments in a concise and clear way. Watch him in a debate and it is even worse. His inability to communicate effectively, think on his feet, and make a strong case for his positions is not going to serve him well in the state house. Take it from someone involved in Burlington Town Government who has seen him in action; he will get eaten alive and will not be a strong or effective advocate for Burlington, Bedford, Wilmington, or Arlington. Just watch the debates and judge for yourself.
Tom F. Murphy
8:30 am on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
At the risk of sounding like we are playing the old television game of "To Tell the Truth" my name is also Tom Murphy - I am on the Burlington SC and the brother of outgoing Rep Charley Murphy - and I wanted the record to show that it was not me who posted the previous comment. While I do support Mr. Gordon in this race, in fairness to Walter I wanted to point out that he did not pull papers for the Democratic nomination - he intended to run as an independant but he used the wrong nomination papers thus he did not qualify for the ballot. He was forced to run as a write-in candidate and, to run as a write-in, he had to choose a party.
Maureen Sullivan
11:38 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012
To clarify any misunderstanding that individual readers may have, at the close of the October 11, 2012 Bedford Chamber of Commerce Board of Director’s meeting, both candidates were given 5 minutes to present themselves to members present (not all Bedford residents). The candidates did not debate the issues, nor did they seek to undermine one another’s stances on the issues. Simply stated, the candidates were allowed to introduce themselves to the Bedford community’s business owners and operators. The Bedford Chamber of Commerce does not endorse candidates for office.
Maureen Sullivan
Executive Director
Bedford Chmaber of Commerce
J. Parker
3:10 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Mr. Zenkin and Mr. Gordon had a debate on BCAT. It can be seen if you google "Town of Burlington", and follow instructions to watch the BCAT videos.
Chris Gittins
3:09 pm on Friday, November 2, 2012
The also participated in a debate sponsored by the Lowell Sun. The video is on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtI0wqNalbo
The link to the BCAT video is here:
http://www.bcattv.org/zenkin-and-gordon-debate-in-21st-middlesex-district-state-rep-race/
You can find both by Googling 'zenkin gordon debate'