Last night there was a debate scheduled at the Fordham Lutheran Church in the southern part of the 33rd State Senate District. It was known that incumbent 33rd State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. would skip this debate just like Espada skipped the first debate on Bronxtalk, not wanting to defend his questionable behavior in the state senate and elsewhere. What was not known was that challenger J. Gustavo Rivera would also bail out at the last minute by attending an event out out of the district rather than being with the voters of the 33rd State Senate District. Mr. J. Gustavo Rivera's policy director said Rivera would be attending a candidates' forum in the east Bronx, near Westchester Square, an event hosted by the Bronx branches of the NAACP.
Last week, Rivera's campaign said he would participate in the debate, organized by Transportation Alternatives at Fordham Lutheran Church, moderated by the Bronx News Network You can go to the BNN website to read their story and comments from people at http://www.bronxnewsnetwork.org/ .
Getting back to the debate at Fordham Lutheran Church Mr. Dan Padernacht Democratic candidate for the 33rd State Senate came to the debate in the southern part of the district, as did Mr. John Reynolds the candidate of the Green Party who was also invited.
This debate was on mass transit and other community related issues which would have been an excellent forum for Mr. J. Gustavo Rivera to give the voters his position on the issues, but Mr. J. Gustavo Rivera showed his lack of concern for the voters by going instead to an event out of the district he is running for.
Mr. Padernacht was very kind though to Mr. Rivera by answering the questions as if Mr. Rivera was there to the point, with Mr. Reynolds of the Green party saying most of the time that he agreed with Mr. Padernacht on the issue. In his closing statement however Mr. Padernacht said that he expected Pedro Espada Jr. not to show, But for Mr. J. Gustavo Rivera to bail out at the last minute shows that he is no different than Pedro Espada Jr.
A spokesperson for Transportation Alternatives the sponsor of the debate said that they do not endorse any candidates as they are a 501c3 corporation.
After the debate I asked Mr. Padernacht if he missed anything in the Bronxtalk debate which Mr. J. Gustavo Rivera did attend, and he said yes I did. "When Mr. J. Gustavo Rivera said that he worked in the senate conference to help the democrats gain a majority, I should have said so it was you that helped put Pedro Espada Jr. in the position he now is".
It is our opinion that Mr. Dan Padernacht was the hands down winner of both debates and would have been if all the candidates had attended. Mr. J. Gustavo Rivera showed by not attending the second debate that he will politics ahead of the people of the 33rd State Senate District, and it is well known that the incumbent Pedro Espada Jr. has put his own self interests ahead of anything else.
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