More on Forum: Two Tricky Questions

Three Democratic candidates for the Second & Third Ward at-large line in the June 8 primary responded to many questions at the May 16 NAACP forum, but a couple seemed to be kind of tricky.

In the first one, moderator George Gore asked candidates to say how many food pantries there are in Plainfield. Incumbent Second & Third Ward at-large Councilman Rashid Burney guessed there might be five or six.

Rashid Burney

Former Third Ward Councilman Don Davis said he didn't know, but mentioned many organizations to which he belongs that take food to the needy and do other charitable work on holidays.

Don Davis

Community organizer and frequent New Democrat campaign manager Rebecca Williams said she has participated in food drives and put the number of food pantries at two dozen.

Rebecca Williams

Gore then said the real answer is 22, and went on to say a lot of funding the food pantries get comes through the City Council. But he said the council doesn't know what comes from the county. This observer was not sure what the point of the question was, beyond testing the candidates' knowledge of city food pantries.

In another question, Gore asked the candidates to talk about a "coal plant" in Linden.

Again, candidates did not have answers at their fingertips.

Burney said he had heard of it, but had not had a lot of opportunity to look into it. He said coal gives off gas and asked, "Do we need this? What's in it for the community?"

Davis said he was glad it was in Linden and not in Plainfield.

"I definitely need more information," he said, pledging to call up colleagues in Linden to "find out what is going on."

Williams said she would "respectfully defer" giving a comment and said if Gore e-mailed the question to her, she would research it.

Gore himself made no further explanation.

Plaintalker's online search turned up a lot of information as well as reactions from opponents of the plan, which involves piping carbon dioxide from burning coal 70 miles out into the ocean floor, where it will presumably be sequestered permanently. But opponents fear a carbon dioxide leak may occur and put many people in danger.

Click here for a news article on the deal, which could yield $2.5 million for Linden. But click here to read about what opponents say. And here is what PurGen says.

While it was very eye-opening to read about this innovative proposal, especially in light of the Gulf Coast disaster, Plaintalker did not see what it might possibly have to do with serving Plainfield citizens of the Second and Third wards over the next four years, except to the extent that a City Council member might have to call attention to environmental issues in general. On the face of it, even though a municipality approved the deal, it would seem that state and federal authorities are the entities to look out for the public good as this project develops.

The candidates still have 17 days on the campaign trail. Good luck to all, and watch out for those tricky questions!

--Bernice Paglia