A capacity crowd at the Plainfield Public Library waited in vain for Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs to join Councilman Adrian Mapp Wednesday for a candidates' debate for the June 4 Democratic primary. Moderator Dawn Clarke of the League of Women Voters closed the meeting after the mayor failed to show up.
"I think it's a disgrace that she didn't come, knowing the public would be here," resident Jean Black said of the two-term mayor. As about 100 people milled around, the mayor's confidential aide, Barbara James, appeared and asked permission to read a statement from her, but Clarke said the meeting was over.
Plaintalker and Courier News reporter Mark Spivey obtained copies of the statement, in which the mayor says she was diagnosed with bronchitis and respiratory infection, adding, "and I have been light-headed for two days." She noted that Mapp was unavailable for an NAACP forum Sunday, "but I was there, and prepared and I did answer everyone's questions." (Click here for Plaintalker's post on that forum.)
In her statement the mayor said she would be available for a rescheduled debate, but Pat Turner Kavanaugh, president of forum co-sponsor Friends of Sleepy Hollow, said, "I can't do it."
Turner Kavanaugh said if the mayor or her husband, Peter Briggs, had called Wednesday to say she was ill, the forum would have been canceled.
"FOSH is not in the business of embarrassing anybody," she said.
As co-sponsors, the Plainfield League of Women Voters had prepared and printed informational flyers with biographies, statements and answers to two League questions from the candidates and made other preparations for the event.
Some in the audience perceived the mayor's absence as a kind of tit-for-tat response to Mapp's absence Sunday. Former PMUA Executive Director Eric Watson told the NAACP forum audience of about 15 people that Mapp's absence was a slight to the civil rights organization, but Mapp told Plaintalker he had only received the invitation on May 7 and had immediately informed Peter Briggs, who is president of the Plainfield NAACP branch, that he had a prior commitment.
At the meeting Sunday, the mayor announced a community meeting to be held Friday featuring Rev. Al Sharpton as a "special guest." The meeting is 6:30 p.m. at Washington Community School and Sharpton's National Action network has his appearance scheduled for 8 p.m.
Much of the mayor's presentation Sunday had to do with refuting results of an investigation by the governing body into an Aug. 1, 2010 community meeting that also featured Sharpton. Questions arose over funding for the event and the mayor showed enlarged documents Sunday that she said proved the $20,000 expense was legitimate. An individual who seemed close to the mayor but declined to give his name to Plaintalker predicted that Sharpton would address the same matter Friday and "blow it out of the water."
(See Plaintalker's post on the outcome of the investigation here.)
After the meeting closed Wednesday with no forum, Mapp stayed on the talk to residents. He said of the mayor's absence, "I am very disappointed that I did not have the opportunity to have an exchange of ideas with my opponent" so that the audience could "have a better sense of who is qualified." He said he would welcome an opportunity to have a forum again before the election.
--Bernice
Any decent leader would not engage in a tit-for-tat response (NAACP event), especially when it comes to a widely publicized public debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Simply shameful, juvenile behavior on Sharon's part.
ReplyDeleteJoylette Mills-Ransome is Vice Chair at the LWV. She has been campaigning for Mapp, and is Mapp's "Woman for Mapp" chair campaigning for Mapp.
ReplyDeleteNow she wants to be one "handing out literature" at the forum?
Where is the balance in that?
This LWC in Plainfield was a setup and the Mayor was to be ambushed.
If she did not show up...she was smart. Plus Mapp hid from the NAACP forum also. So he did the same thing.
You must be a Sharon lover. I didn't know any were left. How are things in Oz?
DeleteMapp had the professionalism and decency to inform the NAACP that he was not available - not so the mayor for the FOSH forum. If she had an issue with illness, what was her problem in informing FOSH?
ReplyDeleteAlso, nice attitude, tit for tat. Very professional.
She is predictable, and a coward. I am sure her supporters will give her a pass, as they do on everything she does, but the reality is that she is unprofessional, no clue how to handle herself (if she could not figure out that she needed to call ahead to indicate she was not coming), and obviously is smart enough to know that her record has more holes than swiss cheese.
And do not get me started on her remark about being light headed.
MAPP FOR MAYOR people. We deserve better than this!!!!!
Coward? Look whose talking... You write as a Anonymous responder! From what you have written I can see that light headed conditions can be replicated by anyone. So I say to you, if YOU want to see this town sold off and sucked dry by out sourcing and job loss, if YOU want to see revenues resulting from salaries paid to those both working and living in this town, salaries that support Plainfield business (will be no more), paying rent and property taxes (will be no more); salaries that make possible needed work to be done by those who live here! Keep believing what Mapp tells you he will do, and vote for him. You will then see what he really wants for him.... not really for you, or this town.
DeleteMapp should have bent over backward to attend the forum held by the NAACP, for it is the earliest civil rights organization that has made it possible for HIM any many others to play the roll they now play, and that especially pretains to women... who benefited much from the civil rights movement. For someone to even suggest that the NAACP should have rescheduled to accommodate him, is where the insult rest! I'll play the anonymous game with you.
Yes Mapp should have bent over backwards to attend an event with 15 people! Get a clue! If the NAACP is so important why was noone there? No citizens, no publications or promoting this event. This was a poorly organized, poorly publicized event and the fact only 15 people attended shows that. The LWV event was promoted and organized and it shows with 150 people waiting the hear both competitors speak.
DeleteCowards perform in cowardly ways. The mayor has been "light-headed" for 8 years, but that hasn't stopped her from running our city into the ground. She is a joke and even the people who were at the forum who supported her were disgusted. She would be surprised to see who they were because they were diehard Sharonistas who said they put time in on her campaign. Let's hope that on June 4th the voters remember that she said she is "light-headed."
ReplyDeleteat 11:32, please, stop it, everything the mayor does is a set up and for her own benefit. finally, she has confessed to something I am sure many of us have known all along, "she's been lightheaded for 2 days" only 2, come on mayor, fess up, the lightheadedness didn't just start 2 days ago.
ReplyDeleteSo 11:32PM . . . which one was it? Was Sharon sick or did she not attend because Mapp did not attend the NAACP forum?
ReplyDeleteI heard Mapp emailed Petey Briggs 10 days prior to the NAACP forum stating he had a prior engagement. Sharon Robinson-Briggs canceled her appearance with Barbara James walking in a typed letter after the forum began.
So was the sick (pun intended)letter a lie?
And . . . is Sharon playing tricks with the voters or with Mapp?
As Obama once said, "Silly season has begun!"
So she had time to type up a letter but not make a phone call?
ReplyDeleteCome on, people, the mayor communicated with all of us tonight as well as she did the days after Hurricane Sandy. She is our fearless leader and can do no wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that I left work a little early to make it out of the NYC on time to hear her and Mapp debate, ate my dinner in the car, and then sat there in the library waiting for her to grace us with her presence shows the lack of respect she has, had, and will continue to have for the residents of Plainfield.
To 11:32PM Anon, your statement that the LWV forum was a set-up is insulting and delusional. This was the ONE AND ONLY opportunity where I expected to hear from my mayor. My mayor who I hope gets voted off the island come election time.
How does she call the $20,000 expense for Sharpton legitimate. The bank donated it for the parade not Sharpton. Sure they don't want to make waves as they do not want bad publicity over this. THE MONEY WAS FOR THE PARADE MAYOR, NOT ANYTHING ELSE, IT IS NOT LEGITIMATE...GET SOME HELP!
ReplyDeleteSo if Al is coming to plead her case, what's he going to be accusing Mapp of ( cause he's got to blame someone for something all the time )doing?
ReplyDeleteYou think he's going to accuse Mapp of being white or not black enough ???
The man sees nothing but racism ( hence, it's easy to find the racist with him in the room ) he's either being PAID again or there are some favors being handed out behind the scenes....... campaign violation through the...???
I am sure he'll refer to the Mayor by her other label, "I'm a good Christian God Damnit " not "I'm the f#*c#ing Mayor" ... I may have to check the date and see if I can go simply to see Laurel and Hardy victimize it up for the media....oh I mean, make a presentation ( Sorry Al and Sharon ).
Remind me again who supported her candidacy making it possible for her to be here for 2 terms ?? Was it the Republicans ?? No... Oh that's right, Mr. Jerry Green.
Vote Democrat..maybe this year is the year they'll finally :
a) Get something done
b) Stop fighting and crying over who's getting the most contracts to their friends
c) Work to improve Plainfield
d) Actually consider the people of this city instead of serving their own political butts while on the public dole
e) All of the above
d) None of the above
--- I made it easy for you Democrats who don't know how to vote.. the Answer is "D" just like on election day.
I guess "her lightheadedness" will be gone by Friday. She is expecting that to make it all better. If her supporters believe that, they really are voting for reasons other than making a better Plainfield.
ReplyDeleteTo 6:46AM - Let's not be rash. Remember, she is "lightheaded".
ReplyDeleteFOSH is a civic organization whose importance for maintaining and improving the quality of life in Plainfield cannot be understated. This is a slap in the face to each of the hundreds of residents of Sleepy Hollow, and Robinson-Briggs has shown profound disrespect to an entire community. She has forfeited any claim to legitimacy as a leader, and does not deserve a single vote.
ReplyDeleteShe is pathetic, desperate and despicable.
ReplyDeleteTo te person whose comment is listed for 9:51 am: This has nothing to do with "hundreds of residents of Sleepy Hollow," it has to do with almost 50,000 residents of Plainfield, about the members of the PHS Debate Team who attended last night, about the Bot Scout and his Mother who gave up their evening, about the PCTV crew and interns who spent a long time setting up. I am glad the Friends of the Library sold some books, and many people visited the wonderful Children's Room. Someone donated $20 for the signs honoring PHS scholar-athletes.
ReplyDeleteShame, shame, shame on you Mayor for not having the guts to be truthful to the people of Plainfield. You showed just how selfish you really are. How many times do people who have been diagnosed with illnessess worse than yours show up? The excuse you gave is just as lame as you are. You let all the residents down especially the young people. You call yourself Mayor?...Oh, let's make it perfectly clear, you are the f---ing mayor (your words). What you did last night spoke volumes to Plainfield and you will know why on June 4th. It's really time to go and you need to do us all a favor and resign. We don't need a lightheaded useless mayor!
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't live in Sleepy Hollow and I consider the fact that the Mayor did not show for the debate last night a "slap in my face" along with the many other slaps that she has dealt to me and other citizens in Plainfield.Slaps in the form of allowing this city to become so "run down" that it is pathetic. Her current supporters on the Council, no matter how far fetched the idea is, ideas that lack supportive data and ideas that don't even pass the "smell test" say "yes" when the role is called at Council meetings. As the current Council President states,"It is the will of the admunistration" and without questions, four votes are given. Thus, adding their slaps to our faces also.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Lewis
To Anonymous May 23, 2013 at 9:51 AM, Are you Serious? is Sleep Hollow the only section in Plainfield that matters? Why would this be a "slap in the face to each of the hundreds of residents of Sleepy Hollow" and not to Plainfield as a whole?
ReplyDeleteSo much for Mapps slogan "1 Plainfield". I'm sure you are a Mapp supporter and you sound like somewhat of an elitist.
Robin,
I think the comment refers to Friends of Sleepy Hollow, which organized the event in conjunction with the Plainfield League of Women Voters. I don't think it pertains to a geographical area per se. FOSH is a neighborhood association like many others across the city. See more here.
Deletehttp://www.foshnj.com/page2.php
Well said, Margaret. I hope the four votes will also be voted out.
ReplyDeleteAs to her answering all the questions asked at the NAACP forum, there was only one asked and that was regarding Mr. Mapp absence, to which her husband Pete response was that Mr. Mapp DID inform him that he had a previous engagement. NO OTHER QUESTIONS WERE ASKED. I was shocked that it was used as a smear campaign in which she mentioned the names of our previous City Administrator Bibi Taylor, Mr. Mapp, Assemblyman Green and Ms. Defillippo in negative ways. She also tried to show herself in a positive light with home made posters, which those that really came for a forum could see right through. She didn't speak as to where she see's the city in the coming years, as if she could. It was all just a bunch of BULL!!! Am I surprised? absolutely not, did the fact that she was a no show last night and sent her go-fer to do her dirty work by coming late with a letter hoping that the league would fall for the excuse and let it be read? absolutely not. Finally, will she get my vote? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Wake up Plainfield, we all have issues but to NOT take the reponsibility for what you do is INSANE.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous May 23, 2013 at 9:51 AM, Are you Serious? is Sleep Hollow the only section in Plainfield that matters? Why would this be a "slap in the face to each of the hundreds of residents of Sleepy Hollow" and not to Plainfield as a whole? So much for Mapps slogan "1 Plainfield". I'm sure you are a Mapp supporter and you sound like somewhat of an elitist belonging to a group of people that just want control of the city.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Sharon’s decision not to show up for the debate was not a smart move regardless of what happened on Sunday or her being sick. Unless she was in the hospitable dying, she should have showed up. I hear a lot of complaining about the Mayor and the last 8 years of her being non-effective, hell I have my complaints just like everyone else. I’ve watched Plainfield go from being the beautiful city with a downtown that would rival any metropolitan city, thriving with key businesses and industry to what we have now (a hot mess of a ghetto) with no jobs or the few jobs that are available go to people of a certain culture.
When will the people of Plainfield wake up and realize who exactly is pulling the strings here in Plainfield. While you may want to believe and blame Sharon, the real fact is for the last 8 years Sharon has only been doing what she was told by her mentor and dare I say, puppet master, who in disguise, is the REAL mayor of Plainfield. We need to think long and hard before jumping on the Mapp bandwagon. It’s not that I don’t like Mapp or have an ax to grind, but let’s be real we have to many of you thinking he’s the savior that’s going to turn Plainfield back to what it was. IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
I believe Mapp would have been a decent mayor at best. When you take a real look at the politics of Plainfield and then put it into proper perspective, you have to realize that Mapp is now beholden to Jerry Green for giving him his heart’s desire – THE LINE. For the most part he will prove to be another Sharon, only with a finance degree. Sure he may be able to handle the day to day duties of being a mayor more competent than Sharon did, but as far as implementing major changes that will move Plainfield forward, he will prove to be as ineffective as Sharon was.
Robin,
Robin, All the things you mentioned that Sharon did not do, and Adrian Mapp will do are the exact reasons you should vote for him. And you seem to think that Adrian Mapp having a finance degree does not matter much. I assure you, your taxes or rent would be twice as high if Adrian had not stepped in and worked the budget. Shouldn't that be a compelling reason to vote for him? I ask you, Adrian is a Democrat, what line should he be running under?
ReplyDeleteBeholding to Jerry Green because Jerry gave him the line - maybe-and maybe not. Before you assume, talk to him and make up your mind with logic and facts - not the easy way out which is making excuses.
We KNOW Sharon has done nothing for the city.
If you are
Bernice, my comment did in fact refer to FOSH's role as an organizer of the event. Apologies to the League of Women Voters for omitting them from the post. Otherwise, I stand by my remarks, which have been misinterpreted by some who apparently did not read them that closely. Pat, you have the thankless task of a volunteer running a civic organization--FOSH, which covers an area of hundreds of homes, does great work, and has probably done more than anyone to keep City Hall from screwing up one of New Jersey's most beautiful and diverse communities. Aside from the LWV, no other civic org in Plainfield was identified as an organizer of this event.
ReplyDelete"Former PMUA Executive Director Eric Watson told the NAACP forum audience of about 15 people that Mapp's absence was a slight to the civil rights organization"
ReplyDeleteThis is hilarious. Eric Watson's reign of corruption as the ED of the PMUA, where he helped to rob the taxpayers of this community, should disqualify him from even making such statements.