To: Governor Andrew Cuomo
CUOMO MUST DEBATE!
Hold Governor Cuomo accountable. Join me in demanding that Governor Cuomo debate Zephyr Teachout before the Democratic Primary on September 9th.
New Yorkers deserve to hear both candidates debate the issues and their plans for the future of New York.
New Yorkers deserve to hear both candidates debate the issues and their plans for the future of New York.
Why is this important?
Debates are a vital part of our democratic process.
As a law student focused in public service I’m learning that a clean government is worth much more than we give credit. Democracy is more than a word, or an ideal, it’s action! And it’s worth preserving. The costs of corruption are often hidden, buried inside our tax bill, our rent, or the prices we pay in the store. Democracy is not a Coronation. Debates matter and part of a transparent, uncorrupt, legitimate democracy.
It is time to refocus the candidate debate away from political posturing in favor of political responsibility. We need to hear how our candidates respond when probed by people who either disagree with them or who simply want them to clarify their positions or provide more detail.
Gov. Cuomo has every reason to refuse to a debate with primary challenger Zephyr Teachout. The conventional wisdom has always been that the candidate leading in the polls has fewer reasons to participate, especially when he has a $35 million war chest. But, shouldn’t the fact that a citizen of New York, and a resident of Harlem wants to ask both candidates questions and hear their unscripted answers, be reason enough to participate in such a debate?
Isn’t that what democracy looks like.
I’m a law student part of a Public Interest Law and Ethics program called Stein Scholars at Fordham University School of Law. The program competitively selects students and trains them for future careers in the public sphere. I live in Harlem, NY.
As a law student focused in public service I’m learning that a clean government is worth much more than we give credit. Democracy is more than a word, or an ideal, it’s action! And it’s worth preserving. The costs of corruption are often hidden, buried inside our tax bill, our rent, or the prices we pay in the store. Democracy is not a Coronation. Debates matter and part of a transparent, uncorrupt, legitimate democracy.
It is time to refocus the candidate debate away from political posturing in favor of political responsibility. We need to hear how our candidates respond when probed by people who either disagree with them or who simply want them to clarify their positions or provide more detail.
Gov. Cuomo has every reason to refuse to a debate with primary challenger Zephyr Teachout. The conventional wisdom has always been that the candidate leading in the polls has fewer reasons to participate, especially when he has a $35 million war chest. But, shouldn’t the fact that a citizen of New York, and a resident of Harlem wants to ask both candidates questions and hear their unscripted answers, be reason enough to participate in such a debate?
Isn’t that what democracy looks like.
I’m a law student part of a Public Interest Law and Ethics program called Stein Scholars at Fordham University School of Law. The program competitively selects students and trains them for future careers in the public sphere. I live in Harlem, NY.