UPDATE: Responses from the candidates are italicized below.
Political junkies looking for drama at Wednesday’s Morris Township virtual Committee debate came away empty.
They would have had difficulty finding any debate at all.
Democratic candidates Mark Gyorfy and Tara Olivo-Moore logged on. Their Republican opponents, Joseph Calvanelli and Sandra Garcia, did not.
The Republicans cited personal reasons, according to moderator Michelle Bobrow of the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area. Normally, the absence of contenders would spur the League to pull the plug.
But Garcia sent an opening statement, so the Democrats were allowed to give theirs. Scheduled for an hour, the Zoom “debate” was over in less than 15 minutes.
A pair of three-year terms are up for grabs.
GOP incumbents in the 25th Legislative District were called out by the League last month for declining to debate.
Details about Wednesday’s no-shows were sketchy at first. On Thursday, Calvinelli told Morristown Green he had experienced an unexpectedly long and emotional day with his mother, who was receiving cancer treatment in New York.
“Politics aside, I needed to be by her side yesterday,” Calvinelli said.
Garcia said she had expected to rebound from a medical procedure the day before the debate. But complications from the procedure and medication “prevented my participation,” she told Morristown Green on Thursday. She had alerted the League to her situation on Tuesday evening.
Both candidates said they had looked forward to debating, and would participate in a do-over if their opponents and the League were amenable.
“I would be open to it,” Calvinelli said.
“We all love the Township. We just have different ways of reaching the same goals,” Garcia said.
Gyorfy said Thursday he was sorry to hear that Calvinelli’s mother is ill. “We are open to try to find another date that works for everyone,” he said.
Morristown Green has reached out to the League; check back here for updates.
Gyorfy, an incumbent seeking a second term on Nov. 2, on Wednesday night expressed concern for his opponents, “since matters in their private lives came up, and take precedence.”
Three years ago Gyorfy ran for Committee “because I believe Morris Township’s future generations deserve the same opportunities I had while growing up here.”
Gyorfy chairs the municipality’s Transportation Advisory Committee, which he helped create to enlist public suggestions for combating speeding, he said.
He has worked to “reinvigorate” communications with neighborhoods, he said, and “to allow residents a voice as early as possible” in the redevelopment process.
On the environmental front, Gyorfy said he “aggressively” pushed for one of Morris County’s first bans on single-use plastic bags, and to require new developments to include charging stations for electric vehicles.
“Morris Township is now on the leading edge when it comes to environmental protection,” said the Morristown High School graduate, a Township native who has volunteered on the fire department for a dozen years. The former congressional adviser now holds the title of deputy mayor.
Gyorfy pledged fiscal responsibility, so families and retirees can afford to stay in the Township.
‘RESILIENCY’
Toronto native Olivo-Moore came to New Jersey in 2003, and settled in the Township six years ago. Both of her children attended Morristown High.
Olivo-Moore said she developed a “deep appreciation for human suffering and the human spirit” during five years as an emergency room nurse in Paterson.
As a private nurse, she now treats patients ranging from “toddlers up to centenarians,” and has guided some through the pandemic, said Olivo-Moore, who is active at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown. She is also vice chairperson of the the Township’s board of health, and serves on the zoning board.
“If elected, I want to use my background to consider what we can do to make our Township healthier and more resilient right now, and how we can make our Township healthier and more resilient into the future,” said Olivo-Moore.
Transparency, “putting people first,” longterm thinking, and sustainabilty are core principles of the Democrats’ campaign, she said.
‘LOPSIDED’ POWER
Garcia and Calvinelli ran unsuccessfully as a ticket last year.
In her statement, read aloud by a League moderator, Garcia apologized for her absence, citing a “personal emergency.”
After decades of GOP control, the Committee now has a 4-1 Democratic majority–something the Republican ticket aims to change.
“Joe and I are committed to keeping Morris Township affordable, safe and restoring the balance of power and leadership to the Committee,” Garcia said.
“The balance of power is lopsided. It is my opinion that all our residents need to be heard, and have a voice at the table,” Garcia continued , sounding a theme heard from Democrats a few short years ago.
Her statement indicated support for Township law enforcement officers, and opposition to tax breaks known as PILOTs, which enable redevelopers to avoid paying school taxes.
A graduate of the Katharine Gibbs School and Adelphi University, Garcia is a senior analyst for an insurance firm. She has resided for four decades in the Township, where she raised three children and coached girls soccer, softball and basketball.
Calvanelli told the League he could not participate in Wednesday’s debate because of a health issue, the moderator said during the livestream.
The son of a former mayor, Calvanelli has served briefly on the Township Committee. He owns a market research firm and is past president of the Morristown Area Little League, former chair of First Night Morris County, and a former trustee of the Morris Museum.
“I grew up in a household in the 1970s and ’60s, where Democrats and Republicans sat around our kitchen table and talked about the issues of the day to make the town better. Partisanship was minimal,” Calvinelli said on Thursday.
In these politically divided times, he said, love of family is one thing we can agree on. “Maybe this allows us all to pause for a moment and access our priorities,” he said.
