With official certification given by the Trenton City Clerk’s Office to all Mayoral and Council Candidates who have qualified for the May 8 ballot, there’s been no time wasted announcing the first of what I hope will be several candidate Forums and Town Halls. The first is happening this Monday evening, sponsored by the Trenton Branch of the NAACP, and will be held at the Auditorium of the Trenton Board of Education. This is according to an announcement appearing on local bulletin boards yesterday.
Since they haven’t included any language in the announcement disclosing the connection, I hope that the organizers of Monday’s event will properly inform the audience of their current relationship with one of the mayoral candidates, Alex Bethea.
That their may be some current relationship isn’t apparent from a casual reading of the Trenton NAACP Facebook page, in terms of any list of officers or committees that I could find.
However, according to that Facebook page, the official mailing address of the Trenton Branch of the NAACP is listed as 117 Cadwalader Drive in the West Ward’s Hiltonia neighborhood. Which is the home address of Alex Bethea.
That Candidate Bethea is a former employee of the Board of Education is a fact that has been a central element to all of his political campaigns to date in the City, for city Council and now the Mayor’s office. It’s a major part of his resume that he is sure to play up on Monday night, as often as he can, I’d predict.
Appearing at a town hall event at the Board of Ed, sponsored by the Trenton NAACP, gives Alex Bethea a “home court advantage.” I suppose.
It’s always nice to have a home court advantage. But it’s only a fair advantage if all of the other players know under what rules the game will be played.
I hope and expect the Trenton Branch of the NAACP and the Board of Education to fully disclose and explain their connections with Mr. Bethea, so that Monday’s forum can be seen for what it should be: an open forum for all candidates, run by an entity acting as an honest broker, disinterested in the candidacy or candidacies of one or more specific candidates.
Trenton doesn’t need any electoral shenanigans this year.