Endorsement hearings are moving along. We are interviewing all County Legislature candidates and challengers, as well as town supervisor and town board candidates. We also will interview those running for mayor and trustee for the villages of Haverstraw and Spring Valley.
The meetings usually take an hour, sometimes less. We don’t let candidates debate; we ask questions and they take turns answering. We limit some responses. We have a lot to talk about in these meetings, and we don’t much need the social niceties, we need information. And we need to get on to the next batch of candidates.
The only day we fell behind was yesterday — of course, that was the day we scheduled four hearings.
First meeting of the day: County Legislature District 6. Bruce Levine, Alden Wolfe and Judah Lerer. Multiple candidates need some managing, and these are three candidates who know the issues, and can talk. Really talk. OK, some talk more than others. OK, Levine talks the most. (He said it first; but the other two are hardly shrinking violets.)
As we walked out to the lobby, a half-hour late, District 17 candidates were next. Connie Coker and Paul Valentine were outside chatting amiably. As Coker greeted her current colleague, Levine, and her former colleague, Wolfe, Levine said he was likely the cause of the overtime session. Coker laughed and said if she had known he was before her, she wouldn’t have worried about showing up on time, and would have called Valentine and let him know not to rush.
Today (so far) we’re right on time.