Fort Lee GOP Cancels Final BOE Debate

Thursday evening was supposed to be the last chance for voters to hear from the candidates running for the Fort Lee Board of Education, but the United Republican Club of Fort Lee-sponsored debate has been cancelled, club president David Cohen announced.

The event was supposed to have taken place at the Fort Lee Public Library and would have been the last debate before the election among the candidates running for three seats on the school board, but the library remains closed after Hurricane Sandy.

“We lost our venue; we’re not going to be able to have the event tonight, and regrettably,” Cohen said Thursday. “Obviously, our first thoughts are with the people of Fort Lee; I still understand that 70 percent of people don’t have power.”

Having lost their venue, Republican Club officials scrambled to find an alternate location Thursday, but it wasn’t to be.

“We tried to have it at the community center, but seeing as we’re under a bit of an emergency, that was not going to happen,” Cohen said, adding that all of the candidates were notified of the cancellation.

He also said club officials even tried changing the day of the debate, but that didn’t work out either.

“We tried to have it on Monday night; we really wanted to get this debate done, but Monday is a Board of Education meeting,” Cohen said. “We offered it to the candidates, [but one of them told me] that’s not going to be good because most of the candidates are going to be at the Board of Education meeting on Monday night.”

Cohen added, “I absolutely understand that.”

“So regrettably, we’re not going to be hosting them this year because of these extraordinary circumstances,” he said.