On the evening of September 27, 2018, six people who wanted a seat on the East Brunswick Township Council sat down at the public library and waited to find out who would speak first.
The order was decided by drawing cards just before the cameras rolled. Each candidate got two minutes to open and one minute to close. Three people took turns asking questions: Maureen Berzok, then editor of TAPinto East Brunswick; Susan Loyer of the Home News Tribune; and Melissa Hozik, a librarian at the East Brunswick Public Library.
About thirty-six minutes in, Hozik read a question submitted by a resident.
“So we received this question over social media, and it’s about property taxes,” she said. “Property tax revaluation in East Brunswick hasn’t been done in 30, over 32 years. How old are your homes, and how would you call for a property tax revaluation?”
The Democrats answered first, then the Republicans, and the evening moved on to the next question.
Eight years later, East Brunswick still holds a night like that — for the school board.
The East Brunswick Education Association’s Meet the Candidates Night is set for Wednesday, September 30, at the Community Arts Center. Residents can submit questions beforehand, and EBTV will film the event and show it until Election Day.
Town Council candidates, however, have not appeared together in a forum like that since 2022. And as of September 7, none is scheduled for this year’s council race.
The last one was in 2022
The most recent East Brunswick Township Council candidate forum took place in the fall of 2022.
There were actually two, taped the same evening and posted publicly on October 2.
The first ran an hour and twenty-two minutes and featured all six candidates for three full-term council seats: Antoinette Evola, David Herrera and Neal Shah for the Republicans, and Kevin McEvoy, James Wendell and Dana Winston for the Democrats.
The second was shorter and covered a separate race between Dana Zimbicki and Joseph Kincaid for the two years remaining on Michael Spadafino’s unexpired term.
Both were produced by EBTV. Both were moderated by Dr. Alan Brodman, a retired East Brunswick High School social studies teacher. Both were taped in the Township Council chambers.
It used to happen regularly
Candidate forums were not new to East Brunswick in 2018.
EBTV has been on the air since 1977, and its longtime program This Week in EB documented community events for decades. The station’s digitized archive shows candidate debates and forums appearing repeatedly before elections, including in 1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000.
One entry leaves no question about the race.
Episode 493, broadcast September 24, 1992, lists its segments this way: Opening; Township Council Candidates Debate; Post Office Dedication; Kiwanis Car Show; Playhouse 22’s Evita; Council Review; Pet Doctor.
A council debate, filed between a post office dedication and a car show.
Routine.
Not every old archive entry identifies the office involved. Some clearly refer to other races, including state Assembly and school board forums. But the more recent council history is documented on video.
There was a council forum in 2018, a mayoral forum and council forum in 2020, a council forum in 2021, and the two council forums in 2022.
What the forums looked like
The format changed over the years.
In 2018, the League of Women Voters of New Jersey partnered with the East Brunswick Public Library and EBTV. A League representative moderated, while two newspaper reporters and a librarian asked questions, including questions submitted by residents.
By 2020, the forums were being recorded without an audience during the pandemic. Brodman moderated while Berzok and Home News Tribune reporter Nicholas Muscavage asked questions.
The 2021 forum followed a similar format.
In 2022, the location moved to the council chambers. Brodman again moderated. Berzok asked the questions after a second reporter scheduled to participate cancelled because of illness.
The organizations and people involved changed, but the basic idea stayed the same: put the candidates together, ask them questions, give them time to answer, record it and let voters watch.
The record does not show one organization that was consistently responsible for organizing the forums. They happened because different people and organizations worked together to make them happen.
Then came 2024
November 2024 was a full municipal election in East Brunswick.
The mayor’s office was on the ballot along with two of the five council seats. Three candidates ran for mayor and four for council.
There was no council forum.
EBTV had maintained election-programming pages for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 election cycles. Its 2022 page included Township Council and Board of Education candidate debates. No equivalent page appears for 2024, and EBTV’s video archive contains no council forum after 2022.
The difference also shows up in local election coverage.
In November 2022, TAPinto East Brunswick’s pre-election guide included links to the Town Council debates produced by EBTV.
Two years later, its October 2024 election guide listed the candidates and linked to their written statements. There was no forum to link to.
Patch’s 2024 East Brunswick election guide also contained no council forum.
No public record found explains why the forums stopped. There is no announcement ending them, and there is no record showing that candidates refused to participate.
The record simply shows that the forums happened through 2022.
Then they did not happen in 2024.
The school board still does it
That makes the Board of Education comparison especially interesting.
East Brunswick Board of Education candidates have faced the public in a Meet the Candidates Night every year since 2018.
This year’s event is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the East Brunswick Community Arts Center.
Residents can submit questions ahead of time. Those questions are provided to the moderator for consideration. EBTV will film the event and show it through Election Day.
That is consistent with how these nights have worked in previous years.
In 2023, TAPinto reported that organizers had received more than 100 questions from the community. EBEA president Dr. Dana Zimbicki said at the time, “Every question tonight was provided by the East Brunswick community.”
The 2025 program included candidate introductions, questions and answers, closing remarks and a neutral moderator from outside the association.
The basic format is straightforward: a room, a moderator, questions, equal opportunities to respond and a way for residents who cannot attend to watch later.
The council race does not have to copy the school board event exactly.
But East Brunswick is already providing this kind of opportunity to voters in another important local election.
Now it is 2026
Three of the five Township Council seats are on the ballot Tuesday, November 3.
It is the same number of seats that were contested in 2018 and 2022, when council forums were held.
Nothing is currently scheduled for 2026.
There is no council candidate forum listed on EBTV’s election programming, no new forum on its video channel and no announcement in the local press.
There is still time.
The 2018 forum was held September 27. The 2020 forums were taped October 7. The 2022 forums were posted October 2.
A 2026 event would not necessarily have to be a traditional debate.
It could simply be a Town Council Meet the Candidates Night.
Every candidate invited. The same questions asked of everyone. Equal time to respond. A neutral moderator. Questions from East Brunswick residents. Opening and closing statements. A recording for people who cannot attend.
Would East Brunswick residents benefit from a Town Council Meet the Candidates Night in 2026?
And if one were organized, would all of the candidates take part?
At the end of the last East Brunswick Township Council forum in 2022, Brodman looked into the camera and offered the final words of the night.
“We the people are the ones who are in charge of this democratic system,” he said. “So I ask you: become aware. Hopefully this has helped you become aware of the differing issues. Make your determinations, and come out to vote. It is one of the most important civic duties that we have.”
East Brunswick does not need to recreate the old forums exactly as they were.
Maybe it is a debate.
Maybe it is simply a Meet the Candidates Night.
But with voters preparing to choose three of the five people who will sit on the Township Council for the next four years, there is still time to put the candidates in the same room, ask each of them the same questions and let residents hear the answers for themselves.
Why not?
