Choi: Mayor too ‘chicken’ to debate on town TV

JAY BODAS “George the Chicken” makes an appearance in front of the Edison Municipal Complex last week.

Spadoro laughs at foe’s ‘political stunt,’ agrees to debate on radio

BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE

Staff Writer

No, it was not just another chicken joke.

Edison mayoral candidate Jun Choi was quite serious when he took his message of “fowl” play in political debates to the streets.

Choi was seen last week in front of the municipal complex, high schools and local streets, accompanied by a 6-foot-tall chicken.

His campaign friend’s name was Chicken George. The message the two carried was that Mayor George A. Spadoro was a big chicken for refusing to debate his challenger in the June mayoral primary race on Channel 22, the township’s local television station.

“Spadoro too chicken to debate,” said a sign the fowl friend of Choi’s carried.

“What can you say about a 6-foot-tall chicken?” Spadoro asked. “It really was funny; I had to laugh. How could you not laugh? You have to expect things like that in a political race. It was just a political stunt. That’s politics.”

While Spadoro found the whole stunt amusing, his campaign manager, David Georges, said the mayor also felt that the basis for the chicken joke was nothing for Choi to crow over. He said it was premature.

“The truth of the matter is of that the mayor never refused to debate Mr. Choi,” Georges said. “We acted in good faith. As a matter of fact, as I was writing a letter to Mr. Choi to accept the debate challenge on WCTC, the radio station, as we always have in the past, the chicken appeared in town.”

Yes, the mayor eventually agreed to a radio debate, Choi said. But it was not the sort of debate he challenged him to, and that’s why he pushed the chicken issue.

“He agreed to debate me on WCTC,” Choi said. “The whole thing was set up between our campaign managers, and the details haven’t been worked out yet, but I still think he’s not owning up to the challenge the way he should because a debate on radio is very different from a debate on TV. WCTC’s listenership is not large compared to that of Channel 22. Most Edison residents also have access to Channel 22, and programs on that channel run over and over again.”

Channel 22 broadcasts the mayor’s press conferences, township functions and regular council meetings as well as Board of Education meetings.

It is run by township employees.

But Georges said that the Spadoro campaign researched the matter and found that it would be “inappropriate to use township facilities or services for a partisan debate.”

Choi’s campaign manager, Donald Hansen, disagreed.

Not debating on the local television station was proof of Spadoro’s “long history of refusing to have a meaningful discussion about the pressing issues facing Edison,” he said.

“He refuses to let the voters know the facts and uses Channel 22 as an instrument to further his political agenda,” Hansen said.

Georges disagreed and said that Choi was the one who was inappropriately manipulating a situation to advance his own political agenda.

“He sent the chicken to the schools,” Georges said. “To send it to a school, where kids are not even of voting age, is low enough. But to send it to a school where one of the children of the mayor is a student is a level of politics my campaign will never sink to.”

The debate will still take place on the radio station in the near future, Georges said.

“We just have to figure out the right time,” he said. “It’s always just been a matter of time and scheduling. The mayor has a full campaign schedule. Mr. Choi sent a letter out and wanted it to happen immediately. Barely any time lapsed between the time he sent his letter out and we responded.”

Several people around town found the matter amusing, regardless of their politics.

At the Plaza Diner on Route 27 last Tuesday afternoon, people chuckled over the chicken.

“I happen to like the mayor,” said Bob Wright. “But you’ve gotta give the guy [Choi] credit. That was a pretty funny thing to do. It got him some attention. Maybe the mayor should just debate him on TV and show him he’s wrong about being a chicken. I think he’d do fine.”

Sondra Singer said she had no clue about what was going on because she was from New York and just in town to see her sister’s new baby. But she laughed.

“You see stuff like that all the time in the city, so I guess, no matter what you think, you just have to laugh at it. How could you not laugh at a big chicken roaming around? That’s funny,” Singer said.

Carlotta Lopez said she thought it was about time someone went face to face with the mayor, or beak to face.

“The guy doesn’t speak up about things unless it’s his own press conference or something on TV,” Lopez said. “He should let us see him being challenged for once. Then, maybe we would think he has something smart to say.”

Sam Salinger, who said he ran into people who caught a glimpse of the chicken earlier, said he thought they were seeing things.

“Oh, is that what people were talking about?” he said. “I came to a store here from Highland Park and these buddies of mine are talking about some big chicken down over by the town hall. I just thought they must have had a few beers too early in the day or something. That’s politics; it’s all crazy.”