What has been billed as a major controversy between Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and the Port Washington- Manhasset League of Women Voters really is much ado about nothing.
Traditionally, the league has hosted the State of the Town addresses from the supervisor and thereafter provided for a Q&A session with the audience. DeSena wanted to change the format so that it would be a straight-up address without the Q&A session after the speech.
The league balked at this new policy and decided to back away from sponsoring the speech.
This is a case where both parties are right, and neither is wrong.
If the League of Women Voters is sponsoring a speech from an elected official, they have the right to require that there be a give and take with the audience. However, the question must be raised as to why something as significant as a state of the town address is hosted by an independent organization and is not just put on by the town itself.
Just about any other supervisor or county executive in the region delivers their annual addresses when the government itself sponsors the event. It’s usually a very formal ceremony with the town boards and the legislatures in attendance. In none of those cases is there a subsequent question-and-answer session with the public.
So DeSena is absolutely correct and within her right to say the time has come to end this alliance with this independent entity, and for the town to simply host the speech on its own, as every other town does.
Thereafter, the League of Women Voters can invite the supervisor back on a different day to discuss a whole host of different topics. At that point, the league would certainly be within its rights to insist that there be audience interaction.
That’s the way both parties should move forward.
No need for a controversy here. Both sides were within their rights to do what they did.