Debate on Moral Matters

VoteHamptonNY, a nonpartisan interfaith initiative formed by the East Hampton Clericus in April to promote voter registration, engagement, and turnout, will host a forum for the candidates for East Hampton Town Board tonight at 7 at Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton.

Councilman David Lys, the Democratic and East Hampton Unity Party candidate, and Manny Vilar, the Republican and Conservative Party candidate, will discuss issues at a forum moderated by the Rev. Walter Silva Thompson, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist and a member of the Clericus.

The candidates will address such questions as “How does your personal moral compass inform your legislative agenda?” and “How do you feel about the marriage of faiths and governance? Do churches have a role in working for the common good of all citizens?” Questions will also touch on the lack of “partisan parity” on an all-Democratic East Hampton Town Board, the candidates’ core constituents, and their plans to improve the town and the role they see for community members in their plans.

At an event announcing VoteHamptonNY, Mr. Thompson described the initiative as “a moral campaign” to ensure that residents understand the value of civic engagement through voter registration and the exercise of their right. “The sociopolitical and economic climate in our country calls for our communities to communicate with one another,” he said, “to work together and build accountable plans to educate, engage, organize, and mobilize its citizens along with working to keep its elected officials morally and politically accountable.”

The East Hampton Clericus comprises religious leaders from Wainscott to Montauk.