A Note From Our Editorial Board About 40 Under 40 Rising Stars

At City & State we strive to uphold the highest standards of journalism and fairness, but we also view ourselves as a member of the community of government and politics that we cover. Our annual 40 Under 40 Rising Stars list is one example of our organization’s commitment to the community we cover. We reviewed more than 200 nominations of highly qualified and deserving people, and we take our time to review them and select a list that honors people from different sectors with diverse backgrounds and opinions who have demonstrated clear accomplishment. Our underlying goal is to highlight the achievements and good works of people who receive little recognition, but are vital players who make up our government.

This week, these goals and our company’s ethos was tested when Assemblyman Ron Castorina, a 40 Under 40 Rising Star honoree, made comments on the Assembly floor during a debate about legislation that would expand abortion rights in state law. Proponents argue this bill would simply codify the Roe v. Wade decision. Opponents, like Castorina, argue that the legislation goes further than that, and in his speech he used a term that was inflammatory and offensive to many of his colleagues in the Assembly chamber.

Following these comments, there were calls for City & State to remove Castorina from our 40 Under 40 list. After careful consideration of this matter, we have decided not to do so, but we feel it is important for us to explain this decision.

First off, the list honors people for their accomplishments. And being elected to the Assembly before the age of 40 is an accomplishment. It requires hard work and a willingness to open yourself up to criticism in a public forum. When we selected this list weeks ago, this was the reason we felt Castorina was clearly worthy of being honored.

The question we discussed was whether these comments should disqualify him from receiving our award. We know many people feel they should. But our view is that as a political magazine we want to encourage debate and discussion of difficult issues, not hinder it. Even if the opinions expressed cross a line in civil discourse, we still believe our society is better off if people feel free to openly articulate their feelings and intentions without fear.

While we understand that many of our readers believe Castorina’s comments exhibit a fundamental ignorance about the issues and day-to-day realities that African-American women face, we believe our democracy is done a disservice by punishing someone for speaking honestly and with no apparent hate in his heart. We encourage those who were offended by his comments to engage the assemblyman in a discussion about race, as our society would benefit from more open conversations about this topic.

For us, punishing him by removing him from our 40 Under 40 list would perpetuate the already disturbing decline of our government into divisiveness. That is why we chose not to do so.