There has been one previous forum, sponsored by the Middletown Democratic Town Committee. Ben Florsheim and Geen Thazhampallath appeared at that forum. Mary Bartolotta and Billy Russo declined the invitation claiming that because it was being held at a lecture hall at Wesleyan, they considered it a hostile environment and would not appear.
Florsheim and Thazhampallath have agreed to appear at all three forums.
NEAT (North End Action Team) FORUM TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 7 PM, MAC 360 Gallery, 650 Main Street
This forum was originally advertised as including only Democratic candidates Ben Florsheim and Billy Russo. It may be Russo's only appearance at a forum having declined invitations to three others. Since the early publicity, Geen Thazhampallath has confirmed that he will appear. The forum will be conducted by NEAT members.
MHS (Middletown High School) STUDENT FORUM, WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 7 PM, Middletown HS Auditorium
This forum was organized by a group of MHS students. Geen Thazhampallath and Ben Florsheim both agreed to appear early. Russo declined the invitation claiming it would be detrimental to his campaign to appear at any forum (he later agreed to appear at NEAT), and Bartolotta declined because she claimed to have no available time in her schedule before the primary. Bartolotta and Russo turned down four offered dates (8/26, 8/27, 9/4, 9/5). Full disclosure, two of the students organizing this event are my kids, but I have nothing to do with the event.AAUW (American Association of University Women) FORUM, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 6:30 PM, Keigwin School Auditorium
This forum was organized by the AAUW with promotion by the League of Women Voters. As expected Florsheim and Thazhampallath accepted immediately. Organizers have convinced all candidates to appear.
Russo and Bartolotta are ducking out of these things like it's a game of dodgeball
ReplyDeleteI think it is ironic (pathetic, disheartening) that Bartolotta and Russo refused to participate in the student-run forum when given three dates --September 3, 4, and 5 -- and then accepted an invitations to other forums ON THE SAME DATES. Is that the kind of support for our schools and students we can expect from them? (Full disclosure: my daughter was involved in planning the student-run forum, but was not with Aiden and Dermot when they hand-delivered the invitation and thus, thankfully, avoided being labeled a stalker.)
ReplyDeleteWill any of these debates be broadcast on radio or television such as Comcast, WLIS/WMRD AM 1150, WESU Radio-88.1 FM or the new kid on the block WCNX Internet Radio? It would be great if these media organizations will broadcast these debates for those people who cannot make the debate in person? Why cannot the debates be held at City Hall because Comcast has a live feed in the Council Chambers then the debates could be televised on Comcast? This makes sense but then again politics never does.
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