Local Republicans Hosting Fifth District Candidates Forum

By John Voket

The Newtown Republican Town Committee is sponsoring a Connecticut Fifth District Congressional forum for GOP Candidates Wednesday evening, February 22, at 8 pm, at Newtown’s Multipurpose Building / Senior Center at 14 Riverside Road in Sandy Hook.

According to local councilman and RTC spokesperson Mitch Bolinsky, invited candidates will include Lisa Wilson-Foley, Mark Greenberg, Andrew Roraback, Mike Clark, and Justin Bernier.

“Our 2010 CT-5 forum was a well-attended, standing-room-only event,” Mr Bolinsky said in an e-mail to The Bee. “With all five [Fifth District] GOP candidates already confirmed as attending, the 2012 forum will give our membership, guests, nearby RTCs and members of the press a unique opportunity to see and hear from all...in one place.”

The forum will follow an abbreviated town committee meeting that will begin at 7 pm.

“The public is welcome to arrive earlier than 8 pm and be a guest at our meeting,” Mr Bolinsky stated. The forum will not be held as a debate, he added.

“Rather, it will provide an opportunity for each candidate to speak for ten minutes about the issues most important to them, what makes them the definitive best choice to serve Connecticut’s Fifth District and successfully restore GOP representation in our district,” Mr Bolinsky said. “After everyone speaks, there will be moderator-led questions from RTC membership, an opportunity for concluding comments, and then coffee and casual conversation.”

The event is scheduled to be completed in 90 minutes or less. The local GOP committee is also planning a Senatorial forum March 28 featuring candidates vying for the seat being left open by the retirement of Senator Joseph Lieberman.

Mr Bolinsky described the local RTC as “a leading GOP advocacy and local political organization with 50 ‘full members’ and 25 alternates.”

He said in November 2011, the NRTC’s local candidates captured 80 percent of all elected municipal positions, including Newtown’s first selectman, selectman, eight members of Legislative Council, a newly won majority on the Board of Education, the Board of Finance, and similar majority representation in all other town boards and commissions.