Candidates Debate Is Oct. 19

Monday, October 18, at noon is the deadline for residents to submit questions to be considered for The Newtown Bee’s candidates debate, which is scheduled for Tuesday, October 19, at the Edmond Town Hall theater. The forum is free and is intended to provide local constituents from the 106th and 112th Legislative Districts an opportunity learn more about their respective assembly district contenders.

The forum will also provide a venue for residents to meet and hear from the two regional probate judge candidates, who will make statements at the opening of the event.

A half-hour “meet and greet” will precede the forum at 7 pm, with the main event kicking off at 7:30 with statements by Democratic probate contender Timothy Holian of Newtown and GOP candidate Joe Egan, who currently serves as Ridgefield’s judge of probate.

Mr Holian and Judge Egan will be on the ballot in Newtown, Redding, Bethel, and Ridgefield in November, as the state-mandated regionalization of local probate courts continues. The successful individual in this race will head up the regional probate court, which will be located in Bethel.

All four local legislative candidates have confirmed they will participate by fielding questions and offering rebuttals, starting at approximately 7:45 that evening. Chris Lyddy, the Democratic incumbent for the 106th District, his GOP challenger George Ferguson, along with 112th District incumbent DebraLee Hovey and her Democratic challenger Michele Mount have all agreed to be on hand.

Newtown Bee Editor Curtiss Clark will moderate the event, and has requested constituents of the two assembly districts to provide questions they would like to have answered as part of the forum.

“It is important that the issues addressed by candidates are not just the issues they choose to address, or the media choose to address, but issues that are most important to the people they hope to represent,” Mr Clark said this week. “So I hope we hear from the voters in the 106th and 112th Assembly Districts about their concerns before the October 19 forum.”

The Bee is also planning to provide a full audio recording of the event to readers visiting the paper’s website, newtownbee.com, and video highlights will also be featured in the newspaper’s online coverage and linked to its Facebook page.

There is no admission charge to attend the debate. Anyone interested in supplying questions for consideration can do so by e-mail, specifying if the question should be addressed to a particular district’s candidates.

Provide questions for consideration to editor@thebee.com — noting “Candidate Debate Question” in the subject line. Again, the deadline for submitting questions is Monday, October 18, at noon.