Tonight there will be a forum for those running for City Council, but there’s a catch: it is exclusive. Only those whose names will be on the September 13th primary ballot can participate. Here is the text of an email sent from Hartford 2000 to Republican candidates:
We recently sent you an invitation to participate in the Council Primary Candidates Forum to be held on August 24th. As we noted in the invitation, the forum is only for those candidates whose names will appear on the September 13th Primary Ballot.
Because there will not be a Republican primary and, consequently, you will not be on the ballot on Sept. 13th, we want to advise you that we will not be able to include you as a participant in the August 24th forum.
No reasons were provided for this decision, though it was noted that there will be a forum for candidates who will be in the general November election. This forum is not until October.
Republicans were told: “You are, however, welcome to bring literature to the event and talk with attendees before and after the forum.“
The forum is at the Hartford Public Library this evening and starts at 6pm. The description on the Democracy in Action page does not indicate that this is for primary candidates only.
Sujal Shah
When you say “Republicans” – how many Republican candidates are there for this office if they aren’t having primaries?
If they have multiple candidates, how do they do that without a primary? Do they just use a different method to settle on the GOP candidate?
Kerri Provost
There are six endorsed Republican candidates for City Council.
If someone is a registered Democrat but will vote for other party candidates when they seem worthwhile, she will not have this information (at least not from the forum) before the primary.
BWP
This entire things seems about right for the city… always a certain level of dysfunctionality!
Kerri Provost
I totally understand how having thirty candidates (or however many there are) at one forum can be unwieldy, but not including the others until after a primary does contribute to the dysfunction.