Letter to the editor from Laura Gladstone, Greenwich, Incoming RTM Member
I commend Harry Arora for standing up to the League of Women Voters, who refused to provide an independent, unaffiliated moderator for his debate or even disclose the Democratic affiliation of their preferred moderator beforehand. It has long been clear that the group is a liberal organization by its one-sided “moderators” that choose mostly left-leaning questions for debates, give the Democrat candidates more time, and campaign for them behind the scenes.
You also can see how they lean by looking at the their Twitter account (which was briefly taken down and likely “cleaned up” after Harry Arora accused them of partisanship), which still has posts up advocating for gun confiscation, early voting, illegal immigration amnesty, and only seems to celebrate women in office who are Democrats.
Harry’s suggestions and preferences for a neutral debate are wholly reasonable. If the League cannot provide a neutral moderator, or even acknowledge the leanings of their moderator, the candidates should find a truly middle-of-the-road body to officiate. As is, Arora and his Democrat opponent are debating before News12, which is fairer. They could also do an old-style Lincoln-Douglass debate where each candidate gets equal time to speak about what they wish, and there is only a timekeeper, but no moderator to put their thumb on the scale.
What is clear is that the current system is not working. We saw how unfair the debates were in 2018 when the questions were tilted in favor of Alex Bergstein against Scott Frantz and only hand-picking questions that suited the Democratic candidate (Bergstein).
We do not want to see that same one-sidedness under the guise of non-partisanship continue. Harry Arora is standing up to the liberal establishment and for fairness and it should be commended.
Greenwich needs a state representative who will stand up for all of us against the onslaught of corruption in Hartford and Harry is showing us early on that he is the only candidate who can do that.
For those reasons and more, I urge people to vote for Harry Arora for state House on January 21st.
Laura Gladstone
Incoming RTM Member
NOTE: Deadline for letters to the editor for the Jan 21 special election for State Rep District 151 is Jan 14, 2020 at 5pm.