Attended a voters' forum last night in the Salvation Army Building in downtown Norwich for the vacancy on the City Council that will be filled by special election, next Tuesday, 28 April. The forum was sponsored by the Bully Busters and the Norwich Chapter of the NAACP.
The two men seeking office for the vacancy created last November when Chris Coutu was elected to the State Legislature are Peter Nystrom, endorsed by the Republican Town Committee and Jay Gelfond, an unaffiliated candidate. The alderman seat itself, per the Connecticut Constitution, can be filled by a Republican or an unaffiliated voter, but NOT a Democrat as the seven person City Council already has five members of that party.
I was very grateful for the opportunity to listen to both men, who are very kind in an era of 'every man for himself' to volunteer to run for public office, outline their hopes and plans for their possible inclusion as a voting member of the next City Council meeting on 4 May. You'll find accounts on the debate at the websites of The Day and the Norwich Bulletin. I was especially impressed after sharing that regardless of the outcome, Mr. Nystrom intends to seek elected office in November, he then encouraged Mr. Gelfond, his opponent, to do the same. More voices for more choices-what a great concept!
Did I mention I'm disappointed with last night's turnout? Meant to, I really did. Fourteen people were in the audience which is a little disheartening for a city of about 36,750 residents, with over 7,000 registered voters. And two of the fourteen witnessing the miracle of democracy are high school students, too young to vote.
The election, as I mentioned, is next Tuesday, April 28th. I fear one of these days we're going to actually get the government we deserve--I can only hope based on last night's turnout, that it's not about to happen here.
-bill kenny
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