Gerald Charlwood: Disappointed by Republicans who boycotted public forums

To The Daily Sun,

As a Belknap County voter who attended the candidate forum in Belmont, I felt betrayed by the decision of all of the Republican candidates to boycott the event. If they don’t like the sponsors (Citizens for Belknap and the League of Women Voters), all they had to do was show up and voice their opinions. To take out their petty grievances on the voters who took time to attend to hear the candidates’ positions on the issues speaks very poorly of them.

I have heard that the Republican County chairperson advised GOP candidates not to fill out the Citizens for Belknap questionnaire and not to participate in debates. Any candidate with even an ounce of backbone would have responded to go pound sand. Since when does party leadership instruct candidates not to make themselves available for questions by voters?

What were these no-show candidates afraid of? Their party’s county chairperson? The voters?

Undoubtedly both.

And the party leadership continues to gaslight the public on social media after the event, by saying that the event was a shame, unfair and partisan. I am not sure what is unfair or partisan about showing up and answering questions from citizens. They could have brought folks from town to the meeting.

What are the chances that these candidates, if elected, would ever stick up for the voters as against their party leadership in Concord? I think we all know the answer to this.

Gerald Charlwood

Belmont