Governor Lamont to Visit Bethel on July 1st for Public Meeting Q&A, It Already Begins with Controversy

Report by Paula Antolini, June 26, 2019, 7:00PM EDT

Governor Ned Lamont will visit Bethel, CT, on Monday, July 1st, for a public meeting in Room A of the CJH Municipal Center, at 11:30am. The meeting will be open to the public for questions and answers, according to an announcement on the Town of Bethel Facebook page.

There is already some controversy over Governor Lamont’s upcoming meeting in Bethel because an invite was sent out from First Selectman Knickerbocker’s office yesterday, to only certain individuals, to attend the meeting, namely “Town Employees, Boards/Commissions and Local Government Officials” only. (View copy of text below).

Then in an online forum post at approximately 2:00pm today from Bethel resident Cynthia McCorkindale, who is also on the Bethel Board of Finance, she wrote (posted here with her permission):

“I received the following (see pic below) from the FS’ office yesterday.

“After reading it, I said to myself, “My oh my, this doesn’t seem very INCLUSIVE, you know, what with having an insulated visit from the Governor with a only a select group of IMPORTANT people, and not ACTUAL people!”

So, a few well-placed calls and emails later, wouldn’t you know that it’s NOW open to the public!

Here’s your opportunity to at least make a showing and tell the Guv what’s on your mind.

MONDAY, JULY 1, 2019 @ 11:30 AM

(Original text from First Selectman Knickerbocker’s office is shown below, posted by McCorkindale.):

After McCorkindale’s inquiries, the meeting was suddenly changed into a public meeting.

Here is the new brief announcement that the meeting is open to the public, placed at approximately 4:00pm today on the Town of Bethel Facebook page (there is nothing on the Town website as of this writing):

We have messaged First Selectman Knickerbocker to explain this controversy. He had the option to email, text or telephone, but he declined, saying, “No. If you’d like to talk live, we can chat tomorrow morning.”

We will update this article when we receive more information.

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Bring your questions on Monday! Here is your chance to ask questions of Gov. Lamont.

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