A message from Mayor Bassett, Trustee Lewit, and Trustee Slaby

On February 23, we were invited, via an invitation issued to the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee, to a “non-partisan forum” by John Rossi. We responded with an invitation for an online debate, moderated and organized by a neutral party. We began work to identify such a person who would be willing to take on that role in a short period of time. We didn’t hear back from John until March 3, when he issued a follow-up invitation to a “public forum” that he organized with Roger Quon at CO. on March 10 from 3-6pm.

By this time, we had secured a neutral moderator and were willing to engage in a fully-online debate with John and Roger, an invitation that we issued to them.

We want you to know that we have declined to participate in John and Roger’s March 10 indoor campaign event. As your local leaders, we feel that it sends a terrible message to the community to congregate in an enclosed space. We have done everything we can to make this election safe for all of us: candidates, volunteers, and voters, and we refuse to throw that caution to the wind for potential political gain.

When we shared our response with John via our moderator and reissued the invitation for an online debate, John declined.

We hope that whatever campaign events occur between now and March 16 give voters the opportunity to connect with their candidates as safely as possible. Although vaccines are rolling out, that does not give us permission to forget those who have not been or cannot be vaccinated. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the first lock-down, we encourage all of you, despite our collective exhaustion, to continue to stay safe for yourselves and your neighbors.

All our best to you,

Gary, Ric, and Lydia