Candidate Town Hall, 03/10
aka the Debate that Wasn’t
Candidates John Rossi and Roger Quon talking about hard issues (fiscal discipline, good governance, outdoor dining, police reform, the court issue) … and Judge Sanchez Unplugged!! Event was moderated by Jeffrey Greenberg at CO in Rhinebeck – https://www.coworkwith.co/ on Martch 10th
About the Moderator, Jeff Greenberg
Jeff Greenberg has been a Creative Director/copywriter for a mid-sized Madison Avenue advertising agency. His journalism has been published in Esquire, Metropolitan Home and on-line in Tablet. He lives in Milan and is currently President of Congregation Emanuel in Kingston.
Crazy Questions… Rational Answers
1. Why isn’t there a debate?
John Rossi and Roger Quon wanted to debate. In fact, John took the initiative and reached out on 2/23 to see if the Democrat Slate would be willing to debate.
We received NO RESPONSE to this appeal… we were not surprised. But, hoping for the best, we moved to make arrangements for a potential debate and turn it into a town hall as a contingency.
On 3/3, we reached out to Gary Bassett, Ric Lewit and Warren Smith to confirm whether they were willing to work with us to debate, or whether we should plan a Town Hall.
On 3/4, interestingly, Rhinebeck Responds reached out to us expressing interest in facilitating a debate, seemingly unaware we had reached out to Gary, Ric and Warren previously. We indicated our willingness to debate and let them know we had already taken initiative to secure PANDA and a venue to record the event.
That same day, Rhinebeck Responds withdrew their support to facilitate a debate, citing various reasons, but namely the lack of time to negotiate “terms”.
Gary, Ric and Lydia never responded to us directly, and then falsely claimed John Rossi did not want to do an online debate.
2. Why are you hosting an indoor event? It’s dangerous! It sends a terrible message. Why not just an online event?
Many residents in our community are not Zoomers, or are digital “light”. A few residents asked if we could arrange something on PANDA. In the spirit of inclusion and transparency, and the desire to have an informed citizenry, we took the initiative to provide this familiar channel, ideally for a debate. We found CO in Rhinebeck to be an excellent venue because it has a large event space that opens to the outside.
Safety always comes first, and we trust the science (State BOH & CDC) on how to manage this event.
We will model the best practices described in guidance provided by the state, and be even more conservative. All attendees will be screened (no temperature, no known contact with anyone with covid, no recent out of state travel, etc), and the total number of people present will be well below guidance. During the event, all will wear masks, and unrelated groups (max 2 per group) will be separated by at least 6 feet. Last, we will wear masks when not speaking, similar to the practice followed by Governor Cuomo and President Biden at their press events.
Finally, what is sad and terrible is that Gary Bassett, Ric Lewit and Lydia Slaby do not want to debate us, and that they chose to peddle fear instead of working with us to inform the community in a safe way, based in science.
CO in Rhinebeck – its event space.
