Recap: Hess Vs. Rossi in a Naugatuck Mayoral Debate

Written and reported by Nancy Sasso Janis

The Republican-American Waterbury-based newspaper partnered with the Howard Whittemore Memorial Library to sponsor a mayoral debate on Tuesday.

Anne Karolyi, managing editor in charge of the news department of the Rep-Am, served as the moderator of the debate between mayoral candidate N. Warren “Pete” Hess (D) and Tamath Rossi (R.)

Karolyi, who has 15 years experience at the Rep-Am, was introduced by Charley Marenghi, the chair of the board of trustees of the library.

Marenghi told the 100 citizens seated in the library meeting room that part of the mission of the library was to educate the public and he hoped that this debate would do just that. There were another 80 people seated in the children’s department next door who watched the live feed on a monitor.

The Rep-Am’s Naugatuck reporter Paul Singley informed the crowd at the end of the proceedings that most of the debate was livestreamed but that it cut out for the last ten minutes when the library wifi shut off.

However, the entire debate was taped and the Rep-Am will post the whole hour-long debate in sections by the questions asked on their website. Karolyi noted that it would be in front of the paywall and therefore available for free viewing. 

The moderator told the audience members that democracy is a participatory process and invited them to applaud as they felt necessary. She did ask them to be respectful of the candidate.

The candidates were given 90 seconds for their opening statements, one minute to respond to questions and 30 seconds for their rebuttals. They were also given the opportunity to make a prepared closing statement.

Karolyi promised to try to keep the debate to an hour so that Met fans could get home for the Tuesday night game at 8:00pm. She asked well-researched questions in a friendly manner, asking follow up questions for clarification, and allowed the candidates to finish their thoughts. She noted that she is good at breaking the rules.

I took three full pages of notes during the debate which I will not type here. Since the videos of the answers given by the candidates will be posted online, readers should watch them for the most accurate impression. I will just hit the highlights of some of their statements.

Opening remarks

In his opening statement, Hess acknowledged his mother-in-law sitting in the front row, as well as the architects and the landscapers of the Whittemore Library. He mentioned that during the four years he was the borough attorney, the mill rate went down.

Rossi mentioned the 4,000 doors that she has recently knocked on and reiterated that as mayor she would not dictate but involve the public often. She spoke of the the fact that she was a multi-issue candidate.

In fact, this weekend I came home to campaign literature from both of the mayoral candidates hanging from my doorknob. I honestly was not home when they came by, because I would have taken their photo if I had been.

Questions

Questions included what changes the candidates would make to the referendum process and what would be the biggest change they would make in Hartford (both candidates agreed that they would get rid of binding arbitration.)

They were asked how they planned to work with our Hartford legislators and their thoughts on Parcel C. They were asked the name of the book they were currently reading, their greatest accomplishment in the borough, and their plan to lower taxes.

Other questions included how they planned to provide teens and children with something to do in town, whether they thought the borough should take over the armory, and the greatest challenge facing the Board of Education.

They also were asked how they planned to upgrade the image of the borough as rundown, how they felt about using volunteer firefighters and keep current firefighters from leaving and whether each felt if the borough was spending beyond its means.

One Word

The candidates were also asked for an adjective to describe their opponent and one to describe themself. Rossi chose “out of touch” for the former and “ experienced” for herself.

Hess chose “tireless” for Rossi and “resilient” for himself. When asked as what they would dress up for Halloween, Rossi chose a marathon runner and Hess selected Zorro.

The applause was polite for both candidate and the audience quite respectful. The closing statements were a little more confrontational but still respectful.

After the debate was over, some of the other candidates on the ballot were in the children’s department greeting the public.

Both candidates thanked the Rep-Am and the library for sponsoring the debate.

All of the (poor) photos by Nancy Sasso Janis