The Truth Behind The State Representative Debates for the 87th.

Democratic Challenger for State Representative, Theresa Ranciato-Viele, has claimed that incumbent Republican State Representative, Dave Yaccarino, will not meet her request for 2 debates. What Ranciato-Viele and the North Haven Democratic Town Committee fails to tell you is that the request was actually for 4th and 5th debates.

There are already 2 confirmed debate opportunities between the candidates. The 1st debate already took place on September 19th as the BH Care forum that included other candidates running for other offices. Why did Ranciato-Viele not mention this? The 2nd debate is the Chamber of Commerce Candidate Debate scheduled for Oct. 11th. Why no mention of this debate either? The 3rd debate is to be the League of Woman Voter’s (LWV) debate tentatively scheduled for October 25th.

Why would a candidate for State Representative need 5 debates to distinguish themselves from their opponent? Dave’s previous 3 opponents, incumbent Democratic Rep. Steve Fontana and Democratic challengers Alden Mead and Steven Gifford only needed 3 debates. Why does Theresa Ranciato-Viele need 5? If a candidate can’t make their case for State Representative in 3 debates, then maybe that candidate does not have a clear and concise reason to run and be elected as a State Representative. A fourth debate is redundant, a fifth debate is overkill.

Now it is true that Representative Yaccarino and I, as his Campaign Manager, want to agree and approve of all the terms of the LWV debate, including who will moderate, before we finalize Representative Yaccarino’s participation. It’s a reasonable and customary practice to negotiate the terms of a debate upon being invited. What Ranciato-Viele fails to mention was that Representative Yaccarino and I suggested 3 individuals who are nonpartisan representatives of the media, Mr. Kenn Venit, Mr. Walter Mann, or Mr. Bill Dillane to moderate the LWV Debate. Those moderators were subsequently dismissed by the LWVs. Why? Kenn Venit has moderated the last 3 LWV hosted debates with Representative Yaccarino. No reasonable explanation has been given as to why they are not being considered to moderate this particular debate. As of this writing, The LWVs has not provided us with any alternative candidates to moderate the debate.

The North Haven Democratic Committee & Theresa Ranciato Viele also wondered why we want to have approval of the moderator and have stated:

"It is concerning to me that Mr. Yaccarino and his team do not understand that the LWV is a nonpartisan

organization. Asking for the moderator in advance and insisting on approval of this person is unsettling."

You know what I find incredibly unsettling? That the North Haven Democratic Chair, Kathy Grant, who is also a member of the Hamden-North Haven Chapter of the LWV, is the one reaching out to me on behalf of Theresa Ranciato-Viele to schedule the LWV’s “nonpartisan” debate. If that’s not a conflict of interest and partisanship, I don’t know what is. I’ll even take this a step further, I asked Elona Vaisnys, LWV Chapter President, how many LWV members in the Hamden-North Haven chapter are Republican and from the 87th district, and she answered “ZERO.” It’s dumbfounding that The North Haven Democratic Town Committee & Theresa Ranciato Viele don’t see the inherent conflict of interest and the perception of partisanship this represents. It calls into question Ranciato Viele’s judgment and understanding of what it means to be “nonpartisan”.

While the LWV’s debate has been a tradition that Representative Yaccarino has participated in, what challenger Ranciato-Viele also fails to mention is that this debate will break from the traditional in-studio debate format to a Town Hall, live audience format instead. The in-studio debate format is the same style of debate that Yaccarino’s previous opponents, Mr. Fontana, Mr. Mead, and Mr. Gifford agreed to when they debated Representative Yaccarino in the previous election cycles. Why the change in format? No explanation has been given as to why the format needed to be changed.

Nevertheless, we have set aside our debate preferences and agreed to all of the terms that the LWV has dictated with the exception of allowing us to approve the moderator before we finalize Representative Yaccarino’s participation in their debate. This shouldn’t even be an issue, but for some reason the LWV, The North Haven Democratic Town Committee, and challenger Theresa Ranciato-Viele are making it one.

Lastly, I received a debate request from, Laura Merriman, Ranciato-Viele’s Campaign Manager, for the 4th debate. Representative Yaccarino and I declined their offer and we made a counter offer to skip the LWV debate (tentatively set for Oct 25th) and have an in-studio debate at NHTV on that date instead. We counter offered this because the LWV was having difficulty securing a venue for their debate on Oct. 25th.

Interestingly enough, we never received a response from Ms. Merriman or Candidate Theresa Ranciato-Viele on our counter offer. Why was this omitted from the NHDTC post or from Ranciato-Viele’s commentary? Is this the type of transparency and communication one should expect from someone running for State Representative? I would expect more.

This commentary is a direct response to the NoHaven Democrats post that was posted to the North Haven Patch on Sept. 27th 2018. It will be my one and only response.

Sincerely,

Frank Tropeano

Campaign Manager – Re-Elect Dave