GOP 1st Selectman Candidates Come to Terms on Debate

The two Republican first selectman candidates will have one debate and the debate will be on July 11, but it won't be at the Republican Town Committee meeting.

Instead, the debate will be at 7:30 p.m. in Fairfield Public Library's Rotary Room and will include a moderator, said James Baldwin, the RTC chairman, Thursday afternoon. Baldwin said the debate, which is open to the general public, could go until 10 p.m.

Board of Finance Vice Chairman Robert B. Bellitto, Jr. and David M. Becker, a District 1 member of the Representative Town Meeting, came to an agreement on terms for the debate during a meeting with Baldwin that Baldwin said was cordial.

Bellitto on Wednesday had proposed having one debate July 11 at the RTC meeting without a moderator, while Becker favored having two debates at independent locations with a moderator. Both candidates favored a Town Hall-style format where audience members asked questions directly.

Baldwin said the two candidates came to an agreement on the date, location and format of the debate fairly quickly during Thursday's meeting.

Becker said the agreement was a compromise. "Sometimes you have to compromise, and I think that was the right thing for both of us to do," he said. "It's a compromise and this is what I'm going to get, and I'm pleased that there's going to be an opportunity for the two of us to have a debate."

Becker agreed that Thursday's meeting was cordial. "I did think Jim handled it well," he said.

Bellitto said he was fine with the agreement and was looking forward to the debate. He said he agreed with Baldwin's assessment that the meeting was cordial.

Baldwin took exception to characterizations that the Republican Party was devolving into its former feuding ways, saying Bellitto and Becker and their respective supporters are getting along fine. "I think they're getting along fine as opponents to each other, and the meeting we had was evidence of that and how easily we came to an agreement and how easily we came to a decision on where and how to have the debate," he said.

As to a former RTC chairman's objections to the original terms of the debate being aired Wednesday evening without Becker agreeing to them, Baldwin said Bellitto had asked if the debate could be held at the next RTC meeting and Baldwin said that was a good idea, assuming incorrectly that Becker had agreed to it.