Incumbent Mike Demicco refuses to debate challenger Chris Forster before Farmington Chamber of Commerce and Exchange Club

FARMINGTON, CONN. – Farmington voters did not get to hear State House candidates discuss issues that matter to them Monday because Democrat incumbent Mike Demicco refused to attend a planned candidate debate.

The Farmington Chamber of Commerce and Farmington Exchange Club secured House District 21 Republican candidate Chris Forster for a scheduled debate Monday October 24th, but Demicco refused to attend. The debate was then canceled.

“It’s sad, but not surprising, that Mike Demicco can’t find the time to appear before our community’s most engaged business owners and citizens. Mike Demicco continues to show more allegiance to his party leaders in Hartford than his constituents in Farmington,” Forster said.

Forster, the controller for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, is a strong fiscal conservative who was overwhelmingly elected to the Farmington Zoning Board of Appeals during last year’s Republican sweep of all Farmington town offices. Forster, 32, is active in several community groups. Chris is a commissioner on the Unionville Historic District Commission and a former commissioner on Farmington’s Conservation and Inlands Wetlands Commission.

“I am engaged in the community, which affords me the opportunity to hear why so many voters want change in Hartford,” Forster said. “One reason I am running is to stop Mike Demicco’s record – which he refuses to discuss with us publicly – of siding with his party bosses and cutting local aid. We hoped to discuss Mike Demicco’s poor fiscal record at the debate, but he had other plans, apparently.”

During his time in Hartford, Demicco has voted in lock step with his party leaders destructive fiscal agenda. Demicco also serves on their M.O.R.E. Commission, which is exploring regionalization policies that could be detrimental to communities like Farmington.

“With a $2.7 billion state budget shortfall looming, Farmington needs a representative who sides with Farmington instead of Hartford when it comes time to balance the Democrats busted budgets. If Mike Demicco can’t even attend Farmington’s debates, we can’t expect him to be fighting for Farmington when the budget balancing bell tolls,” Forster said.

Forster added: “I am running to stand up for well-run, fiscally-conservative communities like Farmington whose current representative won’t even stand before them to debate. Mike Demicco’s refusal to debate his record and his plans for the future shows voters they have a clear choice in the election next month.”

Chris and his wife, Dr. Jessica Forster, a veterinarian, live in Unionville with theirdaughter, Delilah. After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science and a master of public administration degree from the University of Connecticut, Forster held multiple senior finance positions in city and state government in Oklahoma, where he and Jessica moved so she could earn her doctorate at Oklahoma State University. They returned to Connecticut to raise their family and settled in Unionville for the area’s historic charm, high quality town services, nationally recognized school system and fiscally responsible government.

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Contact: Jon Landry

Campaign Manager, Forster 2016

jon@chrisforster.org

(860) 674-8254