#Middlebury #ElectionDay #Southbury #Region15
OPINION
BY MARJORIE NEEDHAM
We discovered Southbury residents were out on Election Day actively campaigning for two of the four Middlebury Region 15 Board of Education candidates. The irony is that those candidates both told this newspaper they wanted to address the bad feelings between Middlebury and Southbury residents, the “Southbury versus Middlebury” issue.
Seeing Southbury residents out campaigning for Middlebury candidates does not give me warm fuzzy feelings towards those Southbury residents. It makes me feel as if Southbury residents are trying to actively interfere in the Middlebury election.
Legally, Southbury residents can campaign for people whose names are on the Middlebury ballot. They can’t vote for them, but they can wave signs and promote them. However, actions like that may not do much to make the feeling of “Southbury versus Middlebury” go away.
No one from Middlebury, as far as I know, has been out today campaigning for any of the Southbury candidates for Region 15 Board of Education positions. If they were, I wouldn’t blame Southbury residents for being angry with them.
NOTE: Middlebury and Southbury share the Region 15 School District, but each town elects its Region 15 Board of Education members separately. No Southbury candidate names appear on the Middlebury ballot and no Middlebury names appear on the Southbury ballot.
