To The Editor:

Last week, the self-styled “Democratic Women’s Caucus” endorsed one of the two Democratic candidates running for Newtown’s state representative in a letter to our Bee. When challenged, one of the founders of the so-called caucus admitted publicly that the “Democratic Women’s Caucus is not affiliated with any political party.”

Funny that. I bet most of us would think that a group calling itself the Democratic Women’s Caucus was affiliated with the Democratic party. I think the writers of that letter should have known that readers of their “endorsement” would assume the “Caucus” was speaking for an official part of our local Democratic party. Sadly, I think that was their intent.

The women who wrote the letter are free to support whomever they choose, but they should not have used the Democratic Party name to deceive their fellow Democrats. Unfair tactics like this undermine our ability to rely on our party system. Traditionally, our political parties have played an important role in vetting and endorsing political candidates. You belong to a party; you believe in its values; you feel comfortable voting for the candidates the party endorses. In this case, it wasn’t a party endorsement. It just looked like a party endorsement.

I don’t know the candidate they endorsed. Brandon Moore is a newcomer to our Town; he hasn’t lived here long or held any position, elected or appointed, within our local political system. He only joined our Democratic Town Committee last spring. I don’t want to tar him with the unfair tactics of his supporters, but I admit that I have a bad taste in my mouth about his candidacy.

Luckily for Newtown, we have a wonderful and very qualified person also running for state representative: Michelle Embree Ku. Many of you Bee readers have already heard of her. You know her because she is a long-time, active resident of Newtown. She is well-known because of her years of dedicated public service. She has worked for Newtown’s citizens in many capacities. She has been a staunch advocate for family and women’s issues. If there were a Democratic Women’s Caucus in Newtown, she would have been one of its founders.

The citizens of Newtown are entitled to open debate and consideration of candidates based on the merits. Deceptive tactics like the “Democratic Women’s Caucus” endorsement letter do not lead us to fair elections.

Anne Renner

Sandy Hook