Correcting The Record

To the Editor:

I write to correct some misinformation concerning my attendance record on the Legislative Council that has arisen after my opponent for the 106th District State Representative seat, Chris Lyddy, visited a voter.

Specifically, a voter in town (an individual not previously known to me) told me that when campaigning on her doorstop, Chris had told her I had only attended half of the council’s meetings this summer. That is not true. Over the calendar summer season, June 20–September 21, there were four council meetings. I missed one, due to a client’s out-of-state quarterly meeting. Stretch official summer dates by two days to capture a meeting on June 18 and the ratio would change to one missed out of five held.

The misinformation prompted me to review my attendance back to the fall of 2004, the dates I had readily available to me. During that time, excluding the months I was deployed to Iraq, I missed six of 55 meetings. Five were due to out-of-state client quarterly meetings, one to the fact that I was performing my two weeks’ Reserve duty.

As an aside, as with other volunteer bodies in town, council meetings are occasionally canceled, particularly during the summer, often due to a lack of pressing business. I usually make the decision to cancel after consultation with my Democratic vice chair, time permitting.

I would hope this misinformation arose due to miscommunication, and only with respect to the one voter. Out of fear, however, that one or both of those hopes are false, I write to apprise voters of the facts.

William F.L. Rodgers

208 Hattertown Road, Newtown                                 October 1, 2008