You Spoke. They Pretended You Didn’t: Gaslighting and the Pomfret Budget Vote

When residents take the time to study a budget, formulate detailed questions, and submit them weeks in advance, they are doing exactly what “participation” is supposed to look like. Yet Pomfret’s Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen chose to ignore those questions, then turned around and lamented the lack of public input as they pushed the budgets through. That gap between what citizens actually did and the story officials told about “participation” is not just frustrating — it’s a subtle form of gaslighting that erodes trust in local government and makes it even harder for people to stay engaged.

Here's a look at the well-thought-out letter that Martha Emilio and I submitted, and never received a single answer to:

Citizens deserve better, and it’s time to demand it.