Ridgefield Republicans caucus tonight with a slate of 18 candidates for offices from Board of Selectmen to Zoning Board of Appeals — but it appears unlikely the party will nominate a challenger for the Democratic incumbent first selectman.
“Right now, we don’t have somebody for the top,” Republican Town Committee Chairman Joe Savino said Monday.
There’s a potential contest over the nomination for treasurer, where the Republican Town Committee endorsed Assistant Treasurer Bob Cascella rather than 30-year incumbent Maureen Kiernan, who had announced last year that she would retire but changed her mind and interviewed for the nomination.
“The positive is you have two really qualified people, who’d both make good candidates,” Savino said. “We had to pick one, and we picked one.”
Kiernan didn’t want to say whether she would mount a challenge to the town committee’s recommendation.
As always at a caucus, any party member may attend and vote, and while the town committee will recommend a slate of candidates, if there is a contest it is the vote of the full caucus that determines the party’s endorsement.
A candidate defeated at caucus has the option of petitioning for a primary.
The caucus is scheduled tonight, Thursday, July 23, at 7 in the town hall annex, at the north end of the Venus Municipal Building, near Yanity gym.
Nominations may be made from the floor of the caucus, and are always a possibility.
But Savino thought it unlikely a surprise candidate for first selectman would come forward.
“We vetted a pretty extensive list of folks that people mention a lot of the time, and some other folks,” he said. “Right now, at this point, we don’t have anybody.”
First selectman is a tough spot on the slate to fill, because it is a full-time job that would require a winning candidate to not have any other major time commitments.
“It’s the same issues that usually come up, a little different for each individual,” Savino said.
“It’s either the money, it’s the career change, or it’s the family — those are the things that come up. And, it’s a full-time role.
“The money portion is what the job pays, plus you’ve got to raise the money to unseat the person, as well,” he said. “The job pays what it pays, $109,000, $110,000.
“Then you’ve got to raise the money to run the campaign. It’s a substantive number, $80,000 to $100,000. We looked at other races in other towns. Given the current situation, that’s what you’d be looking at.
“We reached out to other towns that had competitive first selectman campaigns, and that’s what they cost.
“The town committee would help, obviously.”
For the two full-time administrative jobs in town hall that are elected, the committee is backing longtime Republican incumbents, Town Clerk Barbara Serfilippi and Tax Collector Jane Berendsen Hill.
Board of Selectmen
For Board of Selectmen, the Republican Town Committee is recommending three candidates, hoping to knock off one of the five-member board’s incumbent Democrats and take majority control of the board.
“The town committee endorsed the two incumbents, Andy (Bodner) and Maureen (Kozlark), and then we decided on Bob Hebert,” Savino said.
“He’s a successful local businessman, a longtime resident of Ridgefield. He’s currently chairman of the Housing Authority — he’s been working on getting that working better. He’s obviously done a lot of volunteer stuff.”
Hebert is a former Republican Town Committee chairman, and he works as a managing partner of a real estate investment group.
“He’s got some really good business experience that we think will lend a really good view to the community, as well as really good planning experience,” Savino said.
Finance board
For Board of Finance there are two Republican incumbents who aren’t up for re-election, and the town committee has endorsed two new candidates in hopes of knocking off one of the three Democratic incumbents who are running for re-election.
“We’re going to put two people up. One is Michael Raduazzo, who’s on the Board of Education now, has a great financial background in addition to four successful years on the Board of Education. And the second candidate is Alex Karsanidi.
“Alex is a successful businessman,” Savino said, who is “into lots of community activities — ROAR, Community Center, Keeler Tavern.”
Karsanidi has long been a regular at finance board and Board of Selectmen’s meetings.
“He’s pretty active in the community,” Savino said.
School board
For the Board of Education, there are seven seats up for election. The Republican Town Committee is recommending just five candidates because the party has one incumbent who isn’t up for re-election, and under state minority representation law no party can hold more than six seats on the nine-member board.
“We have five seats up on that one. We have two incumbents, Chris Murray and David Cordisco.”
Cordisco was appointed to the board to replace John Palermo, who moved out of town, Savino said.
“We have three new candidates. Sharon D’Orso … very active in the school system, has four children in the school system, very active in the community,” Savino said.
“James Keidel, he’s on the town insurance risk commission today. He’s the founding partner of a law firm that’s got five offices. He’s got two children in the system…
“Tracey O’Connor, obviously very active in the school system, very active around special ed, transparency,” Savino said.
“They all bring good skills to help the schools, support Superintendent Baldwin, and get the schools to the next level.”
Planning and Zoning
“We have a surprise on P&Z,” Savino said.
While incumbents John Katz and Peter Chipouras are seeking re-election, and have the town committee’s backing, a third Republican incumbent whose term is up isn’t seeking renomination.
“Patrick Walsh decided not to run. He’s been on the board 12 years,” Savino said.
“The new person is going to be Mark Zeck. He’s a relatively new resident of town, he moved here a couple of years ago. He’s a lawyer. In the prior town he lived in he served on the zoning board — he comes with prior experience in zoning in another Connecticut town.”
For Police Commission the town committee is recommending the one incumbent whose term is up, but no other candidate. State minority representation law says no party can hold more four seats on a five-member commission, and the GOP has three incumbents who aren’t up for election, and the committee has endorsed the fourth.
“Charlie Knoche is running for re-election,” Savino said.
“We have three already, it’s a five-member board, four’s the max.”
The committee is also recommending a lone incumbent for Zoning Board of Appeals.
“Glen Smith,” Savino said. “He’s up for re-election and we’re endorsing him. He’s been on the board about 10 years or so.”
For the three-member Board of Assessment Appeals, the town committee backing another incumbent for re-election.
“Bob Lavelle, he’s been on that board around four years. He’s experienced,” Savino said. “He’s been doing it for four years, and he’s been solid and he wants to do it again and we’re supporting him,” Savino said.
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