Race for first selectman may go ‘down to the wire’

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – A parade of vehicles decorated with Republican signs and with their horns sounding drove along Federal Road passing the Democratic headquarters Saturday morning, November 4, as the Democratic volunteers stood in the parking lot awaiting their two VIP guests – U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Greenwich) and state Comptroller Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford).

Sources are predicting a close race in the Tuesday, November 7 municipal election between first-term Republican First Selectman Tara Carr and Democratic Selectman Steve Dunn. Both sides have said that “turnout will be important.”

Greenwich First-Grade Police Detective Joe Rondini, who is Carr’s Republican running mate for a seat on the Board of Selectman, said in a phone interview with Patch.com that, “I think it is going to come down to the wire.”

Carr scored the most impressive victory for a Republican in Brookfield in 16 years when she defeated Dunn by 218 votes in 2021. Petitioning candidate Austin Monteiro garnered 69 votes. He is now running as a Republican for a seat on the Board of Education.

Dunn had been first selectman for six years, the longest tenure since Republican Bonnie Smith, who was defeated in 1999 after 12 years as the town’s top elected official.

Michael Gagne of The News-Times of Danbury wrote in his story on the October 16 Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce debate that Carr and Dunn engaged in “a few testy and critical exchanges.”

The sparring has continued.

In an e-mail interview with Patch.com, Carr, who served in the U.S. Army for 25 years, stated that, “Most Brookfielders with whom I have spoken want integrity in their government and they feel they have that with me, as they know I am not a career politician. They worry that Mr. Dunn cannot be trusted because of how he tried to get a pension in the closing days of his term in 2021. They are also worried about the debt.”

Dunn, who formerly served as a vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase, said at the debate that the Brookfield Board of Ethics stated that he had done nothing wrong regarding the pension.

Regarding the debt, officials from both parties have indicated that the bonds for the Candlewood Lake Elementary School, which opened earlier this year, and renovations to Brookfield High School, which were approved at referendum in 2003, will keep the town from acquiring more substantial debt until 2026.

Republicans and Democrats have agreed that the current police headquarters on Silvermine Road needs to be expanded or a new facility built. They also have indicated that Center Elementary School, which closed recently and has been ceded to the town, would be a possible site for a community center and library.

Dunn said in recent interview with Patch.com that, “If we had too much debt our [bond] ratings would have gone down.”

Brookfield currently has an AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s. As of August the fund balance was over 15 percent – the rating agencies recommend 15 to 18 percent. As of August, the pensions for the municipal employees were 102.5 percent funded.

Carr stated that over the last two years Dunn has attended “less than five” of monthly Saturday morning selectmen’s constituent outreach sessions held at local restaurants.

Dunn said, “Those typically turned out to be particularly partisan meetings with just Republicans sitting together discussing what is wrong with the town.” He added that since being initially elected as first selectman in 2015 he has attended 92 of the 94 Board of Selectmen’s meetings.

“Since January Ms. Carr has missed half of the Board of Finance (BOF) meetings, which she is required to attend,” said Dunn. He said that she has not been able to work effectively with the Board of Finance.

Carr stated, “I am not on the BOF, but only an ex-officio member. That means I always have a seat at the table, but I am not a voting member of the BOF except in the case there is a rare tie of which there have been none during my tenure. I am also responsible for other town business, that, at times, may conflict with the timing of a BOF meeting. The board has also cancelled scheduled meetings and rescheduled to times where I had already committed to other obligations. I have not attended every BOF meeting, but absences are few…maybe 4 or 5 out of 22? Even when I cannot attend, I always watch the recordings available on YouTube and am in communication before and after the meeting with the Controller or other town offices on BOF agenda items.”

Rondini praised Carr for being “a big advocate” for parental rights. He also said that she has staunchly opposed any effort to install sewers in Candlewood Shores, an area that has been the subject of recent studies by the municipal Water Pollution Control Authority.

“Overall, what she has accomplished in 22 months is pretty amazing,” he added.

Scanlon said that Dunn would restore “civility and competence” to Brookfield’s municipal government. “When I had to decide where to be today among the 169 towns, this was an obvious one.”

Board of Education Chairman Bob Belden, a longtime Republican who became an unaffiliated voter about three years ago following the challenges to the results of the presidential election, is running for a seat on the Board of Selectmen on the Democratic ticket. He has applauded Dunn for his efforts to improve relations between the Board of Finance, which he formerly chaired, and the Board of Education during Dunn’s tenure as first selectman.

A generation ago, the Republican nomination was considered almost a guarantee for election. From the 1987 through the 2005 election, the GOP nominee prevailed. In 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2003 there were Republican primaries and the loser continued to the general election as a petitioning or third-party candidate.

However, Belden, a former vice president with IBM, has noted that the unaffiliated voters have become a bigger portion of the electorate over the last 20 years. The current profile is 45 percent unaffiliated, 30 percent Republicans and 25 percent Democrats.

As recently as 10 months ago months ago, it appeared that Carr might be a prohibitive favorite for a second term.

She has been praised for her constituent service, social media outreach and visibility at community events.

However, in February former Board of Education Chairman Matt Grimes filed campaign papers to seek the Republican nomination. Ultimately, he lost 60 to 40 percent to Carr in the September 12 primary.

In a phone interview with Patch.com, Grimes said, “I don’t think Tara Carr’s support has increased since she was elected. I haven’t seen her do much to move the voters that didn’t vote for her [two years ago]. There also has been no effort to get the 40 percent of the voters that voted against her in the primary.”

Carr stated that the party has reunified since the primary.

“Many have rallied around the current slate of approved candidates,” she wrote. “There are still some outliers who feel their agenda diverges from the rest of the RTC [Republican Town Committee], so they have been slower to come around, or perhaps they won’t at all. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to political parties.”

Dunn has said on election night in 2021 that he “probably” would not seek office again. Thus, some political observers were surprised that he would seek his former position.

Republican former state House Speaker Fran Collins, a former longtime Brookfield resident, once said that it is difficult in politics to get back to a job that you once had.

However, the Democrats have become more active since the last municipal campaign. Aaron Zimmer, who became the Democratic Town Committee chairman last year, helped raise funds for a permanent headquarters, which opened in May, and has posted podcasts and web commercials.

Grimes said that he was “surprised” to see “Republicans For Dunn/Belden” lawn signs posted in town.

However, nearly 300 Republicans turned out in July at the party caucus, a far higher number than for the Democrats who held their caucus in their headquarters.

On another topic, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas (D-Norwalk) recently announced that the average turnout in Connecticut’s municipal elections is 35 percent – well below the figures for the years when there are gubernatorial and presidential elections.

When asked about the lower turnout, Carr wrote, “Of course I’d love to see more people exercise their right to vote, but many don’t want the voter fatigue of returning to the polls every year. At the end of the day, it’s a personal decision and I respect individuals’ personal decision as to how they engage in voting.”

Dunn said in recent years that the typical turnout in Brookfield has been between “44 and 46 percent.”

Blumenthal said, “In many cases the local elected officials can make more of a difference in their lives than a United States senator.”

Scanlon exclaimed, “Municipal elections have much bigger impacts on their lives than the national stuff. I think it is just a disengagement with politics right now because people are fed up with how partisan and nasty it is.”

Larry Davidson, a former chairman of the State College Board of Trustees and a friend of Republican former Gov. Thomas Meskill, once said, “Tom Meskill was mayor of New Britain, a congressman and then governor. He always told me that the toughest job he ever had was being mayor.”

Said Scanlon, “I think it is getting tougher as national politics creeps into the local races. For years and years you couldn’t tell who was a Democrat and who was a Republican because we focused on fixing the roads and fixing the schools. Our local elections have become super-charged partisan-wise. I think that is making their job a lot harder.”

Former U.S. House Speaker “Tip O’Neill used to say that all politics is local,” he added. “I think all politics is now national – whether it is on books or on education or basic governance. It has become more politicized. I think that is not a great thing.”

The other municipal offices, including town clerk and town treasurer, will be on the ballot. Voting on Tuesday for all three districts will be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.