Young And Wise

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Mike Cioppa is in the Danbury High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

In baseball, he coached George Radachowsky, who in football was a defensive back for the Jets and the Colts after a stellar career at Boston College.

In football, Cioppa coached offensive tackle Craig Stoeppel, who played on the 1987 Syracuse University team was fourth in the final polls and went undefeated with one tie.

Cioppa frequently started sophomores and juniors.

He once said, “If you’re big enough, strong enough and fast enough, then you also are old enough.”

Matt Grimes says that same concept applies to Liam Enea.

Grimes is familiar with the territory. Now a 44-year-old attorney, he lost in September in his bid for the Brookfield Republican nomination for first selectman to then-incumbent Tara Carr in a primary. But a generation ago, Grimes managed a campaign for first selectman at age 18 that resulted in a victory at the GOP party caucus. At age 22, he was elected to the Brookfield Board of Education and became its chairman at age 24.

Five years ago Enea helped re-establish the Brookfield Youth Commission when he was a student at Brookfield High School. He currently serves as its vice chairman. He is secretary of the municipal Energy Advisory Board.

The commission had been dormant for years.

“He helped redefine its purpose,” Grimes commented in a phone interview with Patch.com.

Enea said, “I was motivated to reinstate the Youth Commission in 2018 by the rise in vaping among students, concerns about infrastructural deterioration in the schools, a perceived lack of civic and extracurricular engagement, and a need to get student input in more town issues.” He said since then the commission has sponsored a variety of activities, including Career Days and municipal candidate debates.

Enea already has run for municipal office in Brookfield – the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), this year, as a Republican nominee after joining Grimes’ Team Brookfield slate following the GOP caucus in July.

“I lost my ZBA race by 23 votes — the closest race on the ballot — but was the only Republican who earned more in-person votes than a Democrat,” he said in a phone interview with Patch.com. “I topped my [Republican Town Committee] RTC-nominated counterpart by over 130 votes.”

Remarked Grimes, “He is a very good researcher. He reviewed the minutes of the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings from the recent months.”

Enea, an Economics major, will graduate in May from the University of Connecticut at Storrs. He has a full-time job lined up at ISO-New England, an energy contractor.

Grimes said there were instances while canvassing with voters in which Enea spoke fluently to them on solar energy.

Enea said after graduation, he also may attend law school part-time at night.

Enea noted that his friend Chris Donnelly “lost his race for Board of Assessment Appeals, but had the best performance of any Republican in a head-to-head race” in the November 7 election. Donnelly – who, like Enea, graduated from Brookfield High School in 2020 - is majoring in digital and interactive marketing in the Nathan Ancell School of Business at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.

In a phone interview with Patch.com, Donnelly said that, among other things, they and Sarah Devine, a member of Team Brookfield who advanced through the primary and captured a seat on the Board of Education in the general election – posted their bios on multiple social media platforms and ambitiously canvassed neighborhoods.

Grimes said, “They realized that Republicans could no longer rely on the nomination the way we did 20 years ago.” For example, in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2003 there were Republican primaries for first selectman and the loser of the primary proceeded to run in the general election as either a petitioning or third-party candidate. Nevertheless, the winner of the Republican primary still prevailed by a solid margin in the general election.

Donnelly said, “We were able to get a lot unaffiliateds and Democrats.”

Grimes noted that 45 percent of the voters are unaffiliated, a higher figure than a generation ago.

The Democrats scored a sweep in the general election, with former First Selectman Steve Dunn scoring a 407-vote plurality over Carr.

Enea said that last winter he submitted his resume to the Republican Vacancy Committee to run for office but then canceled the scheduled interview after he questioned whether he would have enough time to both attend college and serve in municipal government.

However, he indicated that he opted to finally run for office and joined Grimes’ slate after attending the Republican caucus in July.

“When I saw how the caucus was run – it was just a mess,” Enea said. “It was very rigged. They didn’t even include Matt’s slate of candidates on the ballots that were distributed. I thought it was very unfair That triggered me to run and bring in my friend, Chris.”

The ballots at the caucus were initially not accurately tabulated and the final results were not certified until the following day during a recount at the Municipal Center.

Patch.com sent an e-mail message to Brookfield Republican Town Committee Chairman George Blass seeking comment on Enea’s criticisms. He apparently did not reply.

Since there were vacant spots on the Republican side of the ballot for the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Board of Assessment Appeals, Enea and Donnelly each automatically advanced to the general election without having to participate in a primary.

Enea emphasized that the Republican candidates he met during the general election campaign were “nice and smart people.”

However, he said the Republican Town Committee leadership never invited the candidates who had been on Grimes’ slate to any of the party’s events. He added that they were not included in the direct mail that was sent by the Republican Town Committee.

Enea said they raised their own money under Team Brookfield, partly through a pizza party held on October 9, because it had become clear that the Republican Town Committee would not offer support.

He said even though they raised their own funds, the Republican Town Committee could have easily included them in the GOP direct mail pieces by simply writing that they had been endorsed by Team Brookfield and raised money under that designation.

Longtime Brookfield Republican Town Committee member George Walker said the party leadership “welcomed” taking steps to unify the party after the primary.

“Team Brookfield never stepped forward,” he said in a phone interview.

Enea disputed that, saying that he congratulated the other Republican candidate for the Zoning Board of Appeals, Leanna Hinger, online on the night of the September primary. He added in an e-mail message to Patch.com that he presumed that since the leadership of the Republican Town Committee is "running the party, they'd be the ones to reach out to the candidates they want to pull in."

Less than a year ago, Carr was considered by some residents to be a strong favorite to capture a second term. She was applauded for her constituent service, presence on social media and visibility at public events. Some voters appeared receptive to her position on limiting future development in the 198-acre Brookfield Town Center central business district.

The Republicans swept the 2021 municipal election with Carr garnering a 218-vote plurality over Dunn.

Now, the local GOP has lost the first selectman’s race in seven of the last nine municipal elections.

The seats for the Republican Town Committee for a new two-year term will be considered at a caucus in January and possibly in a primary in March.

Walker, who serves on the local party’s vacancy committee, said that group is currently interviewing candidates for the slate that will be recommended next month.

He said there has been emphasis on attracting new members.

Grimes said that as of the moment there is no slate that has been recommended to challenge the town committee’s slate. Enea said he expects some new people will seek seats on the committee.

Walker said the Republican Town Committee was “split” in the recent municipal election. He indicated that a small number of its members distributed “Republicans for Dunn/Belden” lawn signs in support of the Democratic ticket of Dunn and his running mate Bob Belden.

Grimes said out of a roster of 25 regular members and 10 alternates, only seven regular members and one alternate were at the Republican Town Committee meeting on November 21 when 20 people appeared to discuss the outcome of the November 7 municipal election.

Declared Grimes, “I don’t think this leadership should continue. They did nothing to bring the party together after the primary.”

Walker said that Blass and Vice Chairman Rose DeMarco have “worked hard” and he “would not be opposed” to them continuing in their leadership roles when the new two-year term starts early next year.

He said their record also includes the GOP election sweep in the 2021 municipal race as well as helping to get former First Selectman Marty Foncello elected in the 107th state House District when it was an open seat in 2022.

Resources:

Phone interview with Liam Enea, Patch.com, Wednesday, November 22, 2023.

Phone interview with Chris Donnelly, Patch.com, Friday, December 8, 2023.

Phone interview with Matt Grimes, Patch.com, Saturday, December 9, 2023.

Phone interview with George Walker, Patch.com, Monday, December 11, 2023.

E-mail message by Liam Enea to Patch.com, Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

The Litchfield County Times, Friday, October 19, 1984.