Republicans Endorse Candidates for Municipal Elections

The Republican Party of Enfield held a caucus Monday evening to endorse its slate of candidates for the upcoming municipal elections. The candidates for the Town Council and Board of Education were mostly incumbents with a couple of new additions.

Joseph Bosco was nominated to run for Town Council in District 1. Bosco is the co-owner of Bosco Automotive and is the incumbent councilman from District 1. Clem Dumont was not present due to other obligations, but was endorsed to run for re-election to her seat representing District 4.

Challenging for the Council seat for District 2 is Dominic Alaimo. Alaimo vied unsuccessfully for the seat in 2009.

“I learned a lot from two years ago, the outcome will be different this year, we're gonna knock on every door. Its a tough district to win, but we will win it this year," Alaimo said.

 Mayor Scott Kaupin will be running for his tenth term on the Council. The Mayor said he has especially enjoyed his last four years working with the currently composed council.

“We have put Enfield on a good financial footing in tough economic times,” said Kaupin, while maintaining that much still needed to be done. He wanted to build on the successes and keep moving the town forward.

The slate of at large council candidates consists of incumbents Carol Hall, Ken Nelson, William Lee. In addition, current chairman of the Board of Education Greg Stokes filled out the slate.

Stokes praised his fellow members of the Board of Education and claimed he had the utmost respect for the people he worked with there.

“The last thing to do is choose a new Superintendent for this town by October,” he said, “that puts a capstone on what we've done.” He also said he looked forward to running or Town Council and working with a new team for Enfield's success.

“I guarantee I will do the best I can and appreciate our Republican Party, I think we are the best in town.”

The only tense moment of the caucus came with the nomination of Stokes. Charles Woods spoke out against the candidate claiming his values were not in line with the Republicans in town. Mayor Kaupin defended Stokes, and the caucus endorsed the candidate by a near unanimous margin. Stokes is running in place of Jake Keller, who chose not to seek re-election to the Town Council.

The Board of Education candidates were also incumbents with one exception. Newcomer Kevin Fealy was nominated to join the sitting members on the Republican slate.

Fealy chose to run because he, ”didn't believe you can sit on the sideline and complain without trying to be part of the solution. That isn't the example I wanted to set to my children who are in these Enfield Schools.”

Chuck Johnson, Tom Sirard, Peter Jonaitis, and Donna Swewczak are all vying to continue their tenure on the Board of Education. Several issues facing the Board of Education include the installation of a new Superintendent and the possible consolidation of the High Schools into a single school.

Szewczak provided a moment of poignant levity with her comment, “all I can tell you about the BOE is the more you know the less you want to know, and the harder the job becomes.”

Rounding out the slate were the candidates for constable, Vincent Diana, Bob Chagnon, Dan Post, and last minute replacement Cindy Andersen. Andersen was installed in place of Charlie Woods who withdrew his name from consideration.

The Democrats will officially choose their candidates at a caucus on Tuesday at 7:30 pm in Council Chambers.