Dems Accuse Fairfield Candidate Of 'Deceptive Campaign Practices'

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield Democrats have accused Republican state representative hopeful Brian Farnen of "deceptive campaign practices" in a news release distributed less than a week before Election Day.

The criticism of Farnen and his supporters followed a news release sent out earlier in the week by the head of Fairfield's Republican committee, which alleged Democrat candidate Jennifer Leeper hid her work as a political consultant. Both Farnen, a Representative Town Meeting member, and Leeper, who sits on the Board of Education, are seeking the legislative seat representing District 132 in a special election Tuesday, after former state representative Brenda Kupchick resigned in order to take the role of first selectwoman.

In the most recent news release, the Democratic Town Committee referred to the Republican news release as "a partisan hit piece loaded with inaccuracies" before going on to take issue with Farnen's job at a publicly funded organization and his campaign's voter outreach efforts.

The town Democrats argued that tax dollars pay Farnen's salary as an attorney for the Connecticut Green Bank. In an email, Farnen cited an opinion from the State Ethics Commission confirming his job is not a conflict of interest should he be elected to the General Assembly.

The Democratic committee also criticized Farnen's past use of the Sherman Elementary School email distribution list to send an endorsement for himself. Farnen said he distributed campaign material using contact information from the parents of his children's school friends, from residents whose information he obtained during his time on the Representative Town Meeting and from the Sherman parent-teacher association email list.

"I did not see anything prohibiting it," he said, adding that using such an email list is not against any policy or law, but that he did not intend to do it again.

Another concern expressed by the Democrats involved a message endorsing Farnen from the Change.org petition "Save Our Historic Fairfield Community Theatre." The update was created by Keith Rhodes, who started the petition, and Farnen said in the email he didn't know Rhodes planned to publicly endorse him until after the fact.

"It's a shame that the Democratic Town Committee decided to make my endorsement of Brian as part of their critical campaign against him," Rhodes said in an email, going on to explain Farnen made introductions and offered advice to Rhodes while he was working on the theater effort.

The Democrats also denounced a Farnen campaign mailer, which they characterized as misleading. The mailer was sent in a plain envelope that said, "Important message from First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick," and listed, "Brenda Kupchick, First Selectwoman," above Farnen's Rowland Road address. Inside was a letter endorsing Farnen.

"It was an important message from the First Selectwoman and I am proud of her support and endorsement," Farnen said in the email.

Farnen in the email referred to the Democrat news release as a "laundry list of petty assertions."

"I'm proud of the campaign I've run," he said. "I believe it is issue based and I've kept it positive."