'Stakes Are Very High' In Election For Fairfield RTM, Now Split 20-20 Along Party Lines

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield’s election Tuesday for Representative Town Meeting will be unlike any other in recent memory — and possibly in the town’s history.

With the legislative body divided, 20-20, along party lines, the town meeting's majority is up for grabs after two candidates switched parties about 10 months ago.

“The stakes are very high this election,” Steve Sheinberg, chairman of the Fairfield Democratic Town Committee, said in an email. “The voters want accountability, they want to see the oft-promised support of our public schools materialize by way of proper funding of the education budget, and they want checks and balances on an administration that has been less than transparent.”

This time last year, the Democrats held a 22-18 majority on the body. However, around the start of 2021, members Hannah Gale and Tameisha Powell-Dunmore, both representatives of District 6, became Republicans. The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance, which approve major decisions before the items go to the town meeting for a vote, each have a Republican majority, although that could change Tuesday for the Board of Finance.

Gale, who recently came under scrutiny after retweeting a meme that used a swastika to compare the coronavirus vaccine rollout to Nazi Germany, switched parties in response to state Democrats' handling of legislation regarding religious vaccine exemption. Powell-Dunmore made the change after a disagreement with Democrat party leadership over Facebook posts in which she supported former president Donald Trump's calls for further investigation of the 2020 election results and claimed Antifa was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“We have a proven track record of embracing diverse candidates with diverse views,” Sheinberg said. “However, we draw the line at the spread of mis- and dis-information, which has been deemed a threat to public safety.”

The Fairfield Republican Town Committee indicated in an email there were multiple factors that led the town meeting to be 20-20 along party lines, and that Gale and Powell-Dunmore "didn’t like the incivility shown to the first selectwoman by their caucus.”

Neither the Republican committee nor Sheinberg recalled a time when the town meeting had previously been made up of 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats.

“There is clearly a sharp partisan divide driven by some members of the Democratic caucus,” the committee said. “Despite numerous offers to have bi-partisan conversations, and work together, the first selectwoman has been met with obstruction rather than with collaboration, which is unfortunate. Items need to be considered on their merits, not politics. A Republican majority on the RTM is a return to civilized debate.”

To learn more about the candidates seeking election to the town meeting, click here.