Selectmen Candidates Rabin And McGuigan Debate In Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — The two candidates for Selectman, incumbent Republican Lauren Rabin and Democratic newcomer Janet Stone McGuigan, participated in a debate on Tuesday night at Greenwich Town Hall.

The half-hour debate was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greenwich, and streamed online via Zoom.

Both candidates laid out their priorities should they win in November. First Selectman Fred Camillo is running against Democrat Bill Kelly for the top spot in town. The top two vote getters among the losing candidates would be seated on the three-person board.

The power of a Selectman is limited by the town charter. Rabin, who is seeking a second term, said she wants to ensure that more boards and commissions work in collaboration with each other.

"There are boards and commissions that naturally would work well together," she said.

Rabin also said she wants the town to find a balance of affordable housing. As someone who grew up in Greenwich on reduced lunch, Rabin said she has a passion "to make sure we're serving everyone we can in our community."

Traffic and addressing unsafe driving would also be a priority for Rabin.

McGuigan said Greenwich "has a lot of pressing issues right now", most notably related to services, schools, infrastructure and sustainability.

But her number one priority would be to create a "spirit of collaboration" between governing boards, such as the Board of Estimate and Taxation and Board of Education.

"I think we need to come together," she said. "I think we also need to focus on public processes. I do think our processes need to include a full range of community input when we're making decisions."

The candidates agreed that in their role as Selectman, they'd support the entire board, and their fellow party members, but also speak up if they have a difference of opinion on issues.

Rabin said the town has been fortunate over the last term that the Board of Selectmen has worked together. Selectperson Jill Oberlander is not running for re-election.

"In general, I do share the same philosophical ideas as Fred, my running-mate, but I have exercised my own opinion when it's appropriate and when it's necessary and I'm not afraid to do that regardless of who's in any of the positions," she said.

McGuigan said her and kelly share the same priorities and values.

"That said, should we serve together on the Board of Selectmen, we are not going to agree just for the sake of agreement. We understand that we serve the town and not each other," she said.

The candidates were asked what the town has learned from using Zoom to conduct town meetings during the pandemic, and how Greenwich can use those lessons to streamline the way business is handled.

As a member of the Representative Town Meeting and a former board member for the League of Women Voters of Greenwich, McGuigan said Zoom has increased participation at meetings and events beyond what anyone could have imagined.

"Whatever we can do to harness Zoom and make it one of the formats for public meetings, I think that would be a very welcome thing," she said.

Rabin, who has a background in technology and marketing, said she's "completely supportive" of any tool that can enhance government operations. She said it has increased resident participation and interest in meetings and issues.

"With the pandemic, we have so many people working from home, and we have gotten to see people in their home environment which makes it easier to work," she said. "You see dogs in the background, you hear the barking, we're all struggling with technology and somehow that brings us all together. It makes us more effective and more accessible, and I believe that's really critical as a public servant."

When asked about how to bring the community together to overcome national politics that have come into Greenwich, the candidates said working together is the best solution.

"As a leader, what we have to do is just somehow simmer down the dialogue, get together face-to-face, even with masks or without masks if we're six feet apart, and really just hammer out our differences because at the end of the day, everyone just wants the same thing," Rabin said.

McGuigan said that as she has knocked on doors, constituents have said they're tired of the partisanship in town government circles.

"I think as a community, we need to come together. I am a really big optimist. I do believe we have more in common than what divides us," McGuigan said.

Before the Selectman debated, Camillo and Kelly squared-off in their first debate of the election season.