One man's choice for the best Town of Groton candidates

October 15, 2019

The Groton Town Municipal Elections are on November 5, 2019. What follows are my own political observations and opinions, as well as voting suggestions. In recent years, there have been pendulum "swings" on the Town Council. At one point, Republicans had 8 seats and Democrats had only one. Then, last time, Democrats swept all 9 seats, largely due to national political issues and a strong surge by Groton City Democrats (the City Council itself is also currently all Democrats).

I always felt there should be a "balance" of the two political parties on the Councils. Otherwise, mistakes occur, such as the expensive annual budget of City road maintenance and the premature termination of the Groton-Noank Community Gardens task force. And had it not been for a local environmental group to assure a proper trade of properties, we wouldn't have begun work on the Middle School construction project in time to receive financial assistance from the State of CT.

So I recommend voting for certain people from both parties who I believe will make effective representatives in their positions, bringing wisdom and business experience to the table. Most of these are also strong supporters of the Groton-Noank Public Gardens as a continuing positive use for the former Noank School property

For the Town Council, from Republicans, I recommend (a) former Town Mayor Bruce Flax, who worked closely with the evolution of the Noank School property, who tried to get Groton City budgets more in line with the Town's budgets, and is a board member of Mystic Chamber of Commerce, (b) Angela McGuirk, military veteran, a Garden supporter, very active in the Groton Business Association and Mystic Chamber of Commerce, (c) David Preka, former chair of the Groton Economic Development Commission, a Garden supporter, and a construction company owner, and (d) Ken Richards III, the EMS administrator at Westerly Ambulance with a very strong family background dealing with local Emergency Services. Ken feels the original agreement with the Garden task force should never have been terminated by the present Council. .

For the Town Council, from Democrats, I recommend (a) Aundre Bumgardner, our former state rep who works for the CT State Treasurer, is an enthusiastic supporter of the garden and learning what voters really need, (b) Lian Obrey, a well regarded local figure in Real Estate and Charity groups who considers all sides and is a garden supporter, (c) Joseph Zeppieri, a wise, experienced person in many fields, with whom I negotiated regarding the "land swap" for the Middle School, who supported keeping the original garden task force in place, and (d) Portia Bordelon, RTM member, Garden supporter and medical technician, who did an excellent job showing me details of the proposed new Noank-GLP bridge and who makes a point of researching issues thoroughly.

Lastly, although we still agree to disagree on some items, I am still impressed by Mayor Patrice Granatosky, in the way she handles Council meetings and prepares herself for the subject at hand

For Board of ED, I recommend Republican Bonnie Nault and feel she is properly dedicated to supporting education in our new age. I fully endorse Democrat Kim Shepardson-Watson and hope she will continue as chair as the new Middle School opens.

For RTM, District 7, I've had positive feedback from Democrats Clarence Casper and Nancy Mello Miller on local issues and am impressed by newcomer Bruce Jones with his willingness to learn & respond on some key issues. I've also had positive experiences with RTM members serving in other districts (where I cannot vote), which include Republicans Taylor Salva and long-time friends Jim & Irma Streeter (district 3) and Democrat Michael Whitehouse (district 4). Michael is well connected with local civic organizations and, as example, was instrumental in helping to arrange the donation of a defibrillator by the Groton Rotary recently to a local church.

I do plan to vote for those I listed above (limited to District # 7) because they will do well for Groton and use wisdom in balancing our need to support local business/expansion along with our need to improve our local environment, including the garden project.

And finally, of course, the bottom line is.....VOTE ! Don't stay home, even if its raining.