GOP Education Board Slate Censorious Of CRT Sweep Primary

GUILFORD, CT — By a near three to one margin, the Republican candidates for Board of Education who have been described as a “single issue activist group” focused on critical race theory have won the primary election.

Row A candiadtes Nick Cusano, Danielle Scarpellino, William Maisano, Timothy E. Chamberlain, and Aly Passarelli were the top five vote-getters.

Just before the polls closed Tuesday, Republican Registrar of Voters Gloria Nemchu told Patch that nearly half of the town’s 3,511 registered Republicans, representing 47 percent, turned out for the primary.

The Republicans who said they were distressed by single-issue GOP slate in August petitioned the town to hold the Republican primary election.

Spokesperson and candidate Jim O’Keefe said last month that the candidates decided to join forces after “expressing total dismay with the BOE candidates selected by a poorly attended GOP Caucus held in July.”

“After hearing outrage from many in the community about the single-issue activist group chosen in the GOP Caucus, it was agreed that a primary was both necessary and in the best interest of Guilford to challenge the Caucus result,” O’Keefe said.

"Ours is a global society, and the competition is fierce. With so much to learn, there’s no time for political indoctrination in the classroom. We welcome all instruction that offers an honest, balanced view of our history and society; we reject attempts to use our schools to divide our children by race and political views," Guilford businesswoman and spokesperson for the candidates Mary Breen said in an emailed statement to Patch.

After the results came in Tuesday night, O'Keefe told Patch: "We are obviously very disappointed with this level of loss. The Republican party has spoken and we wish our opponents well in the November election."

That slate had included incumbents Joseph Golino, Theodore D. Sands and Amy Sullivan. They were joined by William C. Mulligan, a member of the Guilford High School Building Committee who managed the construction of the new high school, and O’Keefe, a former BOF member and former Chairman of the Guilford Republican Town Committee.

All five showed up at the bottom of Nemchu's spreadsheet.

"We thank all Republicans who took part in today’s primary—including new Republicans drawn to our party by the importance of this vote and the many Democrats who wished us well but were ineligible to vote for us. We invite them, and all Guilford voters, to examine our principles and our credentials, and we respectfully ask for their support in November," Breen wrote.