Southington Dems/GOP Engaging In 2023 Political War

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Generally speaking, local politics usually don't measure up to the divisiveness seen at the national level.

But this year, Southington appears to be bucking that trend, with an old-fashioned red-blue battle brewing in the run-up to elections.

With the GOP controlling most, if not all, of the town's boards, the fight for seats in 2023 is growing more and more intense.

Democrats and Republicans are at each others' proverbial throats both at local meetings, on social media, and in cyberspace.

And with Democrats and Republicans trading accusations on just about a daily basis, it appears Southington's current political situation mirrors what the rest of the nation could see for the 2024 presidential elections.

This week, Democrats issued a statement it claims shows divisions within Southington's GOP, with former Republican state senator Joseph Markley, who served Southington and other 16th Senate District towns from 2011-19, questioning his party.

Markley vs Dziedzic

In a video released by Democrats and put on Youtube, Markley, a Southington resident, said his party in Southington is showing "negligent leadership," claiming its members are "more concerned at this moment with retaining power than they do with holding themselves to good ethical standards."

Markley brings up one situation that happened recently during a Southington Republican Town Committee nominating meeting.

In his 9-minute plus video, Markley refers to an incident involving incumbent GOP Councilman William Dziedzic.

According to Markley, Dziedzic "loudly and repeatedly harassed" a female member of the local GOP at a meeting.

Ultimately, the woman — identified by Markley as Southington Republican Town Committee member Susan Zabohonski, who is on the Southington Fair Rent Commission — filed a complaint with the Southington Police Department, but no charges have been filed.

Still, Markely said Dziedzic's place on the council and on the election ballot should be questioned by the community.

"The party doesn't deserve to lead if it endorses candidates who can't be trusted and who can't control themselves," Markley said on the video.

In the statement this week, Democrats cited several Republicans who have left the party in recent years, including two Democratic council hopefuls: Edward Pocock III and Stephen Salerno.

Dziedzic, however, told Patch this week all of the drama surrounding his situation was "slander politics at its worst."

He said he called for Zabohonski to leave the fair rent board "based on issues that were brought to my attention on qualifications to sit on the fair rent commission."

"She has repeatedly opposed my nominations each year because she does not believe I am conservative enough," Dziedzic said of Zabohonski.

According to Dziedzic, the incident in question was about her "bullying" a new candidate at the GOP's nomination convention.

"This was done in a group setting with 10-12 witnesses," Dziedzic said. "A month later, she felt it necessary to give a statement to the police to use during the campaign as she is now doing.

"It is a contrived situation to be used against me during the elections," Dziedzic said. "I absolutely used some harsh words against someone who was bullying a brand-new candidate. I will not apologize for that."

Candidate Forum Boycott

Meanwhile, a firestorm over the Southington Chamber of Commerce's candidate forum planned for Thursday, Oct. 19, is also showing how steep Southington's political divisions are.

Southington Democrats, in fact, are boycotting the event altogether, an event that was expected to feature town council hopefuls from both parties.

Democrats accused the Chamber of being a Republican-led organization, claiming the forum planned for Oct. 19 would become a biased affair.

Erin Cowles, chairperson of the Southington Democratic Town Committee, said the 2021 forum hosted by the Chamber was "poorly run" and full of audience and candidate outbursts.

"Our candidates would rather go directly to the doors to speak with residents of Southington and we look forward to those conversations," Cowles said in a statement.

The Southington Republican Town Committee said they were "disappointed" by the Democrats' decision to boycott the forum, which is slated for 6 p.m. at the Hawk's Landing Country Club, 201 Pattonwood Drive, Southington.

"The Southington Republicans are excited to attend the biannual candidate information session," the town's GOP wrote in a statement.

"The event has always been a neutral ground where we can come together to talk about our individual and party strengths and field questions from the general public. We thank the Chamber for their continued support of our local government."

The GOP claims Southington Dems have been engaged in a campaign full of "misinformation" and accused them of being unwilling to defend their stands in public.

Out in the open

Unlike past political battles of decades, if not years, gone by, The extent of the Dem-GOP spat in Southington is there for anyone to see via social media.

Both parties have highly active FaceBook pages and there is, even, an alternative Facebook page for Republicans, one that currently features Markley's video.

Each page features lengthy posts of accusations, complaints and political rhetoric, mirroring what many experts say is happening nationally as the GOP struggles to elect a speaker of the House despite controlling the U.S. House of Representatives.

For Markley, the situation should be more about the people rather than the party.

Said Markley, "I don't believe this is the moment to blindly trust any political party. The voters need to judge candidates for themselves and judge them both by their record and the issues they stand for."

Dziedzic, though, had a different opinion of Markley.

"At bottom, Joe Markley is an ousted Republican who is using his platform to endorse Democrats," Dziedzic said of the former state senator, who wasn't ousted from the state Senate, but lost the lieutenant governor race in 2018 to current Democratic Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz.

For the Southington Democratic Town Committee Facebook page, click on this link.

For the Southington Republican Town Committee Facebook page, click on this link.

For the alternative Southington GOP Facebook page, click on this link.

From July 30: 'Southington's GOP, Dems Pick Their 2023 Election Slates'

Editor's Note: The Southington Chamber of Commerce's announcement of the 2023 Meet the Candidates Forum came out before the Democrats announced their boycott: