Date: Fri 27-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Pizza-Politics-Election

Full Text:

WITH CUT: Forum Serves Up Politics By The Slice

B Y  C URTISS  C LARK

There are newspaper interviews, the Rotary debate, and partisan campaign

events along the way, but nothing has quite the flavor of Newtown's annual

Pizza and Politics when it comes to local electioneering.

The candidates for first selectman and selectman squared off Tuesday night at

the event at the Fireside Inn, and the local politicians wasted no time trying

to sound their chosen campaign themes in the one, two, and three-minute

segments allowed them under the League of Women Voters' rules of engagement.

The forum was sponsored by the League and the Newtown Chamber of Commerce.

For the Republican team, incumbent First Selectman Bob Cascella and selectman

candidate James Mooney, the theme was: promises kept equal trust and

competence.

The Democratic challenger to Mr Cascella, Earl Smith, Jr, and his runningmate,

incumbent Selectman Gary Fetzer, put another spin on the Republican record.

They suggested that the Republican-dominated town and state administration and

local Legislative Council had left residents wanting in at least a couple of

areas: there is still no Route 25 bypass road through Fairfield Hills, and a

plan favored by many to place sewer lines under Main Street (to spare stately

trees at the sides of the street) was nearly swept aside by the lack of

leadership and communication.

The event annually draws the town's political activists, who sit cheek by jowl

at long tables eating pizza and salad on styrofoam plates with plastic forks

and knives. The event has become over the years the perfect hometown backdrop

for the kind of local political sparring in which everyone uses first names

and blunt personal attacks that dominate modern politics at all other levels

are about as welcome as hot pizza dropped in a lap.

The evening yielded more agreement among the candidates than discord. At one

point Mr Cascella and Mr Smith answered a question about whether they support

the proposed Booth Library addition by shaking hands and simultaneously saying

"Yes!"

On proposed improvements and renovations to Hawley School and Newtown High

School, the candidates agreed with the need for the projects without

committing themselves to the estimated expense of nearly $30 million.

Both the schools need the work, said Mr Cascella, "but to what level and

degree has yet to be put on the table." Mr Smith noted that quality education

is the reason why many people have chosen to live in Newtown. "We're going to

have to put money into the schools."

On the future of the buildings and sprawling campus at Fairfield Hills, Mr

Cascella vowed to maintain the "integrity" of Fairfield Hills by working with

the state to "reuse those buildings and save the property that is there." To

that Mr Smith added, "The people of Newtown have to make their voices heard

loud and clear that we want to save Fairfield Hills."

All candidates took time to point out the challenge faced by the town in

controlling its residential growth. Mr Fetzer stressed that Newtowners will

have to work to protect their way of life. "Nothing is worse than looking

where there was a farm for 20 years and seeing a subdivision go up."

Mr Cascella agreed and suggested that pressures for residential and other

types of development have given impetus to initiatives to protect open spaces.

He endorsed the "greenway" concept of linked open spaces and easements

proposed by the town's Conservation Commission, and noted that the selectmen

had just this week set up a panel to study the issue. He rejected the idea of

establishing a moratorium on residential development in town, saying "We

cannot not close the gate on the rest of the world."

Mr Smith said he too opposes the idea of keeping newcomers out. "New people

add a dimension to the community."

As far as other types of development are concerned, the candidates agreed that

Newtown has to continue its efforts to attract clean, low-profile commerical

enterprises and industries to help broaden the tax base. Mr Mooney cautioned,

however, that its a task that is easier said than done. "It's an extremely

competitive market out there." He noted almost every other town has similar

plans and goals with regard to economic development. Newtown, he said, has to

continue its efforts to make the review and approval of new businesses more

"user friendly."

The discussion of economic development yielded a bit of news from Mr Cascella,

who revealed that town officials had been involved in discussions with the

Casper Group, owners of the Newtown Shopping Center, about the pending lease

of space there to "a major new vendor."

Large portions of the shopping center have been left vacant with the

departures of the A&P, the Post Office, Newtown Hardware, and The Drug Center.

Mr Smith appealed to those at the Pizza and Politics forum, and to those who

would read about it in the newspaper for their support in the election. He

cited his experience of 32 years in the Newtown school system - 6 as a teacher

and 26 as assistant principal at the high school. He said he would emphasize

in his administration, as he has in his campaign, "the need for communication

or educational, environmental, and economic issues." He promised that he would

bring a new dimension to the office; in addition to being a good

administrator, he would be a good listener.

Mr Cascella noted that as a candidate two years ago, he had made pledges to

stabilize taxes, promote economic development, bring "business practices" to

town hall, and emphasize public safety. He stressed that these pledges were

not just empty campaign rhetoric. "In the last two years we've done it," he

told the pizza-sated crowd. And he asked for two more years to do it again.