Making national political history is no small feat.

But come Election Day, First Selectman Dan Rosenthal will accomplish that — as long as he at least votes for himself on the local ballot that sees the incumbent former Democrat running as a third-party candidate with SAM, the national Serve America Movement.

Since he is running unopposed for re-election, as long as Rosenthal receives at least one vote, he will become the first duly elected SAM party office holder in the country.

Ahead of Election Day, Rosenthal, Sandy Hook resident and former SAM lieutenant governor candidate Monte Frank, and about three dozen others including numerous local Democratic and Republican leaders and office holders gathered at a local residence to hear from the first selectman about his decision to switch parties. They also welcomed SAM executive chairman and former Republican US Congressman David Jolly.

According to the SAM website, joinsam.org, the party and its members and supporters “share a set of universal principles and one ultimate goal: to fix a system that has been corrupted by the mainstream parties and the people who prop them up.”

SAM states it has created the only political platform not based on rigid ideology or predetermined policy positions, rejecting that approach altogether. Its candidates rely on proven problem-solving principles to understand the challenges facing their communities, then work with constituents and residents, and with other leaders to develop a solution that delivers the most good for the most people.

SAM leaders and members espouse to do that tapping a six-point platform:

*Listen to and engage all key stakeholders (constituents) — which may require outreach to ensure that a diversity of groups and perspectives are heard — in order to understand and record the context, background, symptoms, scope, and scale of the problem from the perspective of the people being represented, while gathering and recording data from all relevant sources.

*Defining the problem based on all the information gathered and how SAM leaders are going to evaluate potential solutions, and because transparency is key, SAM pledges to publish these findings for everyone to see.

*Gathering ideas for solutions from many different sources, including constituents.

*Work with colleagues in search of common ground and a “win-win” solution that delivers the most good for the most people. After consensus is achieved at a broad level, SAM leaders say they will isolate and work through any remaining areas of disagreement.

*Evaluate the success or failure of the solution based on real-life consequences — the quantifiable changes and observable experiences gathered in step 1.

*Keep evolving the solution until problems being addressed no longer exist.

SAM Recruitment Criteria

As a SAM candidate, Rosenthal:

*Was recruited to freely serve constituents with no “party line” loyalty tests to hold him back;

*Is judged on his efforts to forge lasting, common-sense, consensus solutions to the biggest issues facing the country;

*Agreed to adhere to specific commitments of transparency and accountability, including term limits; and

*Pledges to faithfully seek to represent the views of their constituents regardless of party, consistent with their individual consciences and judgment.

Introducing Rosenthal, Frank commented that he was glad to see the new SAM candidate putting on the “S” shirt, and hoped the successful candidacy on behalf of the minor party would inspire other community leaders across the country to consider switching if they believed in the SAM agenda.

Rosenthal said he believes that local government fits nicely with the SAM message, and recognized a number of attendees, including the current and former elected officials, local party leaders, and other political volunteers in attendance.

“It’s funny how, on a local level, we can do this,” Rosenthal observed. “Could you imaging having an event like this in Congress or the Senate? You’d have all one party.”

The first selectman noted that behaviors and actions that would not be tolerated on a local political landscape, seem to be more accepted on a state an national level.

“Over the last few years, I think I’ve tried to govern independently and with bipartisanship, I try to work with everybody and that’s what I pride myself on,” he said. “I don’t know about you all, but over the last few years I’ve had a sinking feeling for our country, for our state, and a concern for our town. It’s only a matter of time and I can feel the ground shifting.”

Drawing Party Lines

Rosenthal said he has been hearing more and more statements from people who are drawing hard party lines and questioning why they should engage with anyone else.

“I feel you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,” he said, adding that Newtown still has a great deal of decorum, “and I don’t want it to go away.”

The first selectman said as he was weighing his decision about running again, he thought about how under the current system, it is virtually impossible to get a third-party candidate elected at the state level.

He said what ends up happening because Connecticut does not have rank choice voting is people start equating supporting third-party candidates to giving votes or taking away votes from major party contenders.

“If we had rank choice voting or something like it, I think people would be more comfortable embracing someone [running on a minor party platform]. And we sorely need that,” Rosenthal said. After thinking about what he should do, and consulting with Jolly, Rosenthal said he found the SAM message really spoke to him.

“SAM is all about principles, commitment to transparency and accountability, to problem solving, and to electoral competition. And unfortunately right now politics is the way people are identifying, it’s affecting how people relate to one another...that’s frightening,” he said. “I like the idea that SAM commits to those principles, so the rest should fall into line.”

Rosenthal said if he, in some small way, could use what notoriety he has locally to help “cool the conversation down and focus on the beautiful thing we have in town — that is the ability for us all to work together nicely — then I want to do that.”

“SAM’s message is a great one, and I think it’s exciting to be part of something that’s moving quickly,” he said. “But it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, it’s going to take time, but in a country where if something is broken and it doesn’t get fixed right away so we lose patience with it, this is something we need to commit to for the long haul. But I certainly think it’s doable.”

Editor John Voket can be reached at editor@thebee.com.