GOP Council Chair Backing Democrat For First Selectman

While this week’s Pizza & Politics activity was an opportunity for any of the invited candidates to clarify their positions and answer questions, one particular question and answer has generated a significant amount of post-event buzz.

Prompted by a question from former Republican Town Committee chairman Charles Stofko, Republican Legislative Council Chairman Will Rodgers said he was backing incumbent Democrats Herb Rosenthal and Selectman Joseph Bojnowski for reelection.

The statement prompted Mr Stofko to contact a Newtown Bee editor following the meeting, calling it “the most controversial political statement,” in recent history.

“You should issue a news bulletin to all your readers,” Mr Stofko said.

Contacted the next morning, Mr Rodgers said he had already heard from several fellow party members expressing concern over the leading Republican elected official rejecting the candidates from his own party. But Mr Rodgers said he was compelled to be honest in his answer.

“The question was posed only to the Republican candidates from District 3, of which just Jeff Capeci and myself were present,” Mr Rodgers said in a written response for clarification on the previous night’s activities. “So far as I know this was the only question posed to a subset of candidates the whole night.  Mr Rodgers wrote that the question asked, in relevant part, “who will you support for the top of the ticket?”

“I responded first and said I was supporting Rosenthal/Bojnowski because I felt the top of the Republican ticket was not being true to Republican ideals and stances locally,” Mr Rodgers said. “I did not exhort others to follow my lead, but simply left it at who I was supporting and why.”

Mr Rodgers then explained why he is putting support behind the incumbent Democrats, citing his recent active duty in the Iraq war.

“One thing that being in Iraq confirmed to me was the importance of being true to my principles, even when it may lead to surface level difficulties,” Mr Rodgers said. “I am true to what I believe to be the principles of the Republican party. I have also frequently said that the good of Newtown is always more important than party politics. My statement last night was consistent with those two principles.”