With All The Talking Done, Furrier Ready For The Election

By John Voket

Selectman Bill Furrier, the Independent Party of Newtown’s candidate for first selectman, said this week that he had “reached the end of my communication plan” in his election campaign. He noted that the people of Newtown had enough to think about in the aftermath of last weekend’s snowstorm, which left nearly the entire town without power and about half of homes still dark at press time Thursday morning. The IPN’s top-of-ticket candidate said, “I decided it’s time to back off. Let’s get it over with. Bring it on.”

The sitting selectman and his running mate, Po Murray, who previously served one term on the Legislative Council and in now seeking a seat on the Board of Selectmen, previously outlined a platform that several other IPN candidates on the party’s under ticket also espoused in letters to the newspaper or in local blog posts on the Internet.

The top item on that agenda is a pledge to reduce the town-side budget by five percent in two years through a process called “Track, Score and Report.” Mr Furrier explained that as part of that process be he would include evaluating the town’s motor pool and level of fuel consumption. In an explanation on the IPN website, Mr Furrier said that the Track Score and Report system “will provide much greater details of how money is spent and the value that it produces.”

The candidate also spoke about the accounting system at the October 18 candidates’ debate sponsored by The Newtown Bee. Mr Furrier said, “We currently track many things internally, but we don’t score total costs of public tasks, and we do a poor job of communicating to the taxpayers what their money is getting for them. Track, Score and Report will put us on a better footing to improve the efficiency of the services we deliver and will provide everyone with a greater understanding of what their taxes are providing for them.”

Ms Murray did not respond to a request for some campaign wrap-up observations before press time Thursday morning, but both Mr Furrier and Ms Murray have said previously that, if elected, they would vigorously oppose high-density housing development at Fairfield Hills, and Mr Furrier classified any such project as “a clear and present danger to our way of life.”

According to his biographical information on the IPN website, Mr Furrier’s political experience includes ten years serving as an appointee to Newtown’s Public Building and Site Commission, and five years as its chairman. The first selectman hopeful said he has also coached soccer in town and was the president of the largest condominium association in Sugarbush, Vt.

In a recent letter to The Bee, Ms Murray referred to herself as “a full-time soccer mom.” And her bio indicates that in addition to her single term on the council, the IPN selectman candidate served as a PTA member at Reed Intermediate, Newtown Middle School and Newtown High School, was the Newtown Basketball Association Secretary, as well as co-founder and vice chair of the IPN.