Date: Fri 14-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

politics-Democrats

Full Text:

Democrats Heartened By Election Gains

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The face of Newtown government will take on a new look December 1.

That is the day the newly elected first selectman, Herb Rosenthal, enters

office, taking over from the outgoing first selectman, Bob Cascella. Mr

Rosenthal will be joined by selectman Joe Bojnowski and Bill Brimmer, who were

also victorious November 4.

Mr Rosenthal, along with all the other newly elected town officials, will be

sworn in at a ceremony on Sunday, November 30, at 3 pm. A location had not

been selected by press time.

The new Board of Selectman is scheduled to meet for the first time December 2.

It will be the first time the Democrats have held a majority since 1992, when

Democrats Zita McMahon and Gary Fetzer sat on the board along with Republican

Mike Snyder.

Nearly 47 percent of the voters turned out for last week's election, up 8

percent from 1995, but down from the 52 percent in the 1993 vote, when Mr

Cascella defeated Zita McMahon.

Trying to determine what swayed residents from voting the way they did last

Tuesday is hard to do, according to Newtown's political observers. However,

one thing is for sure, the majority of them voted Democratic for first

selectman and Republican for the Legislative Council.

"I think name recognition and a lack of big issues had a lot to do with the

first selectman's race. There was no fire in anybody's belly," noted

Republican Town Committee chairman Marie Sturdevant. "A lot of Republicans

crossed lines and voted Democratic, and I think the education issue was

important for a lot of people."

There is no information available on the percentage of Democrats, Republicans

and unaffiliated voters who showed up at the polls.

Democrats Come Close

The Democrats were hailing last week's municipal election as a victory, and it

actually came very close to being a technical knockout, according to

Democratic Town Committee chairman Earl J. Smith.

The Democrats picked up an extra seat on the council, now giving them a total

of four to the Republicans' eight. However, the Democrats stopped just short

of picking up a fifth seat as challenger Sutherland Denlinger came within five

votes of knocking off incumbent Republican Karen Blawie in District 2. And, in

District 3, Chris Donohue came within just 36 votes of upsetting Republican

John Kortze. If both had won, the council would have been split down the

middle, six Democrats and six Republicans.

"It was very close to being a huge victory for the Democrats," Mr Smith said.

The Democrats now have four seats on the council for the first time since it

was reduced from 18 to 12 seats in 1993. For the past two terms, the

Republicans have outnumbered their party rivals, 9-3. However, the Democrats

finally won more than the minimum three seats with the election of incumbents

Melissa Pilchard and Lisa Schwartz and newcomers Peggy Baiad and Tim Holian.

Incumbent Republicans Karen Blawie, Joe Borst, John Kortze, Pierre Rochman,

Will Rodgers and Donald Studley were all reelected.

GOP newcomers Ed Lucas and Brian White were also chosen to serve on the

council.

Longtime Republican councilman Win Ballard came up short in the election to

the surprise of many on the council. Mr Rochman, the council chair, voiced his

disappointment at last week's meeting and said he hoped Mr Ballard would

return two years from now.

The Democrats also picked up a seat on the Planning & Zoning Commission with

Mike Osborne's victory over Republican incumbent candidate Tom Paisley. The

P&Z now includes Democrats Heidi Winslow and Mr Osborne and Republicans Dan

Fogliano, James Boylan and Stephen Koch.