Date: Fri 21-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

politics-Spiro-Democrat

Full Text:

w/photo: Spiro Says He Wants To Be First Selectman

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Democrat Christopher J. Spiro this week announced that he wants to be

Newtown's first selectman.

Mr Spiro said he has met with the candidates committee of the Democratic Town

Committee to inform the members that he would like to be the party's candidate

in the November election.

"I'm very enthusiastic," he said. "I haven't decided what issues I will focus

on - so many things are happening in this town. But I do not think that

Newtown is getting the leadership the people deserve from the present

administration."

Earl Smith, Jr, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, said Mr Spiro came

to the recent DTC meeting and spoke to both the candidates committee and the

town committee.

"He expressed his intention to run," Mr Smith said. "At this point we are

taking the names of people who are interested. We have not endorsed anyone. I

suspect there will be a number of people who are interested in the first

selectman's spot this year."

No other candidates have announced their intention to seek the Democratic

nomination, but both Selectman Gary Fetzer and Board of Education Chairman

Herb Rosenthal have said they are still considering the possibility.

Mr Spiro, 55, is a regional vice president with Primerica Financial Services,

a subsidiary of the Travelers Group. He has been a Newtown resident for more

than 30 years and has been a personal financial analyst with Primerica for the

past nine years.

A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University with a bachelor's degree in

business administration, Mr Spiro lives on Grand Place with his wife, Peggy, a

former Fairfield Hills Hospital employee who now is a medical records

specialist for Greater Bridgeport Mental Health. The Spiros have five

children: Susan, 31, Thomas, 29, Kevin Christopher ("KC"), 26, Cathleen, 24,

and Tim, 22.

"I've been busy for the last 20 years trying to put them through college," Mr

Spiro said. "Now that my youngest is graduating in May, I am in a position to

give back to the town for all that it has given me."

Mr Spiro is a member and treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Cyrenius H.

Booth Library. Active for many years in the Newtown Jaycees, he was a past

president, former Outstanding Young Man of the Year, Jaycee of the Year and

past national director of the US Jaycees.

He served on the St Rose Parish Council, the Summer Festival Committee, has

been chairman of the Labor Day Parade, chairman of the Bicentennial Committee

and was on Newtown's executive committee for the Special Olympics.

Mr Spiro has been critical of what he saw as a failure of the town's

Republican administration to act when the state announced its intention to

close Fairfield Hills Hospital.

"It's obvious that one person cannot necessarily change what happens in town,

but one person can provide leadership," Mr Spiro said. "(The first selectman)

could not have prevented the closing of Fairfield Hills Hospital, but he had

an obligation to raise his voice in opposition to the closing.

"When Fairfield Hills closed, Newtown lost 900 people who shop, bought

gasoline, and ate in local restaurants. The first selectman should have said

to the state `You are killing us.' Instead, we got no concessions."

Mr Spiro said the 22 acres and two buildings at Fairfield Hills which the

state announced last week that it would give to the town weren't concessions

for the closing of the facility and its impact on the town.

"What we are getting now all came out of the prison deal," he said, referring

to an agreement signed by state and town officials when Garner Correctional

Institution was built in Newtown. That agreement, made during the

administration of Democratic First Selectman Zita McMahon, promised the town

land, a bypass road and money to be used for a firehouse to serve the

hospital/prison campus.