Emerging Party Puts Up Several Independent Contenders

Members of a local political committee, which is in the early stages of formalizing a minor party, met July 24 and subsequently announced a slate of candidates who plan to petition for ballot positions in November.

Independent Party of Newtown (IPN) candidates were announced for Legislative Council, Board of Education, and the Police Commission. This new committee is an extension of We Care About Newtown (WeCAN), an advocacy group, whose co-founders and affiliate supporters have spoken at various town meetings and submitted frequent letters to the editor.

The IPN slate includes: Legislative Council, District 1: Albert Roznicki and Ben Roberts

District 2: Po Murray, Gary Davis, and Guy Howard

District 3: Ann Ziluck and Robert E. Murray, Jr

Board of Education: Desiree Galassi, Donna Monteleone-Randle, and incumbent Democrat David Nanavaty

Police Commission: Bruce Walczak

According to a release from Ms Murray, bios on the IPN candidates will be posted soon on the party’s website, www.independentpartyofnewtown.com .

Ms Murray, one of the founders of both WeCAN and the new Independent Party of Newtown, said party members are very interested in hearing from Newtown citizens who might like to run for local office, and who share an interest in long-range planning, transparency in government, and working to forge solutions with local citizens on critical town issues.

Ms Murray said IPN welcomes comment from Newtown citizens on its platform, which will be formally presented to the community in August. A draft of the platform can be viewed at the website now. The petitioning committee intends to cross-endorse candidates for seats not being contested by IPN, and “who agree with the party’s platform.”

Ms Murray said she and Mr Davis were among those motivated to seek political office, “to provide voters with an Election Day alternative to the town’s two major parties.” Still a registered Democrat, Ms Murray said she was in attendance at the party caucus July 24, and neither opposed nor supported the candidacy of incumbent First Selectman Herb Rosenthal or Selectman Joseph Bojnowski.

She reacted to several party members who contacted The Bee to point out that Ms Murray had an opportunity to oppose Mr Rosenthal but apparently chose to not take a position publicly.

“[Any] assumption that I am personally supporting the Rosenthal/Bojnowski team because I did not voice opposition at the DTC caucus is premature and inaccurate,” Ms Murray wrote in an e-mail reply to a request for clarification.

As a Democrat and now a candidate for an elected office, with a possibility for IPN to be established as a minority party, Ms Murray said she believed it was important to attend the DTC caucus.

“I will clarify that I did not attend the caucus to oppose or support the Rosenthal/Bojnowski team. I was more interested in learning about the caucus procedures and to learn about the slate of candidates the DTC would be endorsing,” she said.

Ms Murray said it was a learning experience.

“I was not aware of the formalities of the procedure. The nominations and votes moved very swiftly. It is my opinion that if someone wanted to voice an opposition, it seemed there was no time to interject during the procedure,” she said.

Ms Murray added that she would like to hear a true public debate between the incumbents and the RTC nominated Borst/Mangiafico team along with any other candidates before making a personal decision on who to support for the first selectman/Board of Selectman seats.

She said fellow IPN supporters share her idea that the majority of voters in Newtown are ready to step forward on Election Day to vote for candidates who support the type of political vision and leadership IPN is offering.

Several other applicants for petitions were filed with the town clerk by IPN representatives in recent days, but are not yet announced for any specific offices. They include former council member Ruby K. Johnson, former RTC chairman Charles Stofko, Ann H. Ziluck, Brendan J. Duffy, and Benjamin J. Roberts.