Date: Fri 17-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

politics-quiet-campaign

Full Text:

A QUIET CAMPAIGN: IS IT THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM?

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The race for Newtown's first selectman seat is noticeably quiet with just over

two weeks until the November 4 election.

The silence is certainly not due to a lack of hard work. Democrats Herb

Rosenthal and Joe Bojnowski and Republicans Russ Melita and Bill Brimmer can

be seen going door to door on a regular basis. The candidates are getting the

issues out, but they are not firing any shots at one another in the process.

Is this the quiet before the storm? Is a political El Nino lurking out there

somewhere? Things are expected to heat up over the next week with the

candidates meeting face to face at several events. However, both sides will

tell you that their campaign is being run simply on the issues facing the

town.

"Herb and I said from the beginning that we wanted to run our campaign based

on the issues, so that's probably why there aren't as many fireworks," Mr

Bojnowski explained. "We're keeping emotions out of it."

The Republicans are keeping things just as clean.

"People are saying, `it's quiet, it's quiet,' but they're doing their own

thing and we're doing our own thing," noted Mr Brimmer. "Something's bound to

happen over the next two weeks, though."

So far, the biggest fireworks this election season came this past summer when

Mr Rosenthal engaged in a bitter battle with fellow Democrat Gary Fetzer. The

two traded shots up until the September primary, which Mr Rosenthal eventually

won.

On Friday, all four candidates were slated to assemble at The Newtown Bee for

a question and answer session. Monday night, they will field questions at the

annual Rotary meeting. And on October 28, the Newtown Chamber of Commerce and

League of Women Voters will host the annual Pizza & Politics Night, which will

bring the candidates together once again.

The campaign has been time-consuming for both parties, but the candidates say

they are enjoying every minute of it.

After all the walking he has done, Mr Brimmer said he thought he would have

lost some weight by now. "But that's not the case because you eat afterwards,"

he joked.

In recent weeks, Mr Bojnowski has had to hit the trail without Mr Rosenthal,

who has been tied up in teacher salary negotiations in his capacity as

chairman of the Board of Education.

"Things are going pretty good," Mr Bojnowski said. "We're very encouraged by

what we're doing, but we've got a long way to go and a lot of people to meet."

Earlier this week, the Democrats sent out 4,000 direct mailers to Newtown

residents highlighting the issues. The Republicans hope to send out a brochure

next week.

Top Priorities

The League of Women Voters recently asked the candidates to list (in order)

their top three priorities for the town. Topping the list for the Republicans

was controlled spending, followed by planned commercial development and

lastly, the management of residential growth.

For the Democrats, the top priority is addressing the issues of development,

second is to ensure the town has a say in the future of Fairfield Hills and

finally, creating an efficient government with particular attention to public

works.