Date: Fri 10-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

election-Cascella-results

Full Text:

Cascella Coasts To Victory; Republicans Dominate Again

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

First Selectman Bob Cascella won reelection Tuesday with a decisive 3-1

victory over his challenger, Earl J. Smith, Jr, the Democratic Town Committee

chairman.

Mr Cascella, 35, won a second two-year term with 3,304 votes to Mr Smith's

1,159. Mr Cascella's running mate, James Mooney, Sr, polled 2,294 votes and

three-term Democrat Selectman Gary Fetzer received 1,767, to win the other two

seats on the board.

In a repeat of the 1993 election, Republicans once again dominated the spots

on the local ballot where there were actual contests.

Aside from the selectman's race, there were contested seats only on the

Legislative Council and the Planning & Zoning Commission. The candidates in

all of the other races - for Board of Education, Board of Assessment Appeals,

Zoning Board of Appeals, Zoning Board of Appeals alternates, Police

Commission, and Board of Managers of Edmond Town Hall - ran unopposed.

"Every incumbent - Republican and Democrat - who ran got reelected," commented

Republican Councilman A. Winthrop Ballard after the unofficial results were

in.

Republicans retained nine seats on the Legislative Council. Democrats Jack

Rosenthal and Melissa Pilchard were reelected and newcomer Lisa Schwartz, a

Democrat, was elected to fill the seat which Mr Smith vacated when he decided

to run for first selectman. The town charter requires that at least one seat

in each of the three districts be filled by the minority party.

Mr Cascella credited his victory with the "good job that our administration

has done during the past two years."

"We kept our promises, presented a message that was consistent, and had the

vision - the forward thinking - that was what the town wanted," he said.

"I'd call it a mandate," Mr Mooney said. "The voters gave the administration

one heck of a compliment."

Mr Mooney, a retired state police officer who is head of security for the

University of Bridgeport, was tapped to be Mr Cascella's running mate after

Republican James Smith decided not to seek re-election.

Turnout was light in each of the districts with only 39 percent of the 11,504

registered voters casting ballots. There are 4,440 registered Republicans,

2,844 Democrats and 4,123 unaffiliated, plus about 100 registered for various

independent parties.

"About one-third of the Republicans, one-third of the Democrats and 25 percent

of the independents voted," Gary Fetzer said. "It's tough to be a Democrat

here."

Mr Smith, who retired as Newtown High School vice principal three years ago,

recalled that he already had decided not to seek reelection to the Legislative

Council before he agreed to run for first selectman. He said he would continue

to be active in town, including remaining as party chairman, but would now

"give priority to traveling and other activities that I promised my wife,

Vera, we would do to enjoy our retirement."

Republicans won all three contested seats on the Planning & Zoning Commission.

Incumbent John DeFlippe garnered 2,680; Todd E. Richardson, 2,927; Stephen J.

Adams, 2,744, and Democrat David F. Kates trailed with 1,479.

There will be a few new faces on the Legislative Council since Mr Smith, and

Republicans Michael Marusa, Jack Ryan and Marion Stalk opted not to seek

re-election. William A. Brimmer Jr was elected to fill Mr Marusa's seat in

District 1; Gail A. Halapin and John Kortze will fill the other two seats in

District 3.

In District 1 the winners were Council Chairman Joseph M. Mahoney, with 1,145

votes; Mr Brimmer, 1,030; Pierre Rochman, 1,021, and Democrat Melissa

Pilchard, the council vice chairman, 702. Democrat Ed Dudeck lost with 618.

In District 2, Karen Blawie received 865 votes; Joseph Borst, 837 and Winthrop

Ballard, 827. Democrat Jack Rosenthal was re-elected with 701 votes. Newcomer

David K. Nanavaty failed in his bid to unseat a Republican, garnering only 612

votes.

There was more competition in District 3A and 3B. Republican Gail Halapin

received the most votes in her first attempt at political office, finishing

with 1,012. Joseph J. McGowan Sr was re-elected with 911, John Kortze received

860, and Democrat Lisa B. Schwartz had 573. Two other Democrats, Kevin M.

Tepas, a lawyer who earlier served two terms on the council, and Richard S.

Eigen, a city planner who had run once before, were unsuccessful, finishing

with 545 and 499 votes, respectively.

The mood was jubilant at Republican Party headquarters on Church Hill Road as

the returns began to come in. Jim Mooney gave a thumb's up signal to Bob

Cascella who stood on the other side of the room, hugging his wife, Sue.

Shortly before 9 pm, Earl Smith and Gary Fetzer left Democratic headquarters

in the Queen Street shopping center to cross the rain-soaked streets to the

Republican headquarters where they congratulated the winners.

A Record of Success

In the campaign, the Republicans stressed their administration's success in

delivering what had been promised in the last election: a stable tax rate,

establishment of a capital reserve fund, progress in economic development, a

larger and better-equipped police force, cleanup of the White Birch property,

creation of a five-year road reconstruction plan and the implementation of

business practices such as consolidation of purchasing to save money.

The Democrats said that although the Republicans held the power locally on the

Board of Selectmen and Legislative Council, had a Republican state legislator

and governor, Newtown was left wanting in several areas: there is still no

Route 25 bypass through Fairfield Hills and a plan to place sewer lines under

Main Street to save the trees alongside the road was nearly swept aside by a

lack of leadership and communication. Focusing on the issues of education, the

environment and the economy, Mr Smith said he supported the proposed school

projects; Mr Fetzer said he feared the burden that new housing developments

will put on local resources and called for efforts to preserve open space.

The Democrats also criticized the Republican administration for taking credit

for holding the mill rate to a one-mill increase in two years. The operating

budget actually increased about 18 percent during that two-year period, they

said, but taxes were offset by increased revenue and a surplus from the last

Democratic administration.

Mr Cascella countered that the bypass road was delayed by a federally mandated

environmental impact study but is slated to begin next summer. And he said the

town's budget had won the approval of both the Board of Selectmen and the

Legislative Council, achieving his goal of meeting the town's needs while

holding down the tax rate. He said progress in economic development had been

made by rezoning Sandy Hook center, finalizing the sewer agreement with

Danbury, beginning the town sewer project and getting a traffic study grant

for the Exit 9 area through the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected

Officials, of which he is vice chairman. But the most important issue the town

has to deal with in the next two years is what will happen with Fairfield

Hills, and Newtown needs the continuity of the Republican leadership which

served on the Fairfield Hills Task Force, he said.

Unopposed Candidates

Board of Education: Because of the requirement that the six-member board

consist of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, all three incumbents

were reelected. They included Republicans Susan S. Hills and Charles S.

Nanavaty, and Democrat Peggy Ulrich-Nims.

Town Clerk: Incumbent Republican Cynthia S. Curtis.

Board of Assessment Appeals: Eleanor C. Mayer, Republican; Charles V.

Framularo Jr, Democrat.

Planning & Zoning Commission alternates: Republicans Patricia A. Linnell,

Thomas C. Paisley; Democrat Daniel C. Rosenthal.

Zoning Board of Appeals: Republicans Charles E. Annett III and Richard H.

Kessler Jr; Democrat Steven G. Berg.

Zoning Board of Appeals alternates: Democrat Earl J. Smith III; Republicans

Timothy J. Cronin and Pat J. Rosato.

Police Commission: Republicans James P. Reilly and William F. Meyer; Democrat

Gerald J. Frawley.

Board of Managers of Edmond Town Hall: Republican David E. Brown; Democrats

William A. Honan Jr and Birthe H. Melville.