Date: Fri 21-Jul-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-politics-Cascella-Fetzer

Full Text:

Political Season Not Off To A Good Start

Newtown has never been a very political town - not in the sense that

partisanship has any discernible impact on local policy. People here tend to

coalesce more around issues than political ideology. Notwithstanding what the

candidates say about themselves, there is nothing particularly "Republican"

about the work Bob Cascella has done the past two years as first selectman,

just as there was nothing particularly "Democratic" about Zita McMahon's

tenure in the office before him. So the biennial local elections always

present a challenge to the local parties: How do we draw distinctions between

ourselves? How do we draw voters in and give them a choice?

This year, that challenge seems especially daunting, particularly for the

Democrats, who at press time this week, still hadn't come up with a candidate

for first selectman. In past years, budget battles have brought elements of

the electorate into contention, mobilizing voting blocs, and giving political

candidates something to talk about. But this year as last, the budget passed

quickly and easily. People don't seem angry enough to change the status quo.

This week, when Gary Fetzer, the lone Democrat on the Board of Selectman, said

he would not be heading up the Democratic ticket this year for personal and

professional reasons. He suggested, however, that his party had been talking

to "several candidates" for the job. Yet, with local Democratic caucus just

five days away, none have ventured out into the limelight. If the town's

Democratic leadership does indeed have "several candidates" in mind, they

might draw more than a handful of people to their candidate selection caucus

on July 25 if they publicly identified them. Instead they have decided to

surprise rank-and-file Democrats with a ticket at the caucus without any

advance notice. That's hardly the way to generate interest and draw people

into the process.

The Republicans, on the other hand, may have a candidate for first selectman

in Bob Cascella, but they let the town down at their caucus this week by

opting to nominate candidates only for "safe seats" on the Board of Education.

Consequently, the local agency with the biggest budget and the power,

literally, to shape the future through the education of children, will

continue to be chosen by a handful of political leaders and not by the

citizens of the town. Two years ago, the GOP had the self-assurance and

courage to give the town a choice of school board candidates, and we applauded

them for it. Now, in presenting to voters what they call a "united front,"

they have taken this choice away from the town again.

In the post-Watergate era, politics has become a dirty word, but the root of

the word, polit , meaning citizen, reaches way back to the origins of

democracy in Greece. Politics is about people, and it can be an honorable

cause. In a political year, as this one is in Newtown, people should be drawn

into the process and not excluded from it. The actions of both the Republican

and Democratic leadership in town have done little this year to advance that

cause.