Newsletter Volume 3 • Number 26
Election results confirm strong, consistent support for Dems in federal, state races
The red shift that gave Republicans a narrow win nationally on Election Day may feel like a wave, but in Greenwich the bigger election story is that we aren’t like the Greenwich of yore, or even of a decade ago.
Historically, Greenwich has voted consistently to the right of Connecticut and national voters in presidential elections by as much as 10 to 15 points. But 2024 confirmed a trend that first surfaced in 2016: Greenwich is now voting more blue than our state and nation as a whole.
Our residents not only convincingly voted for Democrat Kamala Harris for president (57%), but also for Democrat Chris Murphy for Senate (56%), and Democrat Jim Himes for the House (57%). Moreover, Democratic state reps Meskers, Arzeno and Khanna together polled 51% of the Greenwich vote, although Khanna lost her re-election bid in the town’s most conservative district.
Democratic candidates’ attraction here extends well beyond the party. Although Dems are the largest political party in town by a few hundred people, both parties hover at around 29% of Greenwich voters each. The remaining 42% are unaffiliated or members of other parties. So, significant numbers of non Democrats have also shown their preference for Democratic national and state candidates.
Yet, Democrats remain perennial outsiders to town leadership
Interestingly, Greenwich’s decade-long shift toward Democratic candidates in federal and state elections hasn’t been mirrored in the vote for the two municipal offices where political party matters. In the past century, Democrats have only led the town’s powerful finance board (BET) for two years, from 2017-2019, and have only won the Office of the First Selectman for three terms, the last time in 2001.
The Democratic members on the current Board of Estimate and Taxation boast impeccable finance and investment experience. Past candidates for first selectman have raised children here and spent decades in town government. Democratic policies include improving our quality of life, while saving taxpayers money in common sense ways that are standard in nearly every other municipality but not practiced here.
It was a foregone conclusion that Greenwich would not change the course of this year’s national election. But if, like a majority in town, you chose Democratic policymakers with your vote in national and state elections, consider them for town office in 2025. After a century of nearly unbroken Republican rule, your vote in municipal elections next year would make an enormous positive difference right here. It’s high time for Democratic leadership in town.
Last week First Selectman Fred Camillo doubled down on the chaos and disruption he’s brought to the Board of Education (BOE). Dissatisfied that the Freedom of Information Commission would not expedite his complaint, he pushed the Board of Selectmen into filing for a restraining order against the BOE. How that would disrupt our district’s public schools was unclear to the Board of Selectmen or their attorney even as they agreed to seek one. (Democrat Janet Stone McGuigan voted no.)
The conflict began in October when Camillo attempted to put his own man onto the BOE, pal and campaign worker Paul Cappiali, even though the BOE had already voted in their choice, Republican Jen Behette.
Cappiali, a local liquor distributor, has no prior experience or demonstrated interest in education, and his marriage to a local teacher raises conflicts of interest because the BOE oversees teachers union contracts. His involvement in the St. Roch’s raffle would complicate a BOE vote on the use of school property for that fundraiser.
There were five other candidates considered by the BOE for the position, including highly qualified candidates such as former BOE Chair Joe Kelly, yet Camillo chose Cappiali without interviewing anyone else. Now he’s spending taxpayer money and disrupting the work of the BOE just so he can install his own pal.
The lawyer crafting Camillo’s legal strategy is Ben Bianco, the husband of former BOE Chair Karen Kowalski, who announced her departure from the board back in July. Now Bianco is profiting from the disruption caused by his wife’s departure, and the cronyism practiced by this administration gets a little uglier.
What we’re reading
Into the abyss?
Greenwich’s aging infrastructure, from our schools to our sewers, must be renovated over the coming years, but how we’ll finance critical town maintenance, and even already approved projects, hasn’t been identified. In a new editorial, Democrats on the town’s Board of Estimate and Taxation call on their Republican colleagues to work together to plan ahead. They write, “We believe the only way to avoid sharp tax levy increases in the future is to address this capital budget shortfall issue now. The longer we delay, the fewer options there will be to address what could be over a $16 million shortfall in 4 short years.” Read the editorial here.
| Volume 3, Number 26 • December 5, 2024 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |