This years election is over except for the shouting. The First Selectman retained his seat and Jack Lewis and I round out the Board of Selectmen. The cross-endorsement seemed to do the trick with all of the cross-endorsed (Republican/Democrat) candidates victorious and the few Republican/Democrat candidates left on their own being defeated by the Sentinel candidates. The part more difficult than campaigning has begun and that is tending to the affairs of the Town. I look forward to the challenges ahead and hope that our elected officials work together to deal with them. A meeting of the Boards is in order in the near future to discuss what issues we have in common and also to discuss how we all can help implement the final recommendations of the Plan of Conservation and Development. The recommendations will require a tremendous amount of effort so we can implement the vision of the Townspeople as set forth in that document.
Thank you to all of you who participated in the election. The election results can be seen at this link - 2005 Election Results
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6 comments:
What happened to Ralph Tulis--knowledgeable spokesman for the POCD and apparent defender of Willington's rural character? And what happened to open space zoning for Willington?
Unfortunately, Ralph Tulis did not win a seat on the Planning & Zoning Commission. Ralph came in third in a five way race for two seats. He did very well considering he ran as a petitioning candidate. In his own way, Ralph was also a victim of the cross-endorsement as he beat all of the Democrat and Republican candidates on their own line but he could not overcome the combined vote.
As I was on the Plan of Conservation and Development Committee with Ralph for three years, I can whole-heartedly agree that he is a very knowledgeable spokesman for the Plan. As far as the rest of the questions, I would have to let Ralph answer those.
I'm pretty sure that cross endorsing is here to stay. It worked, didn't it?
Cross-endorsement did work to a certain extent; the republicrats were successful in getting rid of me.
My culmination of the past four posts is Willington's political problem is manifold.
Clearly, regardless of party, two distinct opinions exist as to the manner in which our town government operates.
One opinion is that only one party should control what happens in Willington.
The other opinion is that what happens in Willington is a cooperative effort by all people in town.
I subscribe to the second.
Willington does have a town meeting form of government which should and will be honored. It is the townspeople that have the decision on how their comminity will operate.
It does not help for one party to presume they control the town.
Comments by Jack Lewis show the attitude of A Sentinel Party, as he states in the Chronicle:
"The ideal would have been for Patton to be First Selectman, but we have control of the board..." "I can do my job full time, John (Patton) can do his job full time and we have control of the decisions,".
Somehow in all of that the people of Willington seem to be missing. It appears we do not count and have to go by what Jack and John (Patton) say we will do.
Next (in keeping with manifold) A Sentinel Party was not willing to meet with the townspeople after the election in a community setting with all people present. Instead they met on their own at a different location. This does not bode well for the town and only reinforces the belief of "we are better than you".
Regarding cross-endorsement I would agree it is here to stay. To reiterate, two factions exist in Willington with both factions crossing party lines.
Ralph Tulis is certainly a person I believe should hold a position on Planning and Zoning. It was a complete surprise to me that he did not retain a seat. I do not believe cross endorsement had any effect on his election.
As Ralph points out the P&Z now has a present to speak. This was instituted in the past two years as people became more interested in the workings of P&Z and our government in general.
Ralph is a man of integrity. I rest assured he will share his knowledge with the townspeople and P&Z without reservation.
Ralph will again become a member of our P&Z in the next election (only two years away) by his own merits.
Rob, it is basically simple, the town's people elected us. They know that John and I are accountable for our decisions and care about the people and their tax dollars and the will of the people. The town's people have control of Willington not a political party. Evidently the voters felt that we would represent them better than the republicrats. Read our mission statement, it is not just words, we put up accountable, creditable candidates. Also, who invited us to a community gathering after, and who held this community gathering? The gathering that we, the A Sentinel Party, has after each election is always open, infact, people have actually stopped just to see what we are all about!!
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