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The voters who gave Republican First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove a resounding victory over Democrat Mark Rabinowitz did so as well for the town’s legislative body, the Representative Town Meeting (RTM). For the second term in a row, Republicans won a 19 – 11 majority.
Branford’s voter turnout in the municipal election was a little higher than the state’s average, coming in at 39.1 percent. Turnout for Tuesday’s election, which traditionally is lower in non-presidential election years, came in at 32.7 percent statewide, the Secretary of the State’s office announced Friday. In 2013, the Branford municipal election turnout was 44.6 percent.
Branford’s Board of Selectmen will be led by Cosgrove, whose final count came in at 4,303 votes. His running mate incumbent Joseph E. Higgins Jr., drew 3,739 votes, and Jack Ahern, the town’s retired fire chief who ran for selectman, drew 3,077 votes, allowing him and not Rabinowitz to take the Democratic seat on the BOS. Rabinowitz drew 2,494 votes.
A similar pattern emerged in 2013 when Democrat selectman candidate Bruce Storm won more votes that Andy Campbell who ran for first selectman. Cosgrove won the top office two years ago. In 2011 Cosgrove won more votes running as a candidate for selectman than did Joy McConnell who ran for Republican first selectwoman. That was the first year that Cosgrove took his place on the BOS. Democrat Unk DaRos was elected first selectman and Campbell was elected selectman.
Lisa Arpin, the town clerk, was re-elected Tuesday as well. She won over Democrat Pam Knapp, a businesswoman from Short Beach. Arpin announced yesterday that the RTM’s organizational meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at Canoe Brook Senior Center at 8 p.m.
Joanne Cleary, a Democrat and the town’s tax collector, was cross-endorsed by both parties as she was in 2013. She won more votes on the Republican side (3,757) than she did on the Democratic side (2,893).
Here’s the RTM
The Republicans won five of the seven election districts in town: Districts 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The Democrats won two districts, District 2 in Stony Creek and District 3 in Short Beach.
A number of long-term RTM Republican members, including Dennis Flanigan, current moderator, Ray Ingraham, Republican majority leader, Frank Twohill, Jr., chair of the education committee and Peter Black, chair of Ways of Means, won re-election.
In the 1st District, Republicans Twohill, Jennifer Zambrano, Vincent Baglio, and David Wells won four of the six seats in the district. Democrat Clare Torelli was re-elected. Lisa Ahern, also a Democrat is new to the RTM. Maggie Bruno, who served the 1st District for a decade on the RTM, decided this time to run for treasurer on the Democratic ticket. She lost to Republican incumbent Michael T. Nardella, who once sat on the RTM as well.
In the 2nd District, Josh Brooks and Peter Hentschel, both Democrats, were re-elected as was Republican Jim Walker.
In the 3rd District, Incumbents Doug Hanlon and Ali Abulugma, both Democrats. were re-elected as was Black on the Republican line.
In the 4th District, Republican Robert Imperato, current chair of the Public Services committee, was re-elected along with newcomers, Louis A. DeSerio, Nikolas DeLucia. and incumbent James B. Stepanek. Jason Driscoll, who served on the RTM for the 4th District, did not run again in order to seek a seat on the Broad of Assessment Appeals. He won that seat over Democratic candidate Judith Freed.
On the Dems side, Adam Hansen, current clerk of the RTM, was re-elected, as was former RTM member Maryann Amore.
In District 5, Flanigan, Ingraham, Don Conklin, and John Leonard were re-elected as was Democrat Maryanne Hall. Leonard, an attorney, is the
RTM’s current parliamentarian.
In District 6, Ed Prete, Marc Riccio, and Anthony Alfone, chair of the Administrative Services committee, were re-elected as was Democrat Chris Sullivan, current minority leader of the RTM.
In District 7, Republican Robin Sandler, a former town counsel, was re-elected. He is the current chair of the Rules & Ordinances Committee. Republican Tricia Anderson, who was appointed to the RTM during the last term won her first election as did Lynda Mollow, who won the Democratic seat. Paula Gladdys lost her seat this time around.
Board of Education’s Newcomers
The news from the Board of Education (BOE) was that two incumbents, Mario Sabatini, vice-chairman of the BOE, and Ellen Michaels, both Democrats, lost their seats on the board. The Republicans pushed hard to elect two new Republican candidates and succeeded.
Sabatini, a retired business executive who began his career as a teacher, ran on the Democratic line. Newcomer Betsy Regan, a parent with children in the Branford schools who previously worked in public relations, was the sole Democrat elected to a six-year term. Regan drew 2,884 votes to Sabatini’s 2790 votes on the Democratic line. The Independent BOE candidate, Jacey Wyatt, received a total of 468 votes across the districts. Wyatt also ran for first selectwoman and for the RTM.
Incumbent Republican Joanne Borrus‑O’Neill, a nurse for 27 years, came in with the top numbers — 3,543 votes. She was followed by Republican Maria Ehrhardt, a newcomer, who has been a teacher for 17 years in the New Haven public schools. She is currently teaching high school business classes. Borrus‑O’Neill, Ehrhardt, and Regan will each serve six-year terms.
Republican Shannen L. Sharkey, a teacher, also new, unseated Michaels. Sharkey has 22 years of experience in education. She was a teacher in the Ansonia and New Haven districts, and was an assistant principal in the Oxford schools, where she currently serves as a curriculum developer.
Sharkey won a two-year term over Michaels, who was seeking a permanent seat on the board. Michaels was appointed last year to fill a vacancy when David Squires retired. She is a retired educator who worked as a speech and language clinician, an assistant principal, and a supervisor of special education, mostly in the Stratford school district.
The newcomers take their seats on the nine-member school board at a time when the BOE faces major town and education decisions regarding the renovation of Walsh Intermediate School. Click here to read the story.
Finally, all seven constables who ran for office were elected. They are Kyle Nelson, Dennis G. Nardella, Francis Walsh, Robert J. Zettergren, Nancy G. Gaylor, Eunice Y. Lasala and Rhoda Loeb.
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Could some explain what are the functions of the four constables we elected? Is it true we still have a constable of the "Case Western Reserve", a land stretched along the Canadian border all the way to Ohio, that was given to the Colony of Connecticut?