GOP Pick Bypassed

This time, Second Selectman Fran Walsh could not be swayed into voting for a candidate recommended by the Branford Republican Town Committee (RTC) for a commission seat.

Instead, he and First Selectman Anthony ​“Unk” DaRos, who constitute the Democratic majority on the Board of Selectmen, (BOS) chose their own candidate Wednesday night for a seat on Branford’s Police Commission. Kurt Schwanfelder, a Republican who served on the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) for 22 years, will fill the vacancy that was created with the December death of Bob Denhardt, also a Republican. Schwanfelder and Denhardt were old friends.

Third Selectman John Opie favored RTC candidate Rick Goodwin and abstained from voting for Schwanfelder. When Opie ran for first selectman on the Republican ticket in 2007, Schwanfelder was his running mate.

“They’re both good people,” Opie said in regard to the candidates. ​“They would both do a good job…One came through the process. One did not. We’ve been through this before.”

Walsh acknowledged that this is the second time in recent months that he and DaRos opposed an RTC candidate. Their actions in September touched off a political firestorm. At that time, a seat was open on the Board of Finance. When a vote was taken in October, Walsh made a last-minute change and voted in favor of the RTC candidate, Jennifer Aniskovich.

Schwanfelder had long wanted an appointment to the finance board and had gone through the RTC process seeking the nod. But the appointment eluded him on the RTC side. Had Walsh not changed his mind on Aniskovich, it is likely Schwanfelder would have been nominated by DaRos and Walsh to serve on the finance board. 

Opie argued that the process of selecting a nominee should rule. He called it a ​“time-honored tradition” to comply with a committee’s selection.

“I can’t say it happens all the time but it happens most of the time unless there is a tremendous reason not to. Frankly I don’t see the differential between the two of them that would cause the Democratic side to circumvent the work of the Republican nominating committee simply because they like this person better. If Kurt was interested he should have let the RTC know and he certainly would have been interviewed. He’d probably be the candidate before you tonight.”

At that, Walsh jumped in. ​“That’s a great recommendation,” he told Opie. Then Walsh told the 15 residents attending at the meeting: ​“This is one appointment in ten years that I am going to go against the RTC. In ten years. I’m going to do this, and I’m doing it with a good man.”

“Kurt is interested in this position. He has served the town well for many, many years. It is a perfect fit for him. He will be a good friend to the community and to the police commission,” Walsh said. 

DaRos said that Schwanfelder has served as both majority and minority leader of the RTM and currently serves on the town’s Board of Assessment Appeals. ​“We have not always agreed with one another,” DaRos said, ​“but we generally come out on the right side.” 

Reached at his home last night, Schwanfelder was happy to hear the news. ​“It will be an honor to serve. I will do my best as I have for many years to keep the best interests of the community at heart.”

Walsh made a point of stating that the town’s political committees simply make recommendations to fill board seats. ​“It is not a foregone conclusion,” he said, adding that the town charter gives the final vote to the board of selectmen. ​“I think if you want to change the charter and let the party committees appoint, that’s fine.” But at this juncture, he said, the appointment process rests with the board of selectmen. 

“I think he has served the community very, very well for many years,” Walsh said of Schwanfelder. ​“I think he will do the job supremely well.”

Walsh then made a motion to appoint Schwanfelder to the police commission. DaRos seconded it. 

Opie said Goodwin, a former chair of the RTC, came through the proper process of applying to the RTC and being interviewed for the position. He did not deny that Schwanfelder had the credentials for the position. Walsh and DaRos both said Goodwin was a fine candidate, but they preferred Schwanfelder.

RTC chair Ray Ingraham objected Wednesday night to Schwanfelder’s appointment to the Police Commission, stating he hadn’t contacted the RTC about the position. ​“Kurt knew we were advertising for this position.”

Walsh said: ​“I think there’s a rift and I don’t want to be involved in the rift.” The rift Walsh referred to was between Schwanfelder and Opie. While he and Opie ran together in 2007, they have had their differences, primarily over the way Schwanfelder felt he was treated in his efforts to get a seat on the Board of Finance.

Schwanfelder was a longtime member of the RTC but left in 2009, after he nominated Denhardt for the second selectman’s position. Opie and Denhardt ran for the town’s top positions. They lost to DaRos and Walsh. 

Ingraham observed that Town Hall did not alert the RTC that it had other plans for the position. ​“There was no contact. We sent in Goodwin’s name to Town Hall. There was no contact from you. We heard nothing. No response. No questions. Nothing.”

The Board of Selection is not required to accept a nomination or recommendation from the Republican Town Committee or the Democratic Town Committee, even though those committees do interview prospective candidates and decide who among the group to put forward.

Typically the BOS will reappoint a sitting board member regardless of party affiliation if that person has served well. For example, back in 2006 Opie, then third selectman, urged the BOS to reappoint Dan Bullard, a Republican who wanted to continue on the police commission. But Opie met resistance.

It soon became clear that former Democratic First Selectwoman Cheryl Morris and Second Selectman Richard Sullivan had decided to dump Bullard. Instead they appointed John Giordano, a friend of Cheryl Morris and her husband Bruce. Giordano, a Democrat, had become an unaffiliated voter so that Mrs. Morris could put him on the Police Commission.

Opie called Giordano ​“a Democrat in disguise.” and accused Morris and Sullivan of politicizing the board. But he was appointed anyway. The rearrangement of the 6- member board ran contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1929 State Act creating the Police Commission. The act says that ​“not more than three members” of the commission shall ​“at the same time be members of the same political party.” 

During the course of her two-year term in office Morris also nominated her husband Bruce for reappointment to the Police Commission. It took a while but eventually the commission’s political balance was righted to its 3 – 3 make-up. 

Morris attended the BOS meeting last night but made no comment.

In other business, the selectmen unanimously appointed two new Democratic members to the Representative Town Meeting. Tara Bartlett, an attorney, will fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Maryanne Amore; and Andrew Campbell, also an attorney, will take the seat vacated by Laurel Merrick.

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