The Darien Democratic Caucus on Tuesday night put forward no candidate for first selectman or any other elected executive post in town government, but did endorse Robert Richards and Marc Thorne for Board of Selectmen.
The Democratic Caucus endorsed Diana Maguire for a new term on the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen candidates Marc Thorne and Robert Richards.
The meeting, which started shortly after 8 p.m., drew a total of 21 Democrats and made its endorsements without any dissenting votes or objections.
Kevin Cunningham was endorsed for another term on the Planning & Zoning Commission and Diana Maguire, already a member of the Board of Finance, for a new term on that board. Likewise, Katherine Stein was endorsed for another term on the Board of Education.
The party did not put up any candidates to contest seats with the Republicans. Richards and Thorne can expect to sit on the Board of Selectmen and Cunningham and Maguire can expect to sit on their boards, because of the state’s rules on representation of minority parties on local boards and commissions.
First Selectman Jayme Stevenson will have no opposition from a Democratic Party endorsed candidate, nor will any other Republican holders of offices — for town treasurer, town clerk, tax collector or constable.
Republican nominees for the Planning & Zoning Commission, Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen and Board of Education are also without Democratic Party opposition.
Some candidates have decided to run for office without party endorsement: Rob Werner has submitted petition signatures to be a candidate for first selectman, and the petition has been accepted, according to a report in the Darien Times. Joe Micelli, a former member of the Board of Selectmen, and Chris Noe, a candidate in the past, have also applied for petitions to be on the ballot for first selectman.
Both Democrats now on the Board of Selectmen — Christopher “Kip” Hall and E. Reilly Tierney — decided not to run for re-election.
“The decision was purely theirs,” said David Bayne, himself a former selectman and the vice chairman of the town Democratic Party. Bayne is serving as interim chairman of the party but says he doesn’t expect to stay in the position. “They’ve done a wonderful job as selectmen for the town of Darien,” Bayne said. “We should all be proud of them.”
Thorne, a town resident for almost 40 years, has been a member of the Representative Town Meeting for 30 of them and is a long-time member of the Finance and Budget Committee. He is retired from IBM and is a past chair of the Democratic Town Committee. His wife is Barbara Thorne, a former Darien High School teacher and town official. They have two grown sons.
Richards is president and creative director of Pin Design Inc. and moved to Darien in 2008. He and his wife have a daughter, 9, and a son, 5. [It appears this reporter interviewed his son, Rhys, two years ago for Darien Patch, as seen in this video and this one. Rhys, in particular, was so cute that he inspired the second video.]
The Board of Finance endorsed candidate, Diana Maguire, already sits on the board, filling out a term for Gwen Mogenson, who resigned last winter when her husband retired and the couple decided to spend much of the year in Colorado.
Maguire has worked for 20 years in finance and banking and for another nine years in the institutional relations department of AmeriCares in Stamford, where she helps raise funds from corporations.