Stevenson, Hagerty-Ross Get Town Committee Endorsement for Re-election

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson and Board of Education Chairperson Betsy Hagerty-Ross have both been endorsed for re-election by the Darien Republican Town Committee, which also gave its nod to some replacement candidates for this year’s election.

Republican

The GOP elephant, first shown here in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in the Nov. 7, 1874 issue of Harper\’s Weekly (Nast invented not only the Republican elephant, but the Democratic donkey).

Incumbents not on the list of candidates endorsed by the town committee: Selectmen Susan Marks and Gerald (Jerry) Nielsen, along with Board of Finance Chair Liz Mao.

Nonincumbent candidates for the Board of Selectmen this year are Spencer McIlmurray and Charles Koons Jr. Together with Jim Palen Jr., they are the only endorsed candidates who are not incumbents this year.

Here’s the full list of endorsed candidates (incumbents have asterisks after their names):

• First Selectman: Jayme J. Stevenson*
• Selectman; Spencer J. McIlmurray and Charles Alfred Koons, Jr.
• Town Clerk: Donna E. Rajczewski*
• Town Treasurer: Joan D. Hendrickson*
• Tax Collector: Kathleen M. Larkins*
• Board of Finance: James H. McLaughlin* and James Robert Palen, Jr. (who recently stepped down as chairman of the Republican Town Committee)
• Board of Education: Elizabeth (Betsy) Hagerty-Ross* and Sarah Schneider-Zuro*
• Board of Assessment Appeals: Richard P. Dolcetti*
• Planning & Zoning Commission: Susan Cameron* and Richard Allen DiDonna*
• Constables: Joseph Tarnowski* and Louis J. Calastro*

Although these are the candidates endorsed by the GOP Town Committee, the actual nominees will be chosen at a Republican Town Caucus, open to any registered Republican in town, to be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 27. The caucus takes place in Darien Town Hall Auditorium, 2 Renshaw Road.

The caucus will vote on the endorsed candidates together with any challengers who get petitions to the Republican Town Committee by the July 21 deadline. Republicans attending the caucus are asked to bring photo identification.

The town Democratic Party will hold its caucus at 8 p.m., Tuesday, July 28, in the same room.

Here’s the legal notice, as published on the Darien Republican Town Committee website:

Notice is hereby given that there will be a caucus of all enrolled Republican Electors of the Town of Darien on Monday, July 27, 2015, at 7:00 PM at Darien Town Hall Auditorium, 2 Renshaw Road, Darien CT 06820, for the purpose of endorsing 15 candidates for the following municipal offices:  First Selectman (1), Selectmen (2), Town Clerk (1), Town Treasurer (1), Tax Collector (1), Board of Finance (2), Board of Education (2), Board of Assessment Appeals (1), Planning & Zoning Commission (2), Constables (2).

The Darien Republican Town committee voted at its July 8, 2015 meeting to nominate the following candidates for endorsement by the caucus:   Jayme J. Stevenson for First Selectman; Spencer J. McIlmurray and Charles Alfred Koons, Jr. for Selectmen, Donna E. Rajczewski for Town Clerk; Joan D. Hendrickson for Town Treasurer; Kathleen M. Larkins for Tax Collector; James H. McLaughlin and James Robert Palen, Jr. for Board of Finance; Sarah Schneider-Zuro and Elizabeth Hagerty-Ross for Board of Education;  Richard P. Dolcetti for Board of Assessment Appeals; Susan Cameron and Richard Allen DiDonna for Planning & Zoning Commission; Joseph Tarnowski and Louis J. Calastro for Constables.

Please bring photo identification for attendance at caucus.

Other candidates for endorsement by the caucus may be nominated by petition by submitting to the Chair or the Secretary of the Darien Republican Town Committee not less than five (5) days prior to the date set for the caucus, a declaration of candidacy, which shall include the candidate’s name as it appears on the Town of Darien’s list of registered voters, the title of the office being sought, and the signatures of twenty-five (25) registered Republican Electors of Darien. There shall be no nominations from the floor of the caucus.  Candidates may not file petitions for more than one office. Such petitions must be submitted on or before Tuesday July 21, 2015 to Darien RTC Chair Karen Armour, 35 Fairview Avenue, Darien or to Secretary Laurie Williamson, 2 Tinywood Road, Darien.