Darien Republican Town Committee

Darien Republican Town Committee Now Accepting Applications for Elected Offices

Republican Town Committee Elects Brent Hayes Chairman & Other New Officers

Parting Shot: Current Republican Town Committee Blasts 2 GOP Selectmen

Overturned: Five in Leadership of Darien Republican Town Committee Voted Out

Will the Fur Fly at Monday Night’s Republican Town Committee Vote?

Here Are the Candidates for Election to the GOP Town Committee at Monday’s Caucus

GOP Town Committee Releases List of Endorsed Candidates for 2016 Committee, Caucus on Jan 11

LEGAL NOTICE: Republican Caucus Meets Jan 11 to Vote on Town Committee Members

Apply to Be a Member of the Darien Republican Town Committee

Darien Republican Town Committee Platform: These Are Our Key Priorities

Joe Miceli, Rob Werner, Chris Noe, Spencer McIlmurray Return Petitions for Fall Election

Letters: First Selectman and GOP Town Committee on Caucus

Decision Time Monday Night for Darien Republicans: Which 2 Selectmen Candidates to Nominate?

Selectman Susan Marks Says She’s a Team Player on a Successful Board

Selectman Candidate Kip Koons Says He’s Experienced in Business and a Team Player

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The Darien Republican Town Committee is now accepting applications for these positions: The Board of Selectmen, town treasurer, tax collector, town clerk, Board of Finance, Board of Education, Board of Assessment Appeals, Planning & Zoning Commission, and constables. The Darien RTC plans to conduct interviews at its next meeting on Wednesday, June 14, at the Darien Town Hall. If you are a registered Republican in Darien and are interested in one of these positions, please complete an application (found on the”Get Involved” page of the Darien RTC website) and submit it no later than Friday, June 9, to Brent Hayes, Darien RTC Chair, at darienrtc@yahoo.com. — an announcement from the Darien Republican Town Committee

Brent Hayes, a Republican Town Committee member who also serves on the Representative Town Meeting, was elected the new chairman of the RTC on Wednesday, as a new slate of officers was chosen to run the town Republican Party. Hayes, a resident of Overbrook Road in District 1, nominated two vice chairmen — Chris Taylor and Seth Morton. Also among the just-elected officers: Jacqueline Calabro as secretary; Bert von Stuelpnagel, re-elected as treasurer; a deputy treasurer, David Brown, was also elected. A total of 17 members of the committee were present for the voting, and all votes were unanimous (except for Steulpnagel’s 16-1 vote — he must have voted to abstain in his own election, members guessed). Hayes thanked departing Chair Karen Armour “for everything you’ve done for the past year-plus, and it’s not just that, it’s work on the RTM [Armour is a former moderator of the RTM].

A month after two Republican members of the Board of Selectmen campaigned against five sitting members of the Darien Republican Town Committee, the RTC sent a letter to the selectmen criticizing them for it. Selectmen Kip Koons and Susan Marks had sent messages to various people indicating that five candidates for re-election to the RTC should not be re-elected, and at the town GOP Caucus, where many Republicans came to cast their ballots, those five received the fewest votes, resulting in their removal from the committee as of March, when the newly elected committee’s term starts. “The circulation of material specifically and negatively targeting individuals by name is inappropriate for our town,” the letter reads in part. “Its precedent contradicts the chief purpose of the RTC to encourage and elect or appoint volunteers. We should be guided by basic and necessary civility in process and procedures lest we compromise volunteerism as an essential feature of our town.”

When the results of Monday night’s Darien Republican Caucus were read out to an auditorium with few but the candidates still present, the top 21 vote-getters who won seats on the Town Committee did not include five members who were in leadership positions. RTC Chairman Karen Armour didn’t make the cut; nor did Vice Chairman Vin Burke; nor Secretary Laurie Williamson; nor Publicity Chair Nanci Natale; nor Recruitment Chairman Malcolm Hall Jr. (Treasurer Bert von Steulpnagel was re-elected, one of two candidates with the fourth-highest vote total.)

All eight petitioning candidates were elected: James Demark, Belinda Bewkes Metzger, Jane Nedder, Alexander Davidson, Christine Simpson Stone, Walter Cusick Donovan, Thomas Bell and Jacqueline Calabro. Candidates for seats were asked to stay in the Town Hall Auditorium to hear the results and sign a statement that they had heard them. After thie vote was announced, at about 9:30 p.m., the room was, for the most part, very subdued, apparently in respect for the members who didn’t win election. One person waved and gave a brief shout, and that was about it.

Selectmen Kip Koons and Susan Marks are said to be asking Republicans to avoid voting for five members of the Republican Town Committee leadership at tonight’s GOP Caucus. Nanci Natale an RTC member and head of publicity for the committee, posted a copy of Koons email on her Facebook timeline. His email, according to another source who confirmed the Natale text was accurate, said in part:

“I believe that it is critical to make changes to the current leadership of the RTC so as not to repeat the debacle of last July. Instead, we need to elect residents who better represent all Darien Republicans, who have the town’s common good as their primary focus and who are committed to work together with transparency and honesty.” Koons attached to the email a list of all candidates with five names of RTC members in the leadership crossed out: Chair Karen Armour, Vice Chair Vin Burke, Secretary Laurie Williams, Natale (publicity chair) and Malcolm Hall (recruitment chairman).

Eight more candidates have stepped forward for seats on the Darien Republican Town Committee, to be elected at Monday night’s GOP Caucus in Town Hall. These are the candidates with their addresses and districts (in order of district):

James J. Demark — District 1 — 57 St. Nicholas Road

Belinda Bewkes Metzger — District 1 — 36 Ox Ridge Lane

Jane R. Nedder — District 1 — 7 Dew Lane

Alexander Davidson — District 2 — 71 Delafield Island Road

Christine Simpson Stone — District 3 — 37 Stephanie Lane

Walter Cusick Donovan — District 5 — 57 Fairfield Ave. Thomas G. Bell — District 5 — 37 Fairfield Ave. Jacqueline A. Calabro — District 6 — 6 Tulip Tree Lane (Calabro already sits on the committee but had not participated in the process to get the nominating committee’s endorsement, RTC Chair Karen Armour said.)

The GOP Town Committee’s nominating committee for the caucus had already endorsed 18 candidates for seats (see list below).

Darien’s Republican voters are invited to the Republican caucus on Jan. 11 that will pick members of the Republican Town Committee, either accepting the RTC’s endorsed candidates or voting in others. The list of 18 candidates endorsed by the RTC (the full list is at the end of this article) includes veterans on the (nonpartisan) Representative Town Meeting — Karen Armour, the current chairman of the RTC (and former moderator of the RTM), along with RTM members Seth Morton, Nanci Natale, Bert von Stuelpnagel and Frederick Conze, who is also the former chairman of the Planning & Zoning Commission. The legal notice for the meeting was published Monday by Darienite.com, here. A previous GOP caucus, which met on July 27, overwhelmingly rejected some candidates that the RTM had endorsed for seats on the Board of Selectmen.

[The following legal notice is paid for by the Darien Republican Town Committee.]

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that there will be a Caucus of all enrolled Republican Electors of the Town of Darien at 7:30PM on January 11, 2016 at the Darien Town Hall Auditorium, 2 Renshaw Road, Darien, CT 06820. This Caucus is called exclusively to endorse candidates for the Darien Republican Town Committee. No other business shall be in order. The Caucus will endorse candidates to serve on the Darien Republican Town Committee (“RTC”) for the 2016 to 2018 term. Candidates to be proposed for endorsement at the Caucus are listed below with their voting district:

Karen A. Armour, District 6

David Anthony Brown, District 5

W. Vincent Burke, District 4

Frederick B. Conze, Disrict 1

Bonnie Frate Dora, District 6

Mary Forman Flynn, District 2

Malcolm Hall, Jr., District 2

Joseph H. Hardison, III, District 4

Brent Thomas Hayes, District 1

Charles A. Koons, III, District 1

Douglas J. McKay, District 4

Seth W. Morton, District 3

Nanci R. Natale, District 6

Raymond D. Slavin, District 6

Christopher H. Taylor, District 6

Bert H. von Stuelpnagel, District 1

Laurie E. Williamson, District 3

David Carey Woll, Jr., District 2

Other candidates for endorsement by the Caucus may be nominated by petition by submitting to the Chairman or the Secretary of the 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.

The Darien Republican Town Committee (RTC) Nominating Committee seeks applications from individuals interested in running for the new RTC, which is to be elected at a caucus on Jan. 11. To be a member of the RTC you must be a registered Republican in the Town of Darien. Applications must be received by Tuesday December 15, 2015 for review by the Nominating Committee. Those interested should send their completed applications to info@darienrtc.com no later than Monday, December 14th.

Keeping local control and using town resources efficiently are among the “key priorities” in the 2015 election platform just issued by the Darien Republican Town Committee. The committee also urged voters to support its candidates in the Nov. 3 election in the following announcement:

The Darien Republican Town Committee endorses an excellent list of candidates who
exemplify the Republican Town Committee Platform as follows:

The Town of Darien is a mature, fully developed community consisting of several local commercial districts, a wide variety of low to higher density residential sub communities, a top grade public educational system, and a recreational infrastructure that
includes public beaches and parks as well as several private club facilities. As
the Town has evolved over many years, so has its utility and traffic infrastructure
much of which has been sized to accommodate existing residential density,
commercial development and transit related issues. Key priorities:

Maintain local control and efficient use of town resources;
Continue to actively engage with the newly formed regional Council of Governments;
Maintain the residential design and architecture of the town consistent with the Town
Plan of Conservation and Development and the zoning regulations;
Promote value-added redevelopment of outdated commercial, retail and residential
properties;
Promote the highest educational standards in our public schools including those
for special needs children;
Maintain and enhance existing town property resources consistent with community
needs;
Maintain and enhance Darien’s financial health and access to capital resources;
Promote a variety of residential housing for the community, including affordable
housing, consistent with the town’s zoning regulations and infrastructure
capacity.

Three candidates have returned petitions to be on the November ballot as independent candidates for first selectman, and a candidate who bid for the GOP nomination for selectman has also returned petitions. There also may be a GOP primary, if one candidate — Joe Warren — who asked for petition forms returns them by the deadline. Warren lost his bid in the Republican Caucus to be the party’s endorsed candidate for a seat on the Board of Selectmen. Rob Werner, Joe Miceli and Chris Noe have all returned signed petitions to be candidates for first selectman, challenging incumbent Jayme Stevenson, who has the Republican nomination. Miceli is a former member of the Board of Selectman; Werner and Noe have run for office before.

Two letters to the editor: One from First Selectman Jayme Stevenson (which came in first), the other from Republican Town Committee publicity chairs on the recent caucus and GOP candidate slate:

From Jayme Stevenson, first selectman:
Dear Editor,

Monday night’s Republican Caucus was memorable in many ways. More than 320 Darien Republicans came out on a hot summer night and casted their vote for an outstanding slate of Republican candidates, including my Selectmen teammates Susan Marks and Kip Koons. Susan, Kip and I are eager to hear the thoughts and concerns as we work to earn your vote on Nov. 3. It takes a solid team that’s committed to listening to our residents and business owners, and one that works together to keep our town well managed, open to opportunity, fiscally responsible and dedicated to maintaining Darien’s superb quality of living. It’s also an honor and privilege for me to have earned the caucus endorsement and run for a third term as your First Selectman.

There are four sides to this political contest in the Darien Republican Party, and every registered Republican in town can have a say in it by showing up at tonight’s GOP caucus in Town Hall. Four candidates for the Board of Selectmen are vying for two available seats. Selectman Susan Marks, who’s worked closely with First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, wants to be renominated for a second term. She didn’t get that at the last meeting of the Republican Town Committee, which chose Kip Koons and then Spencer McIlmurray as the two endorsed candidates. Former Selectman Joe Warren also applied for an endorsement, was rejected and — like Marks, submitted petition signatures to be considered in the 7 p.m. Republican Town Caucus.

A large part of the job of any selectman working with a first selectman in her own party is working cooperatively on the board together, and while other candidates may indicate they want to do that, Selectman Susan Marks has already been doing it for more than 18 months. A 26-year resident of the town, Marks says her strengths include being able to listen well and work cooperatively with others. “I think this current Board of Selectmen has worked extremely well together,” Marks said in a recent interview. “I think Jayme has done an excellent job as far as bringing the board together to get consensus.” Last winter, the board’s first budget vote was 3 to 2, with Democrats on one side, the GOP members on the other, she said.

« August 2022 »

Kip Koons (Charles A. Koons), was recruited to run for selectman by First Selectman Jayme Stevenson and Susan Marks, and all three are supporting each other as a (currently unofficial) ticket for the GOP Caucus on Monday night. The business consultant and just-about lifelong resident (he moved to town as a young child), said he was speaking with Stevenson after an April meeting of the Board of Selectmen in which state Sens. Bob Duff and Carl Leone gave the board what he considered a weak response to local concerns about state meddling in what are traditionally town concerns like zoning in the business districts. “My first task is to assist First Selectman Jayme Stevenson in maintaining a lean, responsible form of government,” Coons said in a recent interview. He then quoted from his statement to the Republican Town Committee on the night he was endorsed.