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

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:

Marks

Selectman Susan Marks

“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).

Kip

Selectman Kip Koons

Darienite called Koons and emailed him a copy of the email Natale posted. Koons said he doesn’t go on Facebook and couldn’t confirm he’d sent what was posted. He said he might be too busy to respond to it and, in fact, didn’t respond to the email. That’s why Darienite confirmed its contents with another source.

Part of an attachment sent by Selectman Kip Koons to some fellow Republicans, indicating (in red) who he hoped they would not vote for if they attended Monday night\’s GOP Caucus.

Eight candidates have petitioned to be candidates for seats on the RTC. All 21 of those seats will be up for election at the Monday night Republican Caucus, which starts at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall Auditorium.

Selectman Susan Marks also asked Republicans not to vote for the same five RTC leadership members, according to Natale and another source.

Earlier this year, the RTC did not endorse Marks for re-election as a member of the Board of Selectmen. Instead, the committee endorsed First Selectman Jayme Stevenson for re-election, Koons and Spencer McIlmurray.

Marks won her party endorsement back at a July caucus of the GOP and in overwhelming numbers — Marks received 274 votes; Koons, 239; McIlmurray, 59; candidate Joe Warren, 41. Then the three Republicans won in the November election. If Monday night’s meeting goes anything like the July caucus, the eight petitioning candidates will be elected and the RTC leadership would be changed.

Any change in leadership, if it happens, officially would take place in March, Armour said. That’s when new RTC terms begin.

Republicans crowd into a Town Hall hallway as they register to participate in the July Republican Caucus. Marks won the nomination for Board of Selectman with an overwhelming vote.

Armour said Monday that she’s proud of the work done during her term as RTC chair.

“We raised more money than the last couple of RTCs,” she said. “I’ve been on a lot of RTCs in my day … and it’s very unusual for an RTC to fill such a large number of seats [up for election] on boards and commissions.”

Armour said she thought elected officials campaigning to unseat RTC members was “very inappropriate.” Natale said she was incensed.

Armour also criticized the petition signatures of the eight petition candidates who are on the caucus ballot Monday night. “[People from] 44 families signed multiple petitions,” she said. “Seventy-five percent of signatures are from these 44 families,” indicating a very narrow group of supporters.

Darienite.com attempted to contact Susan Marks very late Monday afternoon and left a phone message.