Fairfield Firefighter Makes Deadline for GOP Caucus

A Fairfield firefighter who announced his candidacy for first selectman in the comments' section on Fairfield Patch late Monday met the required July 5 deadline to be listed on the ballot in the Republican Party's July 19 caucus.

James Baldwin, chairman of the Republican Town Committee, said Tuesday that Hugh Dolan sent him an e-mail asking to be on the ballot and that Dolan's e-mail arrived before the deadline to be on the ballot.

Dolan joins Robert B. Bellitto, Jr., vice chairman of the town's Board of Finance, and David M. Becker, a District 1 member of the Representative Town Meeting, as declared Republican candidates for first selectman.

Becker said Tuesday that he's not opposed to Dolan participating in a debate on Monday in Fairfield Public Library that originally was to be between him and Bellitto.

"He's an announced candidate. I don't think we have a choice," Becker said. "He announced, and I think that he's very, very late to the race. He entered the race at the very, very last minute."

"The bottom line is, if you're an announced candidate, that's the process," Becker said of who can be in the debate.

Bellitto said he wasn't opposed to Dolan taking part in the debate if he's filed paperwork with the state. "It shows that you're serious. It shows that you're legitimate," he said, adding that the paperwork filing was "an absolute required first step for any candidate."

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Dolan said he'd file any paperwork that is required and that he didn't think the Republican Party would try to prevent him from participating in the debate, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday in the downtown library.

Dolan, a firefighter for 20 years and father of eight children, said he waited until nearly the deadline to ask to be on the ballot because he was waiting for "a Republican to stand up with the right platform."

"No one stood up," he said.

In a news release announcing his candidacy that was e-mailed to the media Monday night, Dolan said the town was in need of a “1776-style revolution, a revolution where the interests of those who have built the town and made it a wonderful place to live and work is protected and guarded."

He said in the news release that Fairfield's residents and property owners are "taxed out and fed up."

“All the citizens — the taxpayers, our seniors, our residents and businesses need a break!" Dolan says in the release. “They need to know that the town is headed by someone who is working hard for all of them, and will balance all their interests in preserving the values of our homes, our schools, and our entire community. The taxpayers and residents of Fairfield have not crowned a group of people with the divine right to tax away their earnings — and enslave their children under piles of debt."

Dolan, who said he was a 2010 candidate for state comptroller on the Independent Party of Connecticut ticket, was critical of both the Board of Finance and RTM, on which Bellitto and Becker serve, respectively, saying in the news release that the Board of Finance hasn't been doing its job and the RTM has been "big time snookered."

Dolan's priorities as first selectman, as identified in the news release, are to:

• Prevent any contract from being approved by any town body which would commit or expose the town to expenses over $500,000. This low threshold, Dolan says in the release, is absolutely needed because the Town Charter currently allows too much wiggle room in spending to protect the taxpayers;
• Immediately freeze current spending levels and roll back, wherever possible, all spending to 2010 levels;
• Immediate review of all capital spending programs to eliminate, modify or reduce every program to negate the need for further bonding;
• An immediate operational audit of all departments and agencies receiving taxpayer money to reduce costs and expenses and improve operating returns. The audit would be properly managed and conducted with full input of employees and stakeholders at all levels, and the findings and savings are to be real, practical and implemented;
• Channel the savings achieved through these, and other savings opportunities to be identified, to eliminate the bonded indebtedness of the town (currently requiring $27 million a year in payments);
• Development of a Citizen’s Advisory Board, which will meet regularly, and obtain input, suggestions and comments on all new projects, programs and anticipated contracts from residents, citizens and taxpayers.

A photo of Dolan wasn't available as of late Tuesday afternoon.