Politics & Government

Flatto: Walsh is Fine

First Selectman has No Problem with Potential Republican Selectman; RTC to Formally Endorse Walsh in Coming Days

Democratic First Selectman Ken Flatto said today that he would have no trouble supporting Republican James F. Walsh, moderator of the Representative Town Meeting, as the town's new selectman if he were put forward as the nominee and had the backing of the Republican Party.

"I think Jim has certainly been a strong asset to the RTM," Flatto said, adding that if James Baldwin, chairman of the Republican Town Committee, wants him, Flatto, to put Walsh forward as the nominee and says Walsh is the Republican Party's choice, he was "happy to do it."

"I would be fine with Jim [Walsh], but I have to kind of let the process play out for a few days," Flatto added.

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Flatto said he hoped the Board of Selectmen could vote in two weeks on filling the vacancy on the Board of Selectmen that was created when Republican Selectman Ralph A. Bowley died April 10.

Baldwin reiterated today that Bowley wanted Walsh to succeed him and made his wishes known before he died.

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Baldwin said the RTC's executive committee, which is made up of district leaders of the 10 voting districts in Fairfield, would meet to formally make a recommendation in the coming days. "Jim Walsh is the top name and the top person identified based on Ralph Bowley's suggestion and desire," Baldwin said. "So far, the response has been understandably positive in support of Jim."

Flatto said he had spoken in the last 24 hours to several Republicans who had expressed interest in being on the Board of Selectmen in the past and that he wanted to "honor giving the activists in the Republican Party a chance to make a recommendation to myself and Sherri Steeneck." Steeneck, the second selectman on the three-member board, is a Democrat who filled a vacancy on the Board of Selectmen when Democratic Selectman Denise Dougiello passed away in July 2008.

Baldwin said he was pleased to hear that Flatto would honor the choice of the Republican Party and that the choice would be formalized with a vote by the RTC's executive committee in the coming days.

Republican sources said Walsh wouldn't have trouble securing the endorsement of the RTC's executive committee and that top Republicans were perturbed that Flatto talked to Republicans on his own about the vacancy when the two parties had a long-standing agreement, when a vacancy existed, to accept the recommendation of the party that needed to fill the vacancy.


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