The 18 Dems Who Will Choose an Interim First Selectman

If First Selectman Sherri Steeneck and Selectman James Walsh can't agree on who the interim first selectman should be by June 3, the question will be put to the following residents and elected Democrats:

* First Selectman Sherri Steeneck;

* Cristin McCarthy Vahey, District 6 member of the Representative Town Meeting and the RTM's minority leader;

* Joseph Gall, District 5 member of the RTM;

* Joshua Garskof, District 5 member of the RTM;

* Christopher M. McAleese, District 5 member of the RTM;

* Ruth A. Smey, District 5 member of the RTM;

* Ann Stamler, District 5 member of the RTM;

* Christopher J. Brogan, District 6 member of the RTM;

* Patti J. Dyer, District 6 member of the RTM;

* Sheila H. Marmion, District 6 member of the RTM;

* Jennifer Anne Hochberg, District 7 member of the RTM;

* Kevin L. Hoffkins, District 7 member of the RTM;

* Harold G. Schwartz, District 7 member of the RTM and the RTM's assistant minority leader;

* Eugene Short, town constable;

* Matt Waggner, Democratic Registrar of Voters;

* Sally E. Parker, alternate member of Town Plan and Zoning Commission;

* Linda Snelham-Moore, alternate member of town's Zoning Board of Appeals;

* Edward Cheffetz, alternate member of Zoning Board of Appeals.

These 18 Democrats are allowed to vote because they were all elected to the same terms on a town board or commission. Gall and Smey also are constables but they aren't eligible to vote from that position because they also are RTM members.

Democrats elected to boards or commissions that have staggered terms aren't eligible to vote for an interim first selectman. That rules out Democrats on the Board of Education, Board of Finance, and Board of Assessment Appeals, as well as regular members on the Town Plan and Zoning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals, according to an e-mail from Town Attorney Richard Saxl several weeks ago. Saxl said in the e-mail that a ruling from the Secretary of the State's Office about 20 years ago excluded justices of the peace from voting.

Former First Selectman Ken Flatto resigned from office on May 3 to accept a job in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration and the Town Charter gives Steeneck and Walsh 30 days from the date of Flatto's resignation to agree on an interim first selectman. Steeneck favors Board of Finance member Michael C. Tetreau, who was the unanimous choice of the Democratic Town Committee, but Walsh doesn't favor Tetreau because Tetreau is planning to run for first selectman in the fall.

The vote by the 18 Democrats probably won't be a surprise. Fourteen of the 18 eligible to vote are listed as members of the Democratic Town Committee on the DTC's website, though the membership list is for the 2008 to 2010 term.

Residents who disagree with the choice of the 18 Democrats could petition to have a special election to choose an interim first selectman, but the various timelines associated with having a special election bumps the date of the special election to within days of the Nov. 8 election and therefore would seem to be only a symbolic action.

Steeneck remains first selectman until either she and Walsh agree on an interim first selectman or, if they don't agree, until the 18 Democrats vote.

Tetreau is the only Democrat so far to file paperwork in the Town Clerk's Office to run for first selectman in the fall, and McCarthy Vahey is his running mate. The two Republicans who have filed paperwork are David M. Becker, a District 1 RTM member, and Robert B. Bellitto, Jr., vice chairman of the Board of Finance.