Rebuttal to Richard Stowe Letter

To the editor - New Canaan Advertiser:

In announcing his bid for the First Selectman position Richard Stowe has come out of the gate leading with misinformation – not a quality that voters hold dear in elected officials. Mr. Stowe is quoted in a recent article (Stowe Qualifies for Line on Ballot - New Canaan Advertiser, September 27, 2007) as saying that both major parties “threw out their respective incumbent first selectman candidates. In fact all selectman were ousted”. The first point of fact is that Johnny Potts decided to step down and not run for the Selectman’s seat for personal reasons. He was not thrown out by his party. Mr. Potts was not even on the ballot at the Democratic Caucus where Sally Hines and Penny Rashin ran unchallenged. Stowe’s characterization is untrue and seeks to create a negative air of intrigue around Mr. Potts’ service to the town in order to help Stowe’s own cause. Not a flattering personality trait.

Stowe seeks to create further intrigue with a veiled comment about the Democratic team being “closely associated with the $13 million asbestos abatement project costs in the high school renovation project”. Well here he may have a point, albeit not the one he was trying to make. Neither Sally Hines nor Penny Rashin is responsible for the asbestos found at NCHS. Sally Hines has served on the Board of Education for over a decade and Penny Rashin has served on the NCHS Building Committee alongside Christine Wagner for several years. Ms. Wagner recently had a room named after her at NCHS to honor her service leading the committee while both Hines and Rashin have been praised for their integrity and service to the Town of New Canaan. Republicans and Democrats alike raised Sally Hines to the position of Board President where she has served on a successful bi-partisan body to improve education for our children.

Mr. Stowe seems to have developed some strong opinions about his opponents for office. With his focus on the environment, Mr. Stowe has JebWalker clearly in his sights; “The felling of 50-75 trees at Irwin Park earlier this year stunned many Town Council members…”. In seeking to paint the Democratic candidates with the same brush he would smear them with innuendo rather than fact. At least he is consistent. He would use innuendo to have us believe that he holds adequate credentials to run a $100 million budget. Stowe will work to do everything he can, according the Advertiser article. But alas, what can he do? The Board of Selectmen are charged with leading our town. That requires skill and experience. Mr. Stowe has demonstrated neither in his credentials or his platform – only an attempt to besmirch the reputation of the other candidates.

To give Mr. Stowe his due, he certainly has a voice and a point of view that should be heard. We do need to consider environmental stewardship as part of our overall town plan for the future, but that idea alone does not a First Selectman make. We need to have responsible stewardship for all of our resources in New Canaan – the environment is one part of the foundation.

I hope that Mr. Stowe will come back to the table with less divisive information and instead focus on concrete plans and a proactive campaign. I also hope that Mr. Stowe will unveil his strengths to us instead of trying to fabricate weaknesses in his opponents if he is to be taken seriously by New Canaan voters. Mr. Stowe – tell us why we should consider voting for you, not why we shouldn’t vote for the Republican or Democratic candidates.

Robert Doran