By Edward Dadakis
Sentinel Columnist
“All politics is local” declared former House Speaker Tip O’Neil. I don’t know many politicians who would disagree with him. In local Greenwich politics, after six years, there is change at the top of both the Democrat and Republican parties.
Republicans chose Stephen Walko, replacing the retiring Jim Campbell, as Chairman of their 57 member Republican Town Committee. Walko is the perfect Chairman to continue the RTC focus on defeating Democrats and espousing policies of fiscal restraint in Connecticut.
Walko, nominated by First Selectman Peter Tesei, is a townie and has engaged in local politics since his early 20s. First serving on the RTM, he chaired its Budget Overview Committee, rising to prominence on the Board of Estimate & Taxation where he developed an in-depth knowledge of town finances chairing its budget committee. With Tesei’s election as First Selectman, Walko succeeded him as BET Chairman.
Walko won election to the General Assembly (150th District) upon Lile Gibbons’ retirement. After one term his family moved outside the district making him ineligible for reelection. Yet he worked tirelessly to recruit Mike Bocchino and was the force behind Bocchino’s successful campaign.
More importantly Walko is simply a nice guy. A strong leader he doesn’t take himself too seriously and always reaches out to include and listen to others, a critical trait for a political leader.
Walko defeated Riverside RTC member Randall Smith. Smith was previously defeated by Campbell in 2014 garnering 22 RTC votes at the time. He failed to improve his position against Walko again receiving just 22 votes.
Smith ran an enigmatic campaign. With few political or governmental accomplishments to position himself for a leadership role he focused on party unity. The problem was that under Campbell the party had achieved historic success only marred by infighting between Republicans on the Board of Education and Smith was in the middle of those squabbles.
While Smith talked unity his practice was a little lacking. He failed to contact many RTC members (probably prejudging they weren’t voting for him) and topped his defeat off with an “invitation only” party right after the vote at a local watering hole making sure not to include Walko or most of the people who voted for Walko. Not much of a recipe for party unity.
Campbell leaves to Walko a strong local party. Under Campbell’s tenure the party, for the first time in a long time, elected Republicans to every possible office and maintained the GOP’s century long grip on state legislative seats. Campbell redeemed local Republicans from their 2008 embarrassment when Greenwich voters gave Barrack Obama a majority vote, only the second time Greenwich supported a Democrat presidential candidate.
On the Democrat side, BET member Jeff Ramer and Howard Richman vied to replace the bombastic Frank Farricker as DTC Chairman. A third candidate, Anthony Lopez, withdrew prior to the vote and on his way out lambasted his fellow Democrats for a number of ills.
Farricker leaves an interesting legacy. A strong quarterback for his team he worked hard spinning the Democrat message to the community in the most favorable light while attracting new party members. He deserves credit for fielding candidates for most offices during his tenure which is never easy especially when wins are difficult to achieve. But he also divided the DTC, barely winning re-election two years ago. Democrats never won a local election during his tenure and he attracted a lot of criticism, including from the most senior members of his party, over the selection of Marc Abrams as a state representative candidate who was forced to drop out amid allegations of sexual harassment.
Both Ramer and Richman are well regarded and would bring a different type of leadership to the DTC. On the BET, Ramer serves as Democrat caucus leader and advocates for Democrat priorities including increased debt on Greenwich citizens in exchange for more and grander capital projects. Richman has served on the RTM and has run for a number of offices including, last year, as Tax Collector. He lost to incumbent Republican Tod Laudonia but made the point that the position should be appointed not elected.
Ultimately Democrats selected Ramer by a vote of 37-27. Immediately, Richman pledged his support to Ramer and joined his team by staying on as DTC Treasurer. Now that shows party unity.
The parties are finished organizing so its off to the races in what promises to be an incredibly interesting Election 2016.
