Candidates chosen for all offices for 2009 election

NORTH CANAAN — Democrats and Republicans held consecutive caucuses July 28, coming up with slates of candidates for the Nov. 3 municipal election that produced three contested slots, with one of those candidates potentially withdrawing. It also left no seats unsought.

The Board of Selectmen will see two incumbents running and a “new� face. Charlie Perotti will run for selectman on the Republican ticket, along with Doug Humes, who is seeking a 12th, two-year term as first selectman. Incumbent Susan Clayton is running for selectman on the Democratic line.

Incumbent Tom Gailes, the Democratic Town Committee chair, actually sought the Republican nomination for selectman.

Conceivably, he would have gotten his party’s nomination for first selectman, while hoping to get enough votes to win a selectman’s seat. The way elections work for that board, the number of votes each candidate gets, as well as party representation, all factor into the final makeup of the board.

The three-person board is required by state law to have at least one representative from each of the two major political parties; and the unsuccessful candidate for first selectman can win a seat as a regular selectman if he or she gets more votes than one of the other selectman candidates.

That was the case two years ago, when Clayton, then wrapping up her first term as a selectmen, lost her first selectman bid, but was able to win — in a tie-breaking recount — a seat as selectman, over Republican Henry Carley.

In an explanation to his fellow committee members, and later to the Republicans, Gailes said he does not want the top job.

“I became a selectman to get the depot project done. That was my focus,� Gailes said, referring to the rebuilding and renovation of Canaan Union Station, partly destroyed by a 2001 fire.

“It’s very close to completed now, but two years ago, I found out the funding [former Congresswoman] Nancy Johnson had got for us was not in Hartford as we thought, but stuck in Washington.�

Gailes described “jumping through government hoops,� and being required to contact 47 architectural firms in three states.

“We’re still in the midst of it, and I’m worried that it might be too much for someone else to come into the middle of. Everything has to be signed off on by a selectman, and I’d like to have the opportunity to finish that work.

“As a former restaurant owner in that building, I know how important it is to get the depot back up and running. Without it, this town is in trouble.�

But Perotti, the Canaan Fire Company’s former, longtime chief, was already nominated and is likely to be a popular candidate.

Eugene Kisielewski threw his hat in the ring and was nominated by the Democrats for tax collector. He will run against incumbent Jennifer Jacquier.

At Kisielewski’s urging, Dorothy Cecchinato accepted his nomination for treasurer. But Town Clerk Carolyn O’Connor pointed out that she is mid-term on the Board of Education, which could be a conflict of interest.

Cecchinato said she would have to think about it, and will wait on an opinion from the secretary of the state’s office. She can wait until 24 days before the election to withdraw.

Incumbent Treasurer Ned Gow will not run for re-election. The Republicans nominated Emily Minacci.

In the only other race, the Democrats will run Lee Baldwin and the Republicans Nancy O’Connor for the remaining two years of a Board of Finance term. The seat was held by the late Francis McGuire.

The Republicans also nominated Carolyn O’Connor for town clerk, Glenn Rogers for Board of Finance, Richard Greco and Karen Riccardelli for Board of Education, David Jacquier for Board of Assessment Appeals, Norman Tatsapaugh and Daniel Adam for Planning and Zoning Commission, Joseph Gullota and Martin McKay for Planning and Zoning alternate, John O’Connor for Zoning Board of Appeals, George Johannesen for Zoning Board of Appeals alternate and Marjorie Stevenson for library director.

The Democrats also endorsed Susan Warner and Shelley Veronesi for Board of Education, Laura Freund for Region One Board of Education representative, Steven Allyn and Matthew Devino for Planning and Zoning Commission, Louis Allyn and Matthew Freund for Zoning Board of Appeals, Brian Allyn for Zoning Board of Appeals alternate, and Stephanie Shearer and Kurt Stampfle for library directors.