McClure: ‘That’s A Lie’

DTC Chair: School Bd Thwarts Party Candidate Selection

By John Voket

A controversy is developing over how the Board of Education accessed names of one or more candidates the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) had interviewed as finalists for an interim opening on the school board. Democratic party leaders as well as First Selectman Herb Rosenthal are also upset the school board moved to fill the opening before the town committee’s full membership had an opportunity to endorse their top choice.

According to members of the DTC as well as others close to the issue, that top choice was Anna Wiedemann, a former school district employee who has also served in numerous volunteer capacities in the district and local PTAs for many years.

At its June 4 meeting, the school board skipped over that top recommendation to select the third choice of the DTC in its internal deliberations to fill its vacancy, Lillian Bittman.

On Tuesday, May 29, the DTC’s candidates committee narrowed a five-person field to three, according to the committee Chairman James McKenna.

Mr McKenna said once the three finalists were determined, he directed the town committee secretary to submit the name of their first choice, Ms Wiedemann, to the school board for consideration. The DTC secretary happens to be school board vice chairman, Lisa Schwartz.

Mr McKenna said it was the directive of DTC Chairman Earl Smith that the second and third choice candidates would only be offered to the school board if they voted to reject Ms Wiedemann. School board Chair Elaine McClure, however, said she had been told by Mr Smith that he would authorize the DTC to submit a minimum of three contenders for first consideration, a contention Mr Smith vigorously denied.

“I had a long talk with Elaine [McClure], and I did not promise her three names,” Mr Smith told The Bee Wednesday.  “…this is clearly a case of a Republican chair of the Board of Education manipulating a democratic process that has been successfully serving our community for decades.”

When contacted about Mr Smith’s assertion Ms McClure simply replied: “That’s a lie.”

“He must be getting tremendous pressure,” Ms McClure said. “[But] my integrity is on the line, too.”

Mr Smith said his town committee, as well as his Republican counterparts, had always subscribed to a process by which the major parties are afforded the opportunity to refine and produce individual recommendations for open seats on elected and appointed boards. Except for one or two variances to that practice over the past 30-plus years, the first selectman takes that town committee recommendation to the full Board of Selectman for consideration.

The only other considerations, by charter stipulation, are over interim appointments to fill Legislative Council vacancies, as well as a provision that permits the school board a 30-day window to consider and seat a candidate for any interim vacancies. Town Clerk Cindy Simon confirmed that after that 30 days pass, the first selectman may then appoint the interim school board member.

This case becomes more complicated because of conversations that were said to have occurred between Mr Smith and the first selectman, and a subsequent conversation that Mr Rosenthal said he had with Ms McClure. Mr Smith said he appointed Mr Rosenthal to act on his stead while the DTC chair was out of state on personal matters two weeks ago, in requesting the school board hold off on interviewing or seating an interim replacement before the town committee could vote on a single recommended candidate.

Mr Rosenthal, Mr Smith, and Mr McKenna all said that Ms Wiedemann enjoyed the support of at least 75 percent of the full town committee, and was the majority choice of the candidates subcommittee as well. The full DTC was scheduled to meet to make that recommendation June 19.

Ms McClure said she and the school board were anxious to fill the seat on or before June 13, the 30th day after Ms Simon officially received the resignation of Thomas Gissen.

Mr Gissen resigned the school board after being cited, along with his wife and eight guests, for alcohol-related infractions at a post-prom party held at the Gissen home May 5.

“We did what Ms Simon said the charter directed us to do,” Ms McClure said of the decision to quickly fill the interim school board post. “And June 4 was the only time our board could meet.”

Ms McClure further pointed out that the charter does not compel the school board from acting on, or receiving input from, the town committee. But according to Mr Smith, that has been the widely accepted practice of both major parties during his 37 years serving the local Democratic party.

Another concern of party leaders involves DTC candidates committee member David Nanavaty, also a school board member, who admitted to providing the names of all three school board finalists and the resumes they submitted to the town committee to Ms McClure.

The other finalist in the DTC’s deliberations, according to committee sources, was Julie Luby.

 Mr McKenna said he never authorized the distribution of town committee materials and proprietary information about the subcommittee’s second and third backup choices to the Board of Education.

“During our meeting Mr Nanavaty said we were supposed to give the school board three choices. And I specifically told him if they didn’t like the first choice, then we will send them another,” Mr McKenna said. “Then I got a call from Lisa [Schwartz] saying Earl said to send them three people, and again I said we would send one at a time. They didn’t give Anna a chance.”

Mr Smith confirmed that in this instance, he insisted on recommending only one choice, Ms Wiedemann, to fill the vacancy. A call to Ms Schwartz for comment was not returned by press time Thursday morning.

“Elaine asked us to interview others besides Anna,” Mr Smith said, adding that he told Ms McClure that Ms Wiedemann would be the likely choice within days of Mr Gissen’s resignation.

“It was quite clear during that first conversation that Elaine was not interested in Anna, because she said ‘don’t be in any hurry’ to appoint her, and that we should wait and research more candidates,” Mr Smith said. “What are we supposed to be, well trained dogs — do what they say or [the school board] will do what they want to do and get their own names?”

Mr Rosenthal agreed, saying the school board should not dictate to the DTC the way to recommend or provide interim candidates.

“Her sole recommendation was not political. Anna is a strong supporter of the education system; her approach is always factual and unemotional,” Mr Rosenthal said. “She sticks to the facts of the issues, is a hard worker, and would be a great asset to any board or commission.”

Mr Rosenthal added that the school board’s pick, Lillian Bittman, has only been a registered Democrat since May 24, which was also confirmed by the registrar’s office.

“[Ms Bittman] has no history with the party or any previous involvement in the process,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Republican finance board chairman and Republican Town Committee member John Kortze said the school board ignored the fact that the town committees exist in great part to recommend and help put the best people as possible into political offices.

“They don’t want Anna near the Board of Ed because she thinks on her own,” Mr Kortze said. “But in today’s environment, you might want someone with her level of experience and understanding of the town’s educational system. What we saw this week was the school board chair [who] called an executive [closed] session and chose to move forward with a process outside the traditional and established norm of operations.”

Mr Nanvaty said despite providing the three names and resumes to the school board, that he conveyed Ms Wiedemann was the subcommittee’s top choice. He said he also asked the school board to not vote on a final candidate until speaking with Mr Smith.

Ms McClure said she called Mr Smith from the deliberations June 4 but could not get through to him. After leaving him a voice mail, Ms McClure proceeded to lead the school board in further discussion that led to the vote seating Ms Bittman.

In an e-mail received Thursday morning, school board member Andrew Buzzi, Jr, said in the case of filling vacancies on the school board, its elected members become the people’s representatives in electing (by vote) a person to replace the vacated seat. He said it is proper that the people’s elected representatives on the Board of Education elect replacement members of the board for the short, interim period to the next election. 

“Given that responsibility, and the fact that people should have a choice when filling every elected position, the BOE felt it was necessary to interview more than one candidate for the position, and in fact interviewed three,” Mr Buzzi said. “This gave the people a choice, through their representatives, instead of single appointment by a political party.”