In Explaining NICE Party Problems –

Piesner Critical Of Newtown’s ‘Culture Of Arrogance’

By Steve Bigham

The NICE Party conducted a press conference Tuesday morning to officially announce what had been known for weeks: eight of its members had withdrawn their candidacies for town office. In doing so, the party fired off a few parting shots and vowed its return two years from now.

Party leader Barry Piesner read a lengthy statement outlining his view of the events that led to the withdrawal of the candidates. While he accepted some of the blame, he put most of it on the shoulders of what he called a “culture of arrogance” among the town leaders who, he said, are not open to change and refuse to provide voters with choices.

“A short time ago, democracy met politics on the front steps of Newtown Town Hall and democracy lost,” Mr Piesner said.

The saddest thing of all, Mr Piesner said, was that Newtown voters will have very few choices when they go to the polls in November. Mr Piesner had planned on being a third-party candidate for first selectman and had succeeded in lining up several other candidates. Those plans came to a crashing halt as summer drew to a close.

In late August, Town Clerk Cindy Simon acknowledged that she suspected irregularities in the petition Mr Piesner submitted in order to get his party on the November ballot. As required by law, she reported her suspicions to state election officials. A subsequent investigation by the state revealed that Mr Piesner was in violation of state election laws.

Mr Piesner admitted in a September 7 consent order that some of the people whose signatures appeared on the petition did not sign their names in his presence. That meant that he had not witnessed all the signatures on the petitions, a violation of state election law. Mr Piesner referred to the violation as a “minor technicality.”

Mr Piesner acknowledged that he waited until the last minute to collect the required signatures, adding, “What occurred was an innocent situation. We were out of time. We did what we could. It was an error on my part.”

The violations occurred when some people who had signed the candidacy petitions also signed the names of their spouses on the petitions in their spouses’ absence.

State election law requires that a petition circulator watch each person sign the petition, and that the circulator either personally know the identity of each signer, or receive appropriate identification from the signer. Mr Piesner swore in a signed statement on the back of the petition that he had done so. He later claimed that he had not read what he was signing.

Mr Piesner, who was fined $200 for falsely authenticating invalid petition signatures, this week accused the town clerk of being “politically oriented” and has stated that she was not helpful of giving him direction on how to handle the petition drive.

“Mrs Simon made it her business to release information about this process to the local newspapers even though the investigation she initiated was still being processed by the Elections Commission,” Mr Piesner said. “Is this the role of the town clerk?”

In a letter to The Bee two weeks ago, Mrs Simon said it is the sole responsibility of the town clerk to ensure that all elections are conducted legally according to state law.

“These irregularities were not, in my opinion, `minor technicalities’ as Mr Piesner has asserted; they are very serious and could have resulted in greater penalties,” she said. “More importantly, these `minor technicalities’ compromised the election process in Newtown and that is not acceptable.”

Mrs Simon said she finds it interesting that she has been accused of going to “extra lengths” in an attempt to invalidate the petitions when earlier “Mr Piesner himself, after submitting the petitions, complimented my office’s professionalism and courtesies.”

Mr Piesner also took exception to Mrs Simon filing a complaint about a second NICE Party petition, which she found to be questionable. State officials ruled that petition was not in violation.

The NICE Party candidates who withdrew are: Barry Piesner, first selectman; Richard Haas, selectman; Kim Danziger, Paul Brautigam and Bryan Atherton, Planning and Zoning Commission; Robin Lozito Fitzgerald and Jay Higham, Board of Education; and Richard Dunseith, Police Commission.

NICE candidates still eligible to run are Richard Dunseith and Robert Hennessey, who are both seeking election to District 2 seats on the Legislative Council.