GOP Candidate Details His Views On IPN Platform And Endorsement

By John Voket

Taking issue with a headline and a sentence in a Newtown Bee article in last week’s edition, Republican school board member and selectman candidate Paul Mangiafico responded this week with a letter to the editor and an interview. During a half-hour discussion, Mr Mangiafico addressed certain points of agreement and disagreement with a local political committee running independent petitioners against numerous fellow Republican, and Democratic, candidates.

The committee, the Independent Party of Newtown (IPN), can achieve minor party status in several elected positions if those petitioning candidates individually achieve a small percentage of total votes cast. In September, the IPN committee issued a release supporting and endorsing Mr Mangiafico, first selectman candidate and current councilman Joseph Borst, and Bob Mulholland, a Planning and Zoning Commission alternate seeking a seat on the full board.

In both his letter and in conversations with The Bee, Mr Mangiafico argued that while he fundamentally disagrees with aspects of the IPN platform, and he is not supporting or endorsing any of its candidates in exchange for the IPN endorsement, he is accepting that IPN support with no reservations.

“[The reporter] entitles the piece ‘Republican Candidates Accept Independent Support, With Reservations.’ I have no reservations in my acceptance of the IPN support. None,” Mr Mangiafico wrote in his letter to the editor.

Mr Mangiafico also pointed out that the juxtaposition of his comments and a description of the IPN platform in the September 28 Bee article incorrectly suggested that he rejects the notion of transparency and open government.

“Government must be accountable — I absolutely agree with that,” Mr Mangiafico said this week. He admitted that while any government’s system of checks and balances could be better, the system of “checks and balances [Newtown has] right now, are pretty good.”

“Besides, who is going to say they don’t agree with [a position on] transparent government,” Mr Mangiafico added.

Mr Mangiafico said during one of several meetings and conversations he held with IPN supporters before accepting their support, he told the committee members among his concerns is an IPN platform position prioritizing school spending over municipal projects.

“Not all school requirements should come before municipal requirements,” he said. “We have to find out how to accomplish what we need versus what we want without pitting one side against the other.”

Mr Mangiafico pointed out he was the only school board member to vote No on the final 2007 education budget proposal.

“I voted No because it was far too rich for what we needed, because the capital debt [cap] was pushing up to ten percent, and because municipal requirements needed to be taken care of,” Mr Mangiafico said. The candidate said in his heart, he knew the Board of Education was asking for too much money.

“There is no money tree,” Mr Mangiafico said. “You can’t scoop into the budget at anytime and spend like drunken sailors.”

Mr Mangiafico said he also disagreed with some members of the IPN who are calling to halt all construction projects at Fairfield Hills, and putting a moratorium on development at the town-owned campus.