His Own Undoing

To the Editor:

While I have enjoyed Herb Rosenthal’s friendship over the years and truly like him as a person, it has not been easy to appreciate Herb in his role as Newtown’s First Selectman over the past two years. His loss at the poles yesterday is nothing more than his own undoing.

Herb is well versed, polished, and certainly knowledgeable in the role that he has played over the multitude of terms he has served. He has represented Newtown well. He has also represented our town with grace and poise on, and when dealing with, various regional commissions and state boards.

Unfortunately there was an air of arrogance on the part of Herb’s administration that turned this election into a scenario that did not present the Newtown electorate with a “who is best for the job” vote. Rather it became a vote that pitted people fed up with a government that chose its own path rather than that of its constituents, against people content with Herb’s chosen course.

The ousting of Herb Rosenthal is little more than a vote of discontent. A vote for what people perceive will replace the current administration with an open form of government where concerns will not merely be listened to, but will be heard. It was a vote that centered on certain key issues. The perceived underhanded way in which we are being handed a new town hall. The perceived Queen Street traffic plan fiasco. A perceived “stacked” Fairfield Hills advisory board of unelected officials that wields huge powers. And let us not forget the school boards that are often perceived as running wild and who seem to quietly develop plans for new additions to our schools before the cement has dried on the previously approved expansions.

Herb has been a leader for Newtown, championing, more often than not, the causes that have progressively moved Newtown forward and that make our town a better place to live. Let us not forget the few years that led up to his election — Newtown finally gained some vision under Herb’s leadership — perhaps blurry at times, but, for the most part, we are far better off than we were ten years ago.

I hope for two things. The first is that Herb recognizes that his loss is truly the result of disgruntlement amongst our townspeople (taxpayers) and that some of the pressing issues, such as the construction of a new town hall, should be moved off of his “front burner” until the new administration makes a decision as to how, or if, the project will proceed. The second is that Joe Borst develops a forward-thinking ideology that will continue with the advancements that Herb has put into motion, at least some of them anyway.

David S. Smith

55 Mt Pleasant Road, Newtown                                                                     November 7, 2007