Making Newtown A Better Place

To the Editor:

I would like to congratulate Pat Llodra, Will Rodgers, and James Gaston for winning the Board of Selectmen seats. It was a hard-fought race and kudos to your supporters for coming out to support you.

Tuesday was not the best day for IPN (particularly with a very low voter turnout); however I am delighted that Carol Walsh was elected to serve on the Board of Finance. Carol will be a refreshing change on this board and she will serve Newtown well.

I would like to thank Bill Furrier for stepping up to provide Newtown a choice for the first selectman race. Bill had bold ideas to restructure the budgeting process to maximize our tax dollars by reducing town-side spending and to make structural changes to allow voters to have more of a say in important town matters. Regrettably, Mother Nature had a different plan for Bill Furrier. Despite rapidly growing support for the incumbent with the daily phone calls of information and comfort after Storm Irene and Storm Alfred, Bill persevered throughout the campaign. I imagine no other first selectman candidate in Newtown history faced this type of campaign obstacle.

While Bill and I may not have secured a position on the board, I believe we forced the Board of Selectman candidates to refine their platform message for the voters. Before IPN, platforms and campaigning did not exist due to prevalence of uncontested races. During the last three elections, many ideas that IPN have generated and pushed have been adopted. For me, it has never been about winning a seat in town government. It has been about getting the town government to become more responsive to all of its citizens and most importantly it has been about getting results. I believe IPN is a catalyst for change and we have made some good progress in the last four years. Despite our setback on Tuesday, I do not believe our job is done. The winners from this election would love nothing more than watching IPN fade away, but I urge Newtown citizens to continue to support and encourage all elected and appointed members of the IPN. We cannot go back to the days of less accountability, no checks and balances, and no transparency.

Bruce Walczak, Karen Pierce, Gianine Crowell, and Donna Randle deserve so much credit for their tireless effort leading the IPN Town Committee. Gary Davis, Kevin Fitzgerald, James Belden, Dave Nanavaty, and Neil Randle deserve special thanks for serving Newtown as fearless IPN elected officials during the past two years or more.

I would also like to thank each and every IPN candidate for stepping up to serve Newtown and going through an uncomfortable political process called elections. I admire each and every one of you and please do not get discouraged. I fully understand that there is always a period of deep disappointment and deep reflection after losing an election but I have faith that all of us will recover and get re-energized to continue to work hard to make Newtown a better place for all.

Po Murray

38 Charter Ridge Drive, Sandy Hook                    November 9, 2011