An Unintended Endorsement Of Bill Furrier

To the Editor:

Last week, a letter appeared in this newspaper written by Herb Rosenthal titled “Half Truths and Worse.” Despite at times being a vocal critic of Herb’s role and that of his colleagues in force feeding the Fairfield Hills project to Newtown’s taxpayers, I respect Herb for his many years of dedication and commitment to the town and that of his family. It was Herb who first recommended that I run for public office, which I am now doing as a candidate for a seat on the Legislative Council with the Independent Party of Newtown.

And so I was very disappointed that Herb chose to malign Bill Furrier, IPN’s candidate for selectman and to also accuse Bill’s IPN colleagues as resorting to half truths and outright untruthful comments.

Now I don’t need to defend Bill as he is a big boy and his track record speaks for itself, but because Herb has joined what appears to be an organized effort by the Democratic and Republican town committees to slander IPN at every available opportunity, I decided to check the public record including the meeting minutes of the PB&SC and LC subcommittee. What I found is astonishing, and probably a little embarrassing.

The records do not reconcile with Herb’s “recollection” of Bill Furrier’s role as chairman of the Public Building and Site Commission. Bill never argued against rebidding the high school expansion as Herb said he did. But Bill did argue against redesigning to a smaller addition, which was later approved and which Herb failed to mention. In fact, I was pleased to learn even in Herb’s letter that Bill’s position related to the rebidding of the high school expansion was to let the taxpayers decide, which they did, saving the town $6 million in the process. Once again, the taxpayers got it right! I only wish Herb had embraced that same concept when it came to Fairfield Hills. The savings would have been even greater.

Finally, I saved the biggest surprise for last. In Herb’s letter he describes the PB&SC as dysfunctional during Bill’s tenure as the chairman and explains that he had misgivings about Bill’s ability. Yet the record shows that Herb appointed Bill to the PB&SC not once, not twice, but three times.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown                          October 7, 2009