Goshen 1st Selectman Election: A 3-Way Race

Following the July Goshen Democratic and Republican caucuses, the race for 1st Selectman officially became a three-way contest, marked by contentious debate and pointed criticism, as well as calls for improved leadership and communication in town government.

The Republican caucus saw Seth Breakell decisively unseat incumbent Todd Carusillo in a 153-67 vote. At the caucus, Breakell was endorsed for his listening skills and business experience. Scott Prayer, a supporter, said, “He listens. He’s a very good listener. He takes his time to make decisions and he’s not an excitable person… I think he’ll do a good job.”

In a post-caucus Goshen News interview, Breakell outlined his top priorities if elected: “One of the big priorities are going to be Region 20, right? I know there’s a lot of contention there… Right now Region 20 is ours and it would behoove us and it’s our responsibility to make Region 20 as successful as possible. It should be a flagship example of regionalization of schools within the state of Connecticut… The other thing I think is our infrastructure. Our roads have been underfunded and we’re behind the eight ball, so to speak, on our paving and chip sealing. Those are our biggest town assets in my mind.”

On the subject of long-term planning, Breakell struck a balanced tone: “No one wants to pay more taxes… It’s going to be a challenge, and I don’t have the answers for you tonight, I don’t have that long-term plan in my head, but I think it'd behoove all of us to sit down and think about how we’re going to achieve that with our senior population, our youth population, people that have fixed incomes and all that. It’s a very delicate kind of a balancing game.”

Paul Collins, currently on the Board of Finance, was endorsed by the Democrats. Initially nominated as a placeholder to preserve Democrats’ options, Collins confirmed his intention to be on the November ballot in a post-caucus Goshen News interview. Collins explained, “We’ve had a failure in management, and I think that’s what my experience and what I can really bring to the table… I was in the fine paper business for 45 years and ended my career as vice president of integrated supply chain for a billion dollar multinational paper distributor. I’m very experienced with complex supply chains and how to work technology into the process and establishing those processes. We’re obviously a very small town with limited resources and I think we need to better allocate them and we can do them smarter than we have been doing them.”.

Collins also addressed the necessity for better communication: “Letting the residents know what’s going on in town in a much more effective way than we’re doing it currently — we only hear little rumors about things and then the rumors get out of hand and everything becomes all sorts of different stories because there’s no constant source for the right information and I think that’s what we need to develop.”

Incumbent Todd Carusillo, now running as an unaffiliated candidate after losing the GOP nomination.  Carusillo himself highlighted his accomplishments in infrastructure, safety, and keeping solid waste disposal costs down for residents.

In an exclusive interview with The Goshen News, Carusillo voiced his thoughts, “…as the incumbent, the Republican[s] should have endorsed me at the Republican caucus, but there's so much division in the Republican party right now. A lot of people didn't show up, so of course you saw the results of the caucus.”   Carusillo went onto clarify that in his mind, ”there was never a book ban. Nobody banned books.  There was a book that a grandmother thought was inappropriate that her grandson brought home. She called me kicking and screaming. I reported it to the chairperson of the library board and to the library director herself and it went on from there. But of course, as CEO of the town, I take all the heat.”  (Note: Carusillo was reported to have ordered the removal of the book without following the proper Reconsideration process. See March 2024 Goshen News article: “Litchfield County Libraries Respond to Goshen Book Ban”)

As the race for 1st Selectman continues into the Fall, Goshen voters will weigh candidates’ visions for town management, communication, infrastructure renewal, and their approach to the Region 20 school district merger. Additional debates and deeper discussions are being proposed as these three contenders make their case.