Goshen Dems Back Incomplete Slate

NOTE: This article includes an update from the print version, correcting an error in the original article regarding the rules for minority party representation on boards and commissions. The list of candidates has also been updated.

On Wednesday evening, July 19^th, 16 Goshen Democrats caucused in the Town Hall conference room and concluded their business in as many minutes. Two additional Democrats attended via Zoom. The top Town Democrat, Selectman Dexter Kinsella, was not present. There were no contested positions and the slate proposed by Nominations chair Les Goldman was unanimously accepted without debate.

The Democrats will have no candidate for First Selectman this year, ensuring that unopposed Republican candidate Todd Carusillo will be re-elected to that position in November. They will also have no candidates for Treasurer, Town Clerk, or Alternate Fire Commissioner.

Paul Collins, current chair of the Town’s Recycling and Trash Committee, was nominated for the Board of Finance, Lu-Ann Zbinden was nominated for re-election to the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC), and Jerry Abrahams was nominated for Planning and Zoning Alternate.

In prepared remarks to the caucus, Zbinden thanked the Town Committee for their support over the course of her more than 16 years on the Commission and stated that “The wishes of the people of the Town of Goshen are at the heart of my decisions”.

“I oppose the removal of the Public Hearing requirement for changes in use in the Central Business Zone, to preserve the town people’s voice,” she said. “With a new election on the horizon, my hope is that Town officials will be more receptive to ideas proposed by both P & Z commissioners and town residents, to at least be open to discussion and not to be immediately dismissed.” She also expressed her commitment to environmentally low-impact development and to the open space requirements in the Town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).

The nomination of just one candidate for the PZC also ensures the elections of at least two of the three Republican candidates who were nominated by their party the night before. Following the caucus, The Goshen News reached out to Commissioner Zbinden to ask her views on the pending changes in the Commission’s membership.

Note: In the original version of this article it was erroneously reported that Zbinden would automatically be seated to fulfill minority party representation requirements. This was due to a misunderstanding of the applicable law. CGS § 9-167a limits the maximum number of members (generally two-thirds of the total) who may belong to the same political party on most state and local boards, commissions, legislative bodies, committees, and similar bodies, whether elected or appointed. However, for a board of 5 members, the rules allow 4 to be from the same party. The Goshen News regrets this error and will print this correction in its next print edition.

“I think it’s a change for the better”, Zbinden stated, “I think it’s long overdue”. She said she believes “the new commissioners will be more independent”. She also expressed a belief that the Zoning Enforcement Officer would now “have to listen a little more to what… the Commissioners are saying and what the townspeople are saying, and not just… a handful of people who have their own special interests.”

The full slate of nominated Democrats is as follows: