Casar: GOP lucky to have quality candidates

Bob Casar, a Republican leader from the 3rd District, sent this along:

The Third District was fortunate enough to have a large number of people step forward and volunteer to run for City Council this coming fall. At one point seven people were either declared candidates or were compiling campaign teams to support their candidacy. In the months leading up to the nominations some candidates made the choice to withdraw from the process and contribute to our town in a different fashion while others decided to seek another elected office.

Two weeks prior to the nominating convention, all of the potential candidates attended a district meeting and the process was discussed. The candidates were asked to provide a campaign update and to make a pitch for their campaign to the RTC members present, as their votes would decide who received the nomination. Following this meeting some of the candidates followed up with personal phone calls to committee members, while others sent emails or dropped letters at members’ homes.

At the nominating event, 3 candidates – Derek Czenczelewski, Gary Lawton and David Mills - were nominated to run for the district’s two council seats. Derek, who had been campaigning aggressively since February, and David, who had publically announced his candidacy and compiled a solid campaign team behind him, won the nominations.

Other Third District members secured nominations that night for city-wide office: Rose Parenti for City Treasurer, Tim Ceritello for constable, and Stacy Raymond and I for seats on the Board of Assessment Appeals.

After the results were announced it became obvious that Gary was disappointed that he failed to secure the nomination. Since then myself and a few other folks from the district have tried to reach out to Gary and keep him involved in our committee but have had limited success.

In this time of cynicism and mistrust, it’s encouraging to see so many good people want to get involved in the electoral process. In so doing they expose themselves to a high-degree of scrutiny and make themselves quite vulnerable. As a leader in the district I was excited by the interest and enthusiasm each of these folks brought to the process, and am proud to be supporting David, Derek, and our mayoral candidate, John Gill, this fall.

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