Days before vote, Darien candidates react to rivals' criminal past

Written by Lynsey Santimays
Saturday, 31 October 2009 09:19

The latest news to rock Darien is the revelation that independent candidate for first selectman, Chris Noe, has a criminal past that began 26 years ago in 1983. Amidst a Darien blog’s talk of Noe’s attempted murder conviction in 1983, and trespassing charges in 1995, Noe’s competition — GOP candidate David Campbell and Democratic candidate Callie Sullivan — shared their reactions to The Darien Times Friday.

While the news came as quite a shock to most Darienites, David Campbell was not one of them. “I have known about this for years,” Campbell said Friday. “I didn’t really think much about it because it has been so long.”

Campbell, who has known Noe for close to two decades because he was a builder who frequented Ring’s End, felt that this information was known around town. “It wasn’t like it was hidden,” he said.

Whether it was “hidden” or not, Campbell felt the voters should know about this information.

“I don’t think it should have gone this far down the road without people knowing about it,” he said, referencing the fact that Election Day, Nov. 3, is just a few days away.

“I think the voters should know about it, obviously,” he said, “but it is a hard one because I think everyone deserves a second chance.”

Campbell added: “Yes, he has done something terrible, but he did his time.”

However, how this information should get out to the voters was what Campbell was conflicted on.

Seeing as the role of first selectman is the highest paying town position, one would think there would be some sort of criminal background questioning prior to the campaigns, Campbell mused. The state law states that anyone who is a registered voter may run for an elected position. Convicted felons may register to vote after serving both their sentence and probation time.

“As long as it is legal to run, I think people should be able to do that but I think it needs to be clear to the voters what the past is,” Campbell said.

Whether that information is garnered by the town, the Republican or Democratic town committees, or presented by the candidate himself — Campbell just felt voters need to know the truth.

“I do think it is his responsibility to come forward with information like this,” Campbell said.

Fulfilling this responsibility himself, Campbell told The Times that he has no criminal history.

“You couldn’t find a thing on me,” he said.

Campbell did extend sympathy towards his competitor. “I wish this never happened,” Campbell said. “I have known Chris for 20 years, and I never really looked at him as a criminal.”

Callie Sullivan, the Democratic candidate for first selectman, was not as aware as Campbell of Noe’s situation.

“There have always been rumors, I really didn’t believe them because they seemed so extreme,” Sullivan said. “I was shocked at the reality of all the different brushes with the law.”

Part of your job as first selectman is to uphold the law and support the police, Sullivan added.

The Democrat said it’s important to be transparent. “He should have brought this forward, the voters are entitled to know things which pertain to your ability to uphold the law and make the right decisions,” she said. “Possibly he could have used it to his benefit. Saying, ‘I’ve broken the law and this is what I have learned.’ But because it was a secret, and it was never brought up anywhere, voters didn’t have any opportunity to hear his learning curve, to hear how we was with it to make up our mind.”

Sullivan said she has one speeding ticket on her record and nothing else.

She added: “I think living in a community is about forgiveness but it is also about responsibility and part of being a responsible adult is being honest about our pasts, both sides have got to take that responsibility. And what I want to hear from Mr. Noe is I am sorry that I never brought this forward, I am sorry that the voters of Darien didn’t know that sooner. For him to dismiss this as something that doesn’t matter, the learning curve is not complete.”

Noe did not return calls or e-mails for comment on Friday.