Updated: Herbst hurricane sweeps GOP to power

Written by Donald Eng
Wednesday, 04 November 2009 13:30

A dedicated staff, strong fund-raising and good old-fashioned hard work were the keys to a dominating Republican victory Tuesday, according to the man who led it.

Tim Herbst, the newly elected first selectman, told a packed room of jubilant supporters that it took the efforts of an entire team to deliver the win over four-term incumbent Ray Baldwin. He also took time to thank the voters for entrusting virtually every town board and commission to the GOP.

“Tonight, I say to all of you, thank you for believing in what this team stands for,” Herbst said. “We understand

the trust you’ve placed in us, and we will never forget that we are the employees and you are the employers.”

Herbst led a Republican sweep of every contested race on the ballot, defeating Baldwin with 6,906 votes, or 55.3%, to 5,572 votes, or 44.7%. The other two candidates at the top of the ticket also won big. Turnout was 51.2%, far higher than the 40% benchmark that usually indicates solid voting numbers.

Suzanne Monaco, who was town clerk from 2003-05, defeated Rose Lodice to reclaim the post. She said she was looking forward to getting reacquainted with her old office after the newly elected candidates get sworn in next month.

“I’m back!” Monaco told the GOP faithful inside Marisa’s. “Now, it’s on to Dec. 7.” Republican John Ponzio unseated incumbent Robert Wright to become the new town treasurer.

On the underticket, every Republican candidate for Town Council won, giving the party a dominating 14-7 advantage.

Republicans Andy Palo and Ted Lovely also won seats on the Board of Finance and Board of Education, respectively. Palo topped the four candidates for finance board, winning a seat along with Democrats Steve Lupien and Tom Tesoro, themselves former Republicans.

Lovely, the former principal of St. Theresa School and a veteran of the town’s public school system, defeated Vicki Tesoro, a long-time PTA official and school volunteer. The GOP now controls both boards.

It was the same story for the rest of the ballot as the GOP candidates trounced their Democratic opponents on the Planning & Zoning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals and in every other contested race.

Anticipation

Republicans seemed to sense early on that this Election Day was going to be theirs. Poll watchers had been reporting very heavy turnout in the most reliably Republican districts. In contrast, Democratic strongholds like District 5 had smaller, but still solid, voting numbers.

“I thought that District 5 would be the bellwether,” said Herbst Campaign Manager Chris Russo. “If we ran strongly there, it was going to be good for us.”

Gathered around a projector screen in Marisa’s banquet room, the early election results from District 7 prompted cheers. The cheers grew to a roar when the District 5 numbers showed Herbst winning by about 200 votes. Chants of “Tim, Tim, Tim” echoed through the parking lot.

Eventually, though, the scale of the victory left even the Republicans staggered.

Herbst, who received the results at home with his family and a small group of supporters, said he too had a sense that his party was headed for a special night.

“I spent the day standing outside of Middlebrook School, which is the District 5 polling place,” he said. “And I got the sense that even in a traditionally Democratic district, I was holding my own. My thought was, if Middlebrook was close, we were in good shape.”

Shortly after 8 p.m., when he learned that he had carried District 5, Herbst allowed himself to believe that he had won.

“This just goes to show that the other side can have the money and the machine, but we had the support in the neighborhoods,” he said. “I wore out three pairs of shoes and lost 14 pounds, walking the entire town to knock on over 7,000 doors over the last four months.”

And Herbst said the community outreach wouldn’t stop now that the election was over.

“I intend to reach out and be a presence in every neighborhood,” he said. “The weekly brown bag lunch program is going to return. I want to hear from the people in this community.”

Trumbull High School Intern Jill Ornitz contributed to this story.