Winsted Independent Party sides with Republicans

WINSTED — The Winsted Independent Party did not nominate any of its own candidates during its caucus on Friday, Aug. 12, at Town Hall. Instead, the 10 members of the party who attended the caucus decided to cross endorse candidates running on the Republican ticket and two petitioning candidates: Lisa Smith for Board of Selectmen and James Roberts for Board of Education.“It is my hope tonight that the small membership that we have that has not defected from the party will support the Republican nominees and the petitioning candidates,” party Chairman David LaPointe said.LaPointe said that the party has 46 members and has had three major defections in the past two years: Paul O’Meara, Barbara Wilkes and David Villa.Many of the candidates on the Republican ticket were present at Friday night’s caucus.“I’m a registered Democrat, but don’t hold that against me,” Smith told the audience. “I think my concerns are your concerns.”Bashing the town’s Democratic Party was a common theme with the brief speeches candidates made at the caucus.Roberts told the audience that, despite being a registered Democrat, he felt that he had nothing in common with the town’s Democratic Party.“I find their approach to the problems that we face is reckless and motivated largely by self-interest,” Roberts said. “A bad government is what we have in Winsted, in particular it’s what we have in our school system. An effective school system would encourage residents to come to our town. It should eliminate waste and duplication [of services]. We must close a school and look at closing a second school. The era where every employee is guaranteed a job for life, a gold-plated pension and a free health-care plan for themselves and their family is gone. An effective school system is one that embraces pay as you go for services. It does not defer paying costs for a future day.”Roberts’ wife, Marsha Sterling, who is a registered Republican, is running for the Board of Selectmen.At the caucus, Sterling expressed her frustrations with Mayor Candy Perez and spoke about a meeting held with members of the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education earlier in the day in Hartford to discuss the long delayed fiscal 2009-10 school district audit.“At the meeting, three members of the Board of Selectmen are sitting together while our mayor is sitting with members of the Board of Education,” Sterling said. “[Perez] is sitting there saying that the town passed the budget, not the selectmen. [Perez] ended the meeting by telling the state [representatives] to hurry up and tell [the selectmen] to give us more money. If we don’t change the Board of Selectmen, our government is not going to get better.”In a previous interview, LaPointe indicated that he was considering a run for a seat on the Board of Education.After the caucus, LaPointe said that he decided not to run because the party could not find enough candidates for the election.“I’m supporting [Roberts] for the Board of Education because I believe he can make a difference,” LaPointe said.LaPointe added that, despite his differences in the past with Winsted Republican Party leader David Cappabianca, LaPointe would be supporting his candidacy for the town clerk office.“I think [Cappabianca] realizes the trying financial times we are in, and he does not think taxes are the answer, either,” LaPointe said. “I’m willing to bury the hatchet. I don’t want tax and spending in all elements of the government.”

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