Winsted Leadership Requires Cooperation

The Winsted Republican Party’s caucus was barely finished this week when the first stone was cast by Selectman David Cappabianca, who announced publicly that the GOP has “had enough with poor leadership� in the Laurel City. The statement appeared to be an attack on Mayor Maryann Welcome, who announced last week that she would not be seeking re-election this November.

While there have certainly been many contentious, monotonous meetings of the Board of Selectmen during the past two years, it is unfair to say it was simply a lack of leadership that created the problem. Early on in the term of the current board, Cappabianca and fellow Republican Jay Case decided to boycott committee appointments and become minority antagonists, challenging most major decisions, voting against the majority on many issues and sitting out of other votes.

Community members rightly point out that this adversarial strategy on the board only began when Republicans became a minority on the board after 12 years in power. A number of people have said Republicans “don’t play well in the sandbox� when they’re in the minority, and there have been dozens of instances to back that point up in the past two years.

Cappabianca may be disappointed in the leadership of the Board of Selectmen but it seems unwise to start firing barbs now, especially when Mayor Welcome is not even campaigning for office this year. The Republicans have played their own part in digging in their heels, dragging out debates and being obstructionists in general. Starting this year’s campaign on a negative note doesn’t appear to be a good first step toward cohesion and progress.

With at least four different parties expected to run in this year’s elections, Winsted will have plenty of names from which to choose for selectmen and the Board of Education. Though it’s a bit early to make predictions, it appears likely that the next elected boards will contain no clear majorities. In that scenario, cooperation will be essential in order to get any work done.

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but it would be nice to see Republicans, Democrats, minor parties and unaffiliated officials spending more time trying to work together and agree on issues, rather than constantly filibustering. It would also be nice to see candidates organizing public forums with voters this election season to find out what people want to see accomplished in town. After all, elected officials represent the people first, not their political parties. Selectmen and other elected officials will need to put their affiliations aside if they really want Winsted to succeed.

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