Letter: Moynihan’s Trump Ties Matter in New Canaan

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To my fellow New Canaanites:

The recent Debate for First Selectman highlighted two active, intelligent and involved candidates. But there was one standout moment: When Mr. Moynihan chose to remark in glib fashion how he couldn’t understand how his relationship to President Trump could possibly be relevant to running New Canaan.

With all due respect (and we believe this accomplished man deserves our respect) it has a great deal to do with it. We are in uncharted political territory. No longer partisan political issues but ones of morality. We have a President who has no regard for the Constitution. A President with no regard for our Environment. A President who does not believe in Science, Common Sense Gun Control or Choice. A President with no regard for Gold Star families. A President under investigation for Sexual Assault and A President unwilling to condemn White Supremacy. A President who is not Making America Great but is pulling us farther apart than we ever imagined.

We do not need that negative energy in this wonderful small town. We do not need a First Selectman who is comfortable propagating those sentiments. We are a vibrant town. We need a First Selectman that our community can look up to and someone who honors the value of each and every one of us; mother, daughter, father, and son.

When the time comes that we have a President, Republican or Democrat, of benign moral value we can go back to a time where that relationship is meaningless. But that time is not today.

Signed,

Meredith Bergman

Eva Levine

Alyssa MacKenzie

Lisa Hannich

Sandy Rama

Alicia Carrasquillo Meyer

Jacqueline Dorman

9 thoughts on “Letter: Moynihan’s Trump Ties Matter in New Canaan

  1. What does Donald Trump have to do with a charming small town of New Canaan?
    Kevin has saved this town an incredible amount of money having natural gas come to New Canaan. His ideas of better cell service and increased parking are only going to improve our town.
    We want to keep it this way!

  2. Who is going negative? We are witnessing the character assassination of a highly qualified First Selectman candidate, Kevin Moynihan who has collaborated with all members of Town Council, both Democrat and Republican, to achieve positive outcomes for the benefit of our entire community. Why do his opponents supporters feel it is more important to focus on character assassination then their candidate’s positive attributes? And one can’t honestly choose to focus on National issues while completely ignoring the greatest external issue facing our town: the budget mismanagement by the Democratic majority right here in Connecticut. Governor Molloy’s proposed sharing of teacher pension costs could have meant an additional $4 million bill this year alone for New Canaan. But this past week members on both sides of the aisle came together and worked on a compromise – Republicans were allowed to participate for the first time in years – what a refreshing concept and how it should be done. I’m sure you are aware that is how it is done locally. No one on any of New Canaan’s boards, commissions, council, etc. views our town’s issues as Democrat or Republican issues, they are Town of New Canaan issues. Most residents watching a town meeting would be hard pressed to know what party any of our dedicated volunteers represent. This continues to be a wonderful town. The final irony is that both of these candidates will be on the Board of Selectman regardless of who gets the most votes, but sad that Kevin will wear the scars of the personal attack, when they both have done so many laudable things for our community. Let’s raise the bar of our discourse.

    • There is absolutely no character assassination going on and we are offended you make that accusation. Is it too much to ask Mr. Moynihan to condemn The Presidents’ – for whom he was a delegate! – support of White Supremacists ? To condemn the Presidents’ lies and disrespect of Gold Star families. And so on. We are not attacking Mr. Moynihan nor saying he is one with the President. We are merely sharing our disappointment and dismay that he would not take the opportunity to separate himself from the disgraceful behavior and to reassure New Canaan there is no room for that kind of behavior in this town. We say right in the opening we respect this accomplished and respected man and recognize his many gifts. We are disgusted by the behavior in Washington – which is very different than being disgusted by mismanagement in Hartford. Being a Republican does not mean you support Trumps unethical behavior. But now is a time for Republicans to own their ethos of Conservatism like Jeff Flake did recently and to distance themselves from the recent Administration antics.

  3. I think the commenters above are missing the point, namely that supporting Donald Trump shows support for a man whose behavior is reprehensible and divisive. This is not a matter of Republican or Democrat, nor is it about character. It’s a matter of judgment, and electing a First Selectman with good judgment has everything to do with New Canaan.

    • Consumer confidence soars

      Stock market at all time highs

      Real estate prices at all time high ( but not in Connecticut thank you Gov Malloy and Democratic controlled State house)

      Economy beats expectations

      Diplomacy has China reining in North Korea

      Yes you are missing the point. The President is doing a good job. It is the biased media which has a problem.

      Please get over your unwarranted hatred.

  4. Of course this is a form of character assassination. This “letter” is nothing but a well crafted strawman.

    The letter begins by telling us that the authors believe the issues at stake rise well above partisan political issues (which is a subjective statement, at best), to reach the level of Morality (again, subjective at best). And then instantly the authors devolve into a litany of partisan grievance issues:

    -Common Sense Gun Control,
    -Environmentalism/Science denial,,
    -Choice (presumably to the abortion debate)
    -White Supremacy

    The authors wording is meant to leave readers with the implication that all of these issues have been, “settled,” long ago and any deviation from the authors perspective of the “settled outcome” is somehow invalid politically as well as amoral.

    Which brings us to Kevin Moynihan, who, according to the authors, is a very well qualified, decent man….This is where we arrive at their Morality, not Partisan, bit….BUT, since he had the bad judgement (in their opinion), to support Mr. Trump, he must therefore be unfit (as the authors clearly believe Mr. Trump to be) to serve the town.

    If our fellow citizens feel that the main issues facing New Canaan were gun control, climate change, white supremacy, etc., then maybe this discussion has some merit.

    My hope is that we can address the issues on our doorstep here on the New Canaanite and leave the bitterness of national politics to the rest of the interweb.

  5. White Supremecy is considered a “partisan issue?”
    Still??

    Good Lord! That’s the gravest of moral issues.

    Deal breaker = no brainer.

  6. Donald Trump is not running for First Selectman. This is the best they can do….say that Kevin Moynihan, a well respected Republican, is unqualified because he voted Republican over the arguably awful and corrupt Democrat Hillary. I’m sorry to sound harsh but I’m embarrassed for the authors of this letter. Sad!

    And by the way, who says that every Republican agrees with every position President Trump has on every issue. I doubt Kevin does and what’s it have to do with New Canaan anyway. Does Kit agree with Hillary on every issue? God help us if she does!

    And finally who told the authors of this letter that they get to decide what is moral and right for the rest of us. Talk about (white) supremacy! That is so elitist!

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