Letters of Endorsement

NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter(s) of endorsement. We will publish endorsement letters from New Canaan residents through Oct. 24. Please send them to editor@newcanaanite.com.

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We have never had a new candidate running for First Selectman with so much prior, hands on, relevant town experience. Dionna demonstrated excellent leadership skills as chair of the Board of Education working with our Board of Finance. Approximately sixty-four percent of our Town’s budget is consumed by expenses related to our schools. Our teachers, our facilities, the administration, and the debt associated with school projects represent the largest part of our annual budget. Our town is, and has always been, committed to having a top school system Statewide, and nationally. Sustaining our educational success is a key element to the fabric and culture of New Canaan, and no one knows how to do it better than Dionna. 

Dionna’s finance background will also be important across all the town departments. Dionna is thoughtful, smart, and collaborative. She will bring a fresh perspective to our Town’s opportunities and challenges while maintaining the best of the best of our town. She will listen to our residents and work exceptionally well with our boards and committees. She will challenge us to continue to keep taxes in line while delivering on the important services and support we expect for our schools, our police and emergency teams, our volunteers, our downtown, our town parks, our roads, and our town assets. 

Dionna will effectively communicate and share information back to our residents while working with each of you. She will be a great leader for our Town and our Town’s interests across the county and State. I am very pleased to support Dionna for First Selectman. 

Todd Lavieri,

Chairman, New Canaan Board of Finance

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As an Unaffiliated voter living in New Canaan for over 35 years, I’m pleased to support Amy Murphy Carroll for First Selectman. I’ve known, socialized and worked on town projects with Amy. over many years. Amy has the personal, professional and leadership qualities that will make an outstanding First Selectman to lead and manage the affairs of New Canaan.

In 2010, a Health & Human Services Commission task force was formed at the request of the Board of Selectmen to look at needs of the town seniors over the next 20 years, Amy joined our subcommittee on senior housing, and her expertise on community building and financing was a key resource in the successful future planning for the town. .Today, Amy sees senior issues personally every day as her mother resides at Waveny’s New Canaan Inn.

Amy’s professional financial expertise from her long career at JP Morgan Chase and continues with her past 10 years on the Board of Finance, This realistic and innovative financial and business experience is required by the First Selectman to make sound, critical decisions every day. Amy is prepared perfectly for the job… and is committed to our town’s continued multi-faceted success.

I encourage you to join the” I’m with Amy” team with your support and vote.

Jim Lisher

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Hello, Mike and the New Canaan community,

Surely, someone scanning the names at the bottom of this letter will think, “Oh lord, those overly vocal leftist pinko monsters,” and someone else will think, “the Aults aren’t liberal enough for me to take seriously.” This deepened sense of division is a shame, but it’s how most human beings read anything in print these days. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and what follows is ours.

We’ve taken a very deliberate step back from hyperpartisan politics in town over the past three years because it’s more joyous and productive to focus on what unites us than what divides us. We worked shoulder-to-shoulder with people of every political stripe to get our town’s beautiful new library and green built. We will side with anyone, be they Republican, Democrat, or Flamenco-dancing space octopus, who can keep New Canaan from the predatory clutches of developers trying to abuse the 8-30g statute and build five-story monuments to architectural mediocrity. Laura takes time every month to report on something interesting in town for this publication. None of this is politically motivated; it’s about serving the common good, and it comes from an earnest love for New Canaan’s character.

Because we care about the character of this town, we have a few recommendations to make. 

We believe that Amy Murphy Carroll is the most qualified candidate ever to raise her hand for New Canaan’s top job. Much has been made of her exceptional schooling, her three-decade career in municipal finance, years of service to the Board of Finance, and multidisciplinary volunteer engagement. We don’t need to repeat her resume again; her bona fides are spectacular. It’s her spirit that we find refreshing; she’s not a party line operator, and she’s not afraid to do the harder thing and reach across the aisle and work with people from (gasp!) different parties to achieve mutually great outcomes. We haven’t seen enough equanimity and grace from New Canaan’s highest office recently. When we heard that our current First Selectman had orchestrated the departure of long-serving Democrats from town committees, we were repulsed but not surprised. Viciousness and tribalism have seeped into every corner of American life from the craven edges of the national political scene. Not new news, and also not how we want to spend our lives. We’ll be voting for Amy, not because we’re automatically doing whatever Democrats do (we’re both unaffiliated voters) but because she’s awesome. 

Speaking of national politics that have no business influencing New Canaan’s priorities, we’re going to point out the elephant in the room as decorously as possible: certain newer electees to the Board of Education, as well as certain current candidates, seem to be following the extremist Moms for Liberty playbook known on the national stage for trying to influence school curricula to be as regressive as possible.

Ten years ago, our Board of Education was a fairly harmonious group, drama-free and undisturbed by hardline influence. Now, it’s not. Unpack the rhetoric coming from the right-wing faction a bit, and you can spot alarming patterns.

‘Distraction-free learning’ means the notable absence of social and emotional learning, a willful deletion of the soft skills that better prepare children for the ethos of higher education and the corporate environments they hope to inhabit one day. 

When a candidate says that she wants the school curriculum to reflect ‘parents’ values,’ you’d better believe that the woman with a Let’s Go Brandon sticker on her car does not mean all parents. She means those parents who share her beliefs about faith, partisan politics, and global health crisis responses.

And finally, the most puzzling priority: ‘Protect our children!’ From what? Given their stated party affiliation, it’s unlikely they mean gun violence, although it is the country’s number one cause of death for people under the age of 18. There’s a boogeyman implied here, some nonexistent horror that will befall New Canaan’s youth if, gasp, educators inform them that trans people exist. 

We may be of a waning breed, but we respect people who know more about their fields than we do. If a pilot says to fasten our seat belts, we fasten them. If a doctor says to do something, we do it. If a professional educator with a Ph.D. says, “this is the way to run a classroom in 2023”, we will stand behind them. There is no far-right (or far-left, frankly) agenda that naturally fits New Canaan’s needs, and we owe our community better than fringe philosophies and hyperpartisan dogwhistle rhetoric. 

As such, we’re happy to endorse Lauren Connolly Nussbaum, Josh Kaye, and Brendan Hayes for the Board of Ed. They’ve raised their hands for a consequential, demanding job, not out of adherence to a regressive agenda, but out of genuine care and concern for the future of New Canaan’s stellar public education. 

“But you don’t have children!” someone will surely point out. We don’t, and you’re welcome for the past ten years of our property taxes being used to educate yours. If our choice to set down roots here doesn’t give us a vested interest in our town’s character, then our mandatory annual donation, paid with love, certainly does. 

We’ll be splitting our tickets this year, and voting for a few worthy Republican candidates as well as the aforementioned individuals. Honestly, government SHOULD be a conversation that squarely represents the philosophies of its constituents. We can respect and appreciate contributions from both sides. But it’s only fair to demand that honest campaigning prevail. 

We’re sure this letter has provoked some Olympic-level eye-rolls, and we’ll be on the lookout for pitchforks on our lawn for having voiced our opinions. We don’t expect everyone (or anyone, frankly) to agree with our exact positions, but after a lot of homework and a hard look at what motivates our voting, we’re proud to support people who are, hands-down, the better choices for New Canaan’s character. 

Laura and Andrew Ault

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Dear Editor,

When we look at our local election on November 7th, one thing is sure: we will have a fresh team of Selectmen who will each bring expertise, energy and deep commitment to their roles. We are fortunate that these talented individuals have decided to run. For the position of First Selectman, I will be voting for Amy Murphy Carroll.

The New Canaan Schools’ budget consumes 64% of our Town’s total budget, according to our Board of Finance Chair. Our outstanding school system is one of the treasures of raising families here, but it leaves only 36% of the budget to deliver everything else. The quality and resilience of our infrastructure, the responsiveness of our fire, police, emergency management, public health and social services departments; recreational amenities and cultural activities: these are also essential for a thriving community. Amy Murphy Carroll is the better candidate to ensure that we squeeze everything we possibly can from that remaining 36%. 

Amy has served on our Board of Finance for ten years, co-authoring a comprehensive Town Building Study and Board of Finance debt guidelines. She served on the employee pension sub-committee and on the Saxe and Police Department building committees. She served as the Board’s liaison to the Board of Education, Public Works and Parks and Recreation. Amy knows potholes, pension funds, sidewalks, storm drainage, field maintenance, debt financing, paving, building construction and the granular details of the Board of Ed budget. Her tenure on the Board overlaid the last decade of her thirty-year career in municipal finance. As the lead analyst with JP Morgan for the State of Connecticut and for every town and city in the State, she knows the best practices for financing projects and the impacts of those projects on communities. Her expertise in the job of First Selectman will ensure that our tax dollars are well-spent.

Amy is committed to a community where all residents can participate. She believes that our town is no place for partisan divisiveness and will welcome all residents who raise their hands to help. She knows that failing to fully engage the talent and ideas of the 35.3% of our residents who choose not to affiliate with a political party squanders the most valuable resource of all: our people.

This November will bring new faces to our Board of Selectmen. The challenges we’ve faced over the last few years have shown us that, in order to tackle the issues we’re facing, we need a forward-thinking, open-minded leader with a broad perspective and deep expertise, one who welcomes good ideas from all corners. For this reason, I hope that you will join me on November 7th in voting for Amy Murphy Carroll for First Selectman, the better choice for New Canaan.

Peggy Dannemann

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Editor, New Canaanite

I am writing to enthusiastically endorse Amy Murphy Carroll for First Selectman (Selectwoman) for the Town of New Canaan. I have known Amy since she joined the New Canaan Board of Finance in 2014, and we served together over the next six years until I stepped down from the Board as Vice Chairman after 16 years.

With over 30 years in municipal finance, 10 years on the Board of Finance and business degrees from Cornell and Wharton, Amy is highly qualified to serve the Town as First Selectman. She has a detailed understanding of the Town’s operations and budget process, and knows and appreciates the responsibility and accountability that comes with the job.

A towering strength of Amy’s is that she digs in. She does her homework, tracks the details, asks tough questions, and gets to the heart of an issue before making a decision. And decisions will be made with complete transparency. That will be a refreshing change.

What distinguishes Amy most and why she should be the choice of all New Canaanites on November 7, is her genuineness and down-to-earth leadership style. She is not pursuing this position out of a sense of entitlement or some distorted view of the role. Rather, she is seeking this office as she knows she is highly qualified to serve, will run Town Hall with an open door (and a big smile), and will always have the best interests of New Canaan residents in mind.

Bob Spangler

Former Vice Chair, New Canaan Board of Finance

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For the past two years, Lauren Connolly Nussbaum has served as South School’s PTC Liaison to the Board of Education, attending every meeting, either in the audience or virtually. As the liaison, she reported on the Board’s decisions and activities to the PTC and served as a conduit when South parents had questions or concerns. After attending Board meetings for two years and hearing directly from parents and students, Lauren has demonstrated she has the skills and commitment to serve in an official capacity. Now, that she’s officially running for the Board seat, Lauren has our wholehearted support to be elected and we hope New Canaan voters agree.

Anyone who speaks with her will quickly see that Lauren is an outgoing, approachable person who understands the issues that come before the Board of Education and cares about the quality of our school system. She would be a zealous defender of its reputation for excellence and would be a strong and capable advocate for maintaining New Canaan’s position as one of the most respected and admired school systems in the state. Further, as was evident when serving as liaison, she would listen to parental concerns, be empathetic and aim to resolve them. She would be a bridge connecting parents, teachers, the administration and, not least, the students, sincerely seeking to promote the best outcome for each of the constituencies. 

In an interview, Lauren said she would be a steward for the budget, asking questions throughout the process to ensure that its programs are smart and efficient. Bottom line, as a Board member, Lauren’s objective would be aimed at “working together to do what’s best for students and families.” And she would achieve that goal by showing an ability to forge ties and earn respect from each of the stakeholders, be they parents, teachers, administrators and students.

A 10-year resident of New Canaan, and the mother of three school-age daughters, Lauren has already served two years admirably as the South School PTC Liaison. Now, New Canaan’s voters, who value the school system and want it to retain its high standards on behalf of all its students, should vote for Lauren and give her a seat at the table.

Susan B Edmands and Douglas P Walker