Skip to content
  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • In the News
  • Contact
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Advertising
  • Testimonials
  • NewCanaanite.com
  • NewCanaanite.com
  • News
    • Around Town
    • Government
    • Public Safety
    • Schools
    • Opinion
      • The Grazing Ram
    • Obituaries
    • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Business
  • There & Then
  • Our Animals
  • Podcasts
  • Events
    • Add Event
  • Who Knew?
  • Global Navigation
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • In the News
    • Contact
    • Newsletter Sign-Up
    • Advertising
    • Testimonials

NewCanaanite.com - Big news for a small town: New Canaan, CT.

NewCanaanite.com (https://newcanaanite.com/tag/alexandra-van-nes)

  • News
    • Around Town
    • Government
    • Public Safety
    • Schools
    • Opinion
      • The Grazing Ram
    • Obituaries
    • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Business
  • There & Then
  • Our Animals
  • Podcasts
  • Events
    • Add Event
  • Who Knew?
Subscribe

Alexandra Van Nes

Alexandra Van Nes

Ethics Board: ‘Factual Errors’ in Moynihan’s Statement on Investigation

By Michael Dinan | June 15, 2022

Contrary to what New Canaan’s highest elected official asserted in a public statement that also contains factual errors, the head of the appointed town body that took up an ethics complaint lodged against him led a fair and nonpartisan investigation, its members say. Tucker Clauss, while serving as chair of the Ethics Board, “made extreme efforts to go right down the middle” in following up on a complaint lodged last November against First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, according to Ethics Board member Robert Schott. “When we went to talk to the complainant, he [Clauss] took somebody from that side of the aisle with him,” Schott said during the Ethics Board’s regular meeting, held Tuesday night at Town Hall. 

“When he went to talk to the recipient, he took somebody from that side of the aisle with him. And we gave equal time to both sides of the equation. … For the record, I think it was done fairly, openly and in a nonpartisan fashion.”

Schott cited a letter that Moynihan sent to NewCanaanite.com after the Ethics Board voted 4-1 in favor of a final “Report and Determination” at its May 12 special meeting, with Schott himself casting the dissenting vote (the 15-page document can be read in full here). 

In that report, the Ethics Board detailed its monthlong process of discussing the complaint and gathering up information prior to concluding that further investigation was warranted, as well as the communications, additional documentation, public discussion and findings that followed. 

In the end, the Board concluded that the letterhead Moynihan had used on a widely distributed endorsement letter backing Republican candidates for the Board of Education last fall appeared “more like the letterhead of an official document than a letterhead serving as a mere identifier and that an appearance of impropriety was caused by its use, particularly when the Letter was to be sent to new residents or new voters who would likely have had little experience with Town officials, Town politics or official town letterhead or correspondence.”

Yet the Code of Ethics, as written, lacks a “sufficiently clear standard” to cite Moynihan for a violation on that basis.

Alexandra Van Nes

Ethics Investigation: Moynihan Bemoans Personal Legal Fees, News Coverage

By Michael Dinan | May 4, 2022

New Canaan’s highest elected official on Tuesday bemoaned an ethics complaint lodged against him last year, as well as personal legal fees he incurred in fighting against it and local news coverage of an appointed municipal body’s public meetings as it investigated the matter. The complaint lodged Nov. 1 with the Ethics Board—accusing First Selectman Kevin Moynihan of violating the town’s Code of Ethics by using the authority of an elected office to write a letter endorsing Republican candidates for the Board of Education in the run-up to the municipal election—“has not gotten a lot of press except by Mr. [Michael] Dinan who has managed to make several articles out of something that initially was confidential,” Moynihan said during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting. “But also, conveniently, Mike manages to attend meetings at night that he otherwise wouldn’t attend, so this has been a bit of a show. I think the whole thing has been rather disappointing and certainly a disservice to me.

Alexandra Van Nes

Ethics Board To Seek Additional Information from RTC in Moynihan Investigation

By Michael Dinan | February 8, 2022

The appointed town body investigating an ethics complaint lodged Nov. 1 against First Selectman Kevin Moynihan will seek additional information from the local political group that distributed an endorsement letter at the center of the matter, officials said Tuesday night. Members of the New Canaan Ethics Board said during a regular meeting that they will ask the Republican Town Committee for a sample of the envelope that Moynihan’s letter was sent in, as well as any other printed material included in it. “Those things might help with our interpretation of the thrust of the letter,” Ethics Board Chair Tucker Clauss said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “And the other thing that I know we were talking about before, the list of [those] to whom the letter was mailed.

Most Popular

  • Parents Sue in New Canaan Boy’s Nonfatal Drowning Case
  • Richard Anthony Franco, Jr., 74 
  • Tina Marie (Mazzola) Kinol, 45
  • Commercial Building Owners Propose Hotel on Locust Avenue
  • Town Council Honors the Late Keith Richey

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

* indicates required

Events

« May 2025 » loading...
S M T W T F S
27
28
29
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Wed 28

Journey into the World of Tea

May 28 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Wed 28

CT Mirror Presents: This Could Work! with HAYVN’s Felicia Rubinstein!

May 28 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Wed 28

You’re Invited: An Unforgettable Spring Soirée for Women Who Mean Business

May 28 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Most-Read Past Month

  • Parents Sue in New Canaan Boy’s Nonfatal Drowning Case
  • Richard Anthony Franco, Jr., 74 
  • Tina Marie (Mazzola) Kinol, 45
  • ‘Doppio’ Italian Restaurant To Open on Main Street
  • Four-Townhouse Development Planned for South Avenue
  • Commercial Building Owners Propose Hotel on Locust Avenue
  • Warrant Details New Canaan Man’s Domestic Violence
  • Feds: New Canaan Man, 30, Arrested in Connection with Fraud Scheme
  • Town Council Honors the Late Keith Richey
  • ‘A One-Stop Shop’: ‘Resource360’ To Open on Main Street

This Is Us

  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • In the News
  • Contact

Follow

Like Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on InstagramSubscribe via RSS

Archives

Helpful Links

  • NewCanaanite.com
  • Town of New Canaan
  • New Canaan Public Schools
  • New Canaan Library
  • New Canaan Chamber of Commerce
  • New Canaan Police Department
  • New Canaan Fire Co. No. 1
  • New Canaan Land Trust
  • New Canaan Office of Emergency Management
  • New Canaan Nature Center
  • New Canaan Historical Society
  • Drug Free New Canaan

We Like

  • Darienite
  • Greenwich Free Press
  • Good Morning Wilton
  • The Monroe Sun

Our Newshounds

Our Newshounds

Dexter & Wallace

© Copyright 2025, Newshound LLC. Reproduction of material from any NewCanaanite.com pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. Newshound LLC is a registered LLC in the state of Connecticut.

  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • In the News
  • Contact

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑