NewCanaanite.com (https://newcanaanite.com/tag/dionna-carlson/page/11)
This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we publish our interviews with two candidates for New Canaan’s highest elected office, starting with Republican Dionna Carlson. We interviewed her as well as Democrat Amy Murphy Carroll at New Canaan Library on the morning of October 13th. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:
New Canaan’s incumbent first selectman did not file papers to force a primary in September, town officials have confirmed. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, who was soundly defeated by Republican challenger Dionna Carlson at the GOP Caucus last month, had until 4 p.m. Thursday to file with the town clerk.
Yet, as Town Clerk Claudia Weber confirmed in an email to NewCanaanite.com, no runner-up candidates filed an application. “No one filed a petition for the First Selectman race, and New Canaan will not be having a Primary this year,” Weber said. That means Carlson will face off against Democrat Amy Murphy Carroll for New Canaan’s top job in the Nov. 7 election.
It also means that Moynihan’s six-year tenure is coming to a close.
Dionna Carlson on Tuesday received Republican party backing in her bid to win New Canaan’s highest elected office. The former Board of Education chair, who campaigned for party backing on a platform of increased transparency, civility, teamwork and public input, received more votes than incumbent Kevin Moynihan and fellow challenger Kimberly Norton combined in the Republican Caucus, held at Saxe Middle School. Here’s a snapshot of voting results in contested Caucus races:
“I’m thrilled to be moving on,” Carlson told NewCanaanite.com. “A huge thank you to all the voters who came out,” she continued. “This was a really high turnout election so I think the voice of the Republican party in New Canaan was heard this evening.
[Note: This article has been updated with a comment from St. Luke’s School.]
Bringing back a proposal to erect a cell tower behind West School when it was “roundly criticized by residents and parents” more than five years ago is “an unbelievably bad waste of time, money and effort,” according to one Republican candidate for New Canaan’s highest elected office. There are alternative technologies such as satellite and distributed antenna systems or “DAS,” and public safety has already been addressed because all elementary schools have antenna systems, Dionna Carlson said during a GOP debate last week. “So if there’s an emergency at West School or in the West School area, they can connect to our emergency service providers,” Carlson said at the Republican Town Committee’s July 18 debate, held at the Carriage Barn Arts Center. “I was on the Board of Education when those antennas were put up and redone,” she continued.
New Canaan missed out on a chance to find an additional four years of relief from a state affordable housing law because the town wasn’t prepared, according to one Republican seeking party backing for the municipality’s highest elected office.
The town’s moratorium under the widely discussed law known by its statute number, 8-30g, “lapsed” because “frankly, I don’t think we were prepared to file that moratorium, which I’m really concerned about,” Kimberly Norton said during a debate with fellow GOP first selectman candidates Dionna Carlson and incumbent Kevin Moynihan last week. “It’s a very long process,” Norton continued at the July 18 debate, organized and moderated by the Republican Town Committee and held at Carriage Barn Arts Center. “It could have been ready to go. It could have been in the pipeline.”
Though the press was barred from attending the debate, a video of the first selectman debate was posted Thursday to YouTube. In addition to affordable housing, topics included dysfunction on the Board of Selectmen and improving cell service in New Canaan.