If elected First Selectman of Oxford, veteran attorney George R. Temple vows to tear down at least one barrier between government and the people.
“There are a lot of politicians who are saying they have an open door policy. I’m a little different. I’m going to take the door off the First Selectman’s office and put in the the hall, to let everyone know, if I’m there, come and talk to me,” said Temple, 65.
The U.S. Navy veteran knows his way around municipal government. He was previously town counsel for Oxford — and he is a past town counsel for Seymour.
Yet he’s been the political underdog fighting every step of the way so far this campaign season.
The Oxford Town Republican Committee did not want Temple as their candidate. The majority of its members backed David Yish, a current member of the Board of Selectmen.
However, Temple was able to garner more Republican votes than Yish during a close nominating convention.
Yish then forced a primary, which Temple also won.
Now another fellow Republican — David Haversat — just threw his hat into the Oxford First Selectman’s race as a write-in candidate.
The Democrats are running Joseph Calabrese, an architect and volunteer firefighter who has been working as an administrative assistant to First Selectwoman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers.
Temple and his running mate Jeff Haney have adopted “Oxford Together” as their campaign slogan.
Both he and Calabrese have refrained from attacking each other, although they disagree in some areas of town policy.
“Oxford has the image, unfortunately, that politics in the past has been very vituperative. I’m trying to back off of that,” Temple said.
Temple also said he was respectful of Yish during their Republican primary.
“I thought the campaign between Mr. Yish and myself was a model of how a campaign should be. It was hotly contested, but we were respectful of each other, of the parties, of the voters. That’s the kind of Oxford I want to project. Oxford Together, that’s where we’re coming from. Democrats, Republicans, independents,” Temple said. “If you love the town, you can be under our banner.”
However, Haversat’s surprise announcement last week that he was running for the town’s top political office upset Temple.
Temple called Haversat “bitter” but isn’t concerned that Haversat will take away votes.
Background
Temple draws experience from years of service in two towns.
He was Oxford’s town lawyer for four years — and he was Seymour’s town lawyer for six years.
He has lived in Oxford for 20 years, but his political experience goes back further.
He is a former chairman of the Seymour Board of Finance, a former member of the Seymour Board of Education, and a former member of the Seymour Board of Police Commissioners.
Temple has ideas about how to improve Oxford, such as bringing in more corporate offices and medical offices to balance the light industry that has been coming to town. He has ideas about cooperatively buying road repair equipment, with other towns, to help solve Oxford’s road repair problems.
“The first thing I’m going to do is appoint a roads commission,” Temple said. “We want to get control of our town here. They would set priorities for what road work needs to be done.”
He believes taxes were kept artificially low by delaying road repairs. He also believes he can get the work done while stabilizing the taxes by bringing in new development.
“From the day I get sworn in I’m hitting the ground running on economic development,” Temple said.
But most of all he said his idea is to listen to what people have to say, no matter their party affiliation, and be a consensus builder.
One of his most vocal supporters is his friend of the past five years, Coach Gerard Carbonaro of Oxford High School.
Carbonaro has coached Temple’s son, Andy, in wrestling and football, which is how they met.
“I immediately took to him because he’s just very genuine and sincere,” said Carbonaro, who is a Republican candidate for Board of Education. The interview with Carbonaro was done prior to the coach’s suspension for getting into an argument with a fellow coach after a football game.
Temple said the campaign has been a rewarding experience.
“The message is we are interested in what you have say. I will listen to what you have to say. I want to learn from you,” Temple said.
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