First Selectman-elect Paul Roy said comments he made to two Republicans who will be serving on the Board of Eduction were intended in the spirit cooperation and not coercion.
But that isn’t necessarily how Bruce Baker is taking alleged threats by Roy to vote for Fred Stanek as chairman of the Board of Education or risk removal from the Chatham LoPresti School Building Committee.
“That’s not the way I intended it,” Roy said of comments made to both Baker and Yashu John Putorti “It is going to be their vote, and their decision.”
Baker came out against what he felt were threats to vote for Stanek or face consequences.
As a member of the Board of Education, Baker was throwing his support to Jeanne Loda for the position.
Roy has been trying to lock in more support for his preference: Stanek.
“He called me and said if I did not vote his candidate I may not be reappointed to the Chatfield LoPresti School Building Committee,” said Baker.
According to Loda, since this issue came to light, neither Baker nor Roy have contacted her directly.
The building committee is appointed yearly by and at the whim of the First Selectman. There is nothing that would prevent Roy from removing Baker or Putorti from the committee.
“What I asked them, what I said to them was if they would help me out on a committee then I could help them out on a committee,” said Roy.
He chalks the issue up to a miscommunication of intent.
According to Roy, First Selectman Bob Koskelowski had suggested that the committee might need to be paired back a bit with fewer appointments. Taking that under consideration, Roy said he hoped that if that were necessary he could work with individuals who would cooperate and meet him halfway on issues.
He wouldn’t say definitively that Baker or anyone else would be removed from the committee if they voted for Loda.
“Please, if you have a compromise lets work on it,” Roy said.
Baker said he will not be threatened into making a choice and will not alter his vote. If that results in his removal from the school building committee, then so be it, he said.
“There is nothing I can do if he does it,” said Baker. “I will just go to the meetings and make my comments as a member of the public.”
Still, he expressed some dismay that after putting in so much work on a committee someone could be removed at the whim of the First Selectman.
“I give him a lot of credit, he is showing a lot of integrity,” Loda said of Baker’s stance.
Loda said she was surprised by the blatant political playmaking taking place in Seymour.
While Baker has been vocal about his conversation with Roy, Putorti has been less so. Roy confirmed he and Puroti had discussed the matter, but Putorti did not returned an email or phone call for comment.
“Yashu and I just had a conversation about it,” said Roy. “I told him you have to vote with your conscience.”
Putorti will be joining the board of education, after completing a stint on the Board of Selectmen, where he served with Roy.
At the center of the ordeal is Loda, the Board of Education member challenging Stanek for the chairman seat. She said she was shocked at this development and a little disheartened that Roy, a member of her own Democratic Party, would work so heavily against her.
Stanek also is part of the Democratic Party.
With the board power shifting to Democratic control, the chairman position would go to a Democratic candidate regardless said Baker. So the Republicans chose to support Loda, who they felt had a better track record.
Roy supports Stanek over Loda because he feels the attorney is a better fit for the position, with a longer history on the board including a brief stint as chair previously.
“It should be the Board of Education making the decision, without anybody trying to influence the vote,” said Loda. “Especially in the way that it was done.”
Stanek’s wife is a teacher in the Seymour school system, but Roy said he didn’t see that as a conflict personally. He did understand how others might.
He also said he didn’t know how the public was going to react to the situation or anything that was said. What he was trying to accomplish was an attempt to give the voters what they had requested in terms of change.
“I’m trying to reach out to people and what the voters want will be done,” said Roy. “People are welcome to call me.”
Baker seems less certain that Roy’s attempts to reach across party lines are so much of a handshake than they are a slap on the wrist.
“If you listen to Mr. Roy he wanted to work across party lines,” said Baker. “Now we have this situation and he’s not even in office yet.”
Loda said she doesn’t know if this is a sign of things to come over the next two years.
Roy will be sworn into office on Dec. 7. at the Middle School. After the swearing in ceremony for all town officials, a board of education meeting will be held at 8 p.m. followed by an organizational meeting where the vote for board chairman will take place.
“Whatever decision they make I am going to stand by,” said Roy.
Baker is also ready and willing to stand by his decision, whatever the consequences might be.
“I would not vote for anything where someone threatened me,” he said.
