Richard ‘Zeke’ Dziekan, a retired Hamden police officer, announced his intent Thursday to seek the Republican nomination for mayor.
Dziekan said Derby must grow its grand list and that Mayor Anita Dugatto has not done enough to promote economic development.
“A strong leader would leader would rally Democrats and Republicans to make tax relief an absolute priority,” Dziekan said in a speech surrounded by about 15 supporters outside Derby City Hall.
“This involves work, hard work from Democrats, Republicans and independents,” he said.
Dziekan has previous political experience and said public service is in his blood.
He was elected to the tax board in 2011, and was appointed to the Derby Board of Aldermen in 2013 to serve out the term of Third Ward Aldermen Ken Hughes, who had stepped down.
He lost a re-election bid by a narrow margin later that year.
He is a former commander at the Catholic Water Veterans in Derby — a position his late father once held — and he currently serves on the tax board, after replacing Carolyn Duhaime when she stepped down.
Dziekan, 49, is a 1983 graduate of Derby High School and lives on Krakow Street with his wife, Kristen.
He retired about two years ago from the Hamden Police Department, where he worked for 24 years.
Read his speech below. The article continues after the document.
Dziekan said leadership matters and that Dugatto hasn’t turned out to be a strong leader.
He said Derby is divided and alluded to Democratic infighting that marked Dugatto’s first months in office.
He also criticized the mayor for not hiring an economic development director, something he said the city needs badly.
“For the past two years economic development and business growth has been treated like an afterthought,” he said. “The mayor’s office has failed to put together a development team by neglecting to fill the critical positions of economic development director and grant writer. These appointed positions could have been bringing in investors and funds into the city.”
Dugatto was elected in 2013, ousting Republican incumbent Anthony Staffieri, who made a speech himself Thursday endorsing Dziekan. Staffieri told the CT Post that he planned to run for Alderman in the Third Ward.
Dugatto was upstairs in the Aldermanic chambers during Dziekan’s announcement. She has already announced her intent to seek a second, two-year term.
Her reaction Thursday?
“Good luck to him,” she said.
Neither Dugatto or Dziekan are the party-backed candidates at this point.
Both the Republican and Democratic town committees will be meeting by the end of the month to endorse candidates for mayor and fill a slate of under-ticket candidates.
Dziekan’s campaign is being managed by Sam Pollastro Jr., a former Alderman who serves with Dziekan on the tax board.
Pollastro hinted that two Democratic Aldermen won’t seek re-election, and insinuated they’re unhappy with the current administration.
Dugatto said and Pollastro confirmed that the only two Republican Aldermen on the board are planning to switch to the Democratic Party for the upcoming election cycle.
Messages were sent to four Aldermen late Thursday seeking clarification.
Peter Olenoski, a first-term Third Ward Aldermen elected as a Republican, responded early Friday by confirming that he and Second Ward Aldermen Joseph DiMartino had crossed party lines.
Olensoki said that he and DiMartino switched because the Democratic Party is heading in the right direction.
Both Dugatto and Pollastro said the under-ticket will be clearer once both parties hold their nominating conventions.
In addition, both Dugatto and Dziekan said they would be willing to participate in a mayoral debate, something that hasn’t happened in Derby in years.
Dugatto defeated Staffieri by about 400 votes in 2013, becoming the city’s first female mayor.
Her campaign that year brought in consultants who mined data and aimed specifically at getting women out to the polls to support Dugatto. Her fundraising for this campaign is well underway.
When asked if would be bringing in hired guns, Dziekan pointed out the first person to make a speech Thursday — newly minted state Republican Party Chairman J.R. Romano, a Derby native.
Romano said he’ll do everything he can to help get Dziekan elected.
Bringing national campaign strategies don’t matter much in a city like Derby, he said.
“This is local politics. Taking a national model and saying you’re targeting women … at the end of the day this is a small town and the election is about relationships,” Romano said. “It’s not going to be about targeting individual groups. It’s going to be about talking to families at their kitchen tables.”
The election is in November.
