ANSONIA — The Ansonia’s GOP’s “Rally for Valley Taxpayers” scheduled for Oct. 30 has been postponed, officials said Tuesday.
The event was to take place at the city’s River Walk, but was postponed because it conflicted with the convention of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
Word about the rally slipped out a day after teachers and parents held their own rally with Democratic candidates at the high school Oct. 19.
That rally was to draw attention to the school district’s legal battle with the city over a $600,000 budget cut. Teachers say the funding cut has decimated the school system.
Several Valley GOPers blasted the rally at the high school, saying Democrats in state government were to blame for Ansonia’s funding woes. The rally, several Valley Republicans said, was just an opportunity to score political points ahead of Election Day.
The GOP rally was to “thank Valley taxpayers for everything that they do, and stress the need for solutions that don’t involve increasing the tax burden on residents and businesses,” according to Sheila O’Malley, one of the event’s organizers.
Valley Democrats said the Ansonia GOP is tone deaf, and questioned why anyone would show up at rally to “counter” an event that advocated for better public schools.
“I don’t believe they were able to get the outcome they were looking for by organizing this event,” said Chris Larocque, a Derby resident who has become an active Democrat. “It doesn’t initially seem to be effective at rallying the folks that Republicans need to be fired up and turn out on Election Day.”
“Successful local governments don’t attempt to position educational interests against portions of their own populations,” he said.
David Papcin, chairman of Ansonia’s Republican Town Committee, said the GOP rally was not in response to the school rally, “no matter how much Democratic activists would like to tie it in that way.”
“I’d say genuinely the response has been good, but there has been many Democratic activists on social media looking to label this as an assault on education (My thought process is because we announced it after the education rally, but realistically it’s been in the planning stages for quite some time now, and still is),” Papcin said.
“They can think what they want because this rally is entirely its own thing focused on one issue: Taxes, and what can happen when we bring them down in a smart manner,” he said.
Sam Pollastro, a Derby Republican leader, called the Ansonia High School rally a political rally, and questioned whether the city’s school superintendent should have sent emails reminding staffers it was happening.
On Wednesday, critics of Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti raised similar questions, this time questioning whether O’Malley, the city’s economic development director, should dedicate time to emailing elected officials and Republican candidates for office about political rallies.
“It’s also organized by Sheila O’Malley, the economic development director that lives far from the Valley,” said Brian Perkins, a Republican who has frequently opposed Ansonia Republicans on education funding. “It was scheduled and put together by her during working hours no less.”
Perkins is from Ansonia, but is currently serving in the U.S. military.
In an e‑mail, O’Malley said she sent a notice to others about the event Friday afternoon, after City Hall closed at 1 p.m. But that timeline lends credence to suspicions the rally was planned as a counter-demonstration to their rally at the high school.
“I am not the organizer, it’s the area Republicans, but I was asked to help and I’m happy to help,” O’Malley said. “I’ve worked in the Valley for over 30 years and believe I’ve helped a little along the way.”
