Call him Shelton’s own Ron Swanson.
Swanson, a character from the NBC show “Parks and Recreation,” has achieved cult popularity as, among other things, a baffling contradiction in terms — a vehemently anti-government government official — one might think could only spring from the laptop of a seasoned sitcom writer.
But anyone at the two meetings of the Planning and Zoning Commission in which Josh Kopac, elected in November as one of the board’s alternates, has participated as a voting member could be forgiven for thinking they were witnessing something just as fanciful.
Kopac, the 19-year-old director of business development at an online marketing firm based in West Hartford, has heard 18 motions while acting as a substitute for full board members. He has voted no on every single one of them. And, he assures, he will be voting no on any others.
His reasoning is simple: the government shouldn’t intrude on the property rights of citizens. At all. And when the government does regulate businesses it stifles productive economic activity in doing so.
“I’m a free market man,” the 2010 Shelton High School graduate said during an interview Friday. “I’m not voting no to the applicant. I’m voting no to the system.”
Click here for a guest column written by Kopac.
Can Anything Be Built Anywhere?
Kopac’s fellow commission members picked up quickly on his perspective during the board’s Dec. 13 meeting.
According to the minutes, after Kopac’s first two no votes, on motions regarding signage for local businesses which both passed 5 – 1, Commissioner Joan Flannery and Chairperson Ruth Parkins asked about his reasoning.
He responded by citing property rights as “basically the essence of liberty at the utmost degree,” the minutes say, and that he “does not believe in dictating what you do with your property.”
A lengthy discussion ensued, featuring hypotheticals for Kopac to ponder. Could anything be built anywhere, Flannery asked, as long as somebody wants to do it? Yes, Kopac replied, as long as the person owns the land or is renting it.
Anthony Panico, a consultant to the commission, asked if he could move in next door to Kopac and build a gas station. Yes, Kopac said, that would certainly be his right. Panico then said he was curious as to what possessed Kopac to run for a seat on the commission when it delves into the very things Kopac does not believe in. Kopac responded by saying he understood the point, according to the minutes.
A copy of the meeting minutes is posted below.
The Choice To Make A Bad Decision
Asked Friday what kind of system he’d like to see in place of the current one, Kopac, whose campaign in November for an alternate spot on the commission was his first for public office, said that ideally, property owners should have “the choice to make a bad decision.”
“Maybe they’ll be more productive if they can make mistakes and learn from them,” he said. “People are capable of making their own decisions. It’s their property. It’s the fruit of their labor.”
“If you’re regulating someone’s property, that’s not the free market,” he said. “That’s the furthest thing from it. We’d be more prosperous without zoning regulations. We’d attract many new businesses we don’t try to attract.”
Kopac said he became interested in government and politics around 2007, when he spoke out during a Board of Education meeting against what he called “reckless spending and teacher firings.” Before long he found himself getting more and more involved with the local Republican Town Committee, which nominated him for the alternate spot on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Sticking to His Guns
Asked if Republican officials knew of his beliefs regarding property rights before they nominated him, Kopac said they didn’t — but that he didn’t either.
“I got a phone call late one night saying ‘Hey, you’ve been nominated.’ From there I had to learn my stance on property rights,” Kopac said, noting that “a lot of reading and discussion” went into the formulation of his current views.
Planning and Zoning Commission Chairperson Ruth Parkins, a Republican, said in an e‑mail that she met with Kopac a few times before the election, but that “his views on zoning were never made transparent.”
Parkins said she was “as surprised as the other commissioners” at the December meeting, and has since tried persuading Kopac “that his actions are in reality contradictory to his professed beliefs.”
“Rather than being an advocate for the people, he is denying them the very right he claims they should have,” Parkins said, adding that Kopac’s tactics “may be viewed as obstructionism.”
Regardless, she said, “the Planning and Zoning Commission can and will operate effectively.”
Republican Town Committee Chairman Anthony Simonetti said Monday that while Kopac’s beliefs might rub some the wrong way, local Republicans celebrate having members with diverse viewpoints.
“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” Simonetti said. “This is a free country as far as the Republican Town Committee is concerned.”
“We’re not in the business of telling people what to do,” Simonetti added. “There are people who see things differently, and that’s fair.”
Asked if he could ever see himself being persuaded by an argument that government should have at least some input on what businesses do, Kopac deemed it unlikely.
“My opinion may be different from everyone else’s, but I offer another perspective,” Kopac said. “My goal is to educate over the next two years. I welcome opposition.”
“I’m going to stick to my guns,” he went on. “The businessman will make the best decision. That’s the true free market.”
