Updated, 11:38 p.m. Saturday, comment from Mayor Richard Moccia
NORWALK, Conn. – A member of the Norwalk Republican caucus is leaving City Hall after a decade on the Common Council.
Common Councilman Carvin Hilliard, a District B Democrat who has been caucusing with the Republicans since early February, said he is not running for re-election.
A retiree, he said he is going to spend winters in Santee, S.C., where he has family.
“I’m not going to be in Norwalk permanently,” said Hilliard, who is from South Carolina. “I’m going to be going home, probably spending the winter down there.”
Hilliard is one of three Democrats in the Republican caucus. None of them were endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee.
District B Councilman Michael Geake said recently that he will force a primary to run as a Democrat for the council. District A Councilman Bruce Kimmel is running for an at-large council position as a Republican Town Committee endorsed candidate.
Hilliard said two weeks ago that he wasn’t sure if he would run for re-election, but decided “a couple of days ago” not to go for it. He retired from his job as an insurance salesman in January 2009.
He said he has a sister, a brother and a son in Santee.
The Hour reports that Hilliard said property matters are behind his decision.
“It’s just that for personal reasons I’m going to relax, try to get out of spending these winters up here,” he said. “I just want to buy a home. You know what I mean?”
Hilliard left the Democratic caucus in June 2012 after after he was accused of leaking secret conversations to Republican Mayor Richard Moccia, an accusation he strongly denied.
Councilman Warren Peña (D-at-large), who was then minority leader, said at the time that Hilliard’s departure was part of the plan. “We have been changing the landscape of our party since I joined in 2011,” he said in an email. “This is right in line with our intentions, which is to move forward without folks like Carvin being a part of our future.”
“He would have faced a tough primary battle,” Current Minority Leader David Watts (District A) said. “After 10 years on the council he’s looking to move on.”
Watts said he goes to the same church as Hilliard, Mt. Zion Baptist, where Hilliard is a deacon. He said Hilliard brought him to the church and has been a political mentor.
“Even though we had political disagreements, when we go to church on Sunday we have to forgive one another,” Watts said. “We belong to different caucuse but we’re in the same caucus with Jesus.”
Watts said he supported Hilliard when he ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2005. Hilliard has always been in the forefront of education issues and in the fight against outsourcing garbage collection, Watts said.
“We’ve had some disagreement, but I think he’s making the right decision,” he said. “I just think that, at this point in time, he’s doing the right thing.”
Moccia said he will miss Hilliard.
“I will miss him as a councilman but more importantly if, as I understand, he may be moving back to South Carolina, I will miss him as a friend,” Moccia said in an email. “A man of integrity.”
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