Norwalk Dems, Republicans have a slate of one to choose from

NORWALK, Conn. – A one-time potential leader for the Norwalk Democratic Town Committee says he is no longer interested after a bruising January town committee election, but Republicans seem to be set on Pete Torrano as their chief for the next two years.

David Jaeger, who ran as the Democratic Town Clerk candidate in 2011, said he is no longer seeking the Norwalk DTC chairmanship after some nastiness in District A. Brenda Penn-Williams, who also said in early January that she was interested, is still on board. If anyone else is seeking the spot, they don’t seem to be going public yet.

Meanwhile, Torrano said it looks like he will be the successor to longtime RTC Chairman Art Scialabba.

“Yes, looks like me,” he said in an email. “No opposition. As for the other offices, I can’t say with any certainty, although I’m sure some will remain and others will step down. I have a pretty good understanding of what will probably be the executive board, but I don’t want to commit at this time. Things can always change.”

Jaeger did not make it onto the DTC during the Jan. 9 election. That’s the one that resulted in ugly accusations from Councilman David Watts (D-District A) that state Rep. Chris Perone tried to engineer “a little coup” to take over the ward.

That is why Jaeger has dropped his desire to succeed Amanda Brown as DTC chair person, Jaeger said.

“First there were false accusations about me involved in a campaign to overtake District A. Hence a slate was formed to keep me off. As a result I was not vot‎ed on as a DTC rep, hence I removed myself from consideration,” he wrote in an email.

While Jaeger said in January that he had heard that three or four people were interested in becoming DTC chairperson, now, he said, “I have not heard of anyone else running but Brenda.”

Former council member Warren Peña, who was elected to the DTC in January, said he is “not too sure yet” about who might be seeking the chairmanship.

This all surprised Penn-Williams.

“You say front-runner; I guess I’m the only runner at this time,” she said. “I don’t know, I haven’t heard. There could be someone else running.”

“I think the DTC needs to move in a different direction,” Penn-Williams said in January. “I’m interested in trying to bring the Norwalk Democratic Party back together so we can get a little more seats on the Common Council. That takes unity to be able to do what we need to do.”

The Dems meet at 7 p.m. March 10 in the City Hall community room. The Republicans meet at 7:30 p.m. March 13 at the Norwalk Inn.