Norwalk political notes: Dathan, Schantz and a moment of silence

NORWALK, Conn. — Some Norwalk political notes for you:

• Dathan on Comey’s accident, intoxication
• Schantz exits Assistant City Clerk job
• Mushak honors late Mary Roman, who died from COVID

Dathan on Comer

State Rep. Lucy Dathan (D-142) has offered some thoughts on State Rep. Robin Comey (D-Branford) recently being arrested on a drunk driving charge after flipping her car March 16 near the State Capitol and questions asked by blogger Kevin Rennie, a lawyer and former Republican Connecticut legislator, who writes a column for the Hartford Courant.

“Before Comey flipped her car, she had been at the Legislative Office Building and then, incredibly, with three fellow House Democrats at a Capitol Avenue bar,” Rennie wrote in a Saturday column. “She left the bar shortly before 7 p.m. and made her way to begin her doomed drive home. Did Comey’s three friends, state Reps. Lucy Dathan, Anne Hughes and Kerry Wood tell her she should not drive—though a short time later she could barely walk?”

Dathan told NancyOnNorwalk that she joined her colleagues at the Red Rock bar for about an hour; Comey came in after she did, and Dathan left before Comey.

“I didn’t notice any level of her impairment as I left,” Dathan said. “But for the most part, I’m saddened to hear what happened to her. I’m glad that she’s OK and nobody else was hurt in this incident. And I just hope that, you know, she is going to get treatment. I hope that she focuses on her health, and she has a successful recovery.”

New Assistant City Clerk needed

Norwalk hired Jordan Schantz as Assistant City Clerk in June, seven months after Irene Dixon left the post to become City Clerk. Now he’s made an exit.

Schantz resigned March 2, citing personal reasons, said Norwalk Director of Communications Michelle Woods Matthews.

His LinkedIn page hasn’t been updated to show a new job. He previously worked as legislative liaison for the Office of Nassau County.

Mushak honors Roman, an early COVID victim

Planning and Zoning Commissioner Mike Mushak took time at Wednesday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to remember the late Mary Roman, who died March 23, 2020, from COVID-19.

Roman, then-City Clerk, swore him into his first term as a Zoning Commissioner back in 2008, under the Moccia administration, Mushak said. Roman was Clerk for two decades, under Republican and Democratic Mayors, and he remembered being with her the first time she saw a whale while on a church retreat to Provincetown.

“I just wanted to have a little brief moment for Mary and the other 1.15 million people in America and the 7 million people around the world who have passed,” Mushak said, remarking that he was glad to see Commissioner Darius Williams, who missed the previous meeting because he was sick with COVID.

“Certainly, the disease is not as bad as it was in the early days,” Mushak said. “But we’re just learning how to talk about this and process this in our society. And when I just think back on what it was like three years ago, when Mary passed, we couldn’t believe it.”

Roman, a renowned senior athlete, was Norwalk’s third Covid fatality when she died at age 83. According to the City’s website, 296 Norwalkers have died from COVID-19.