Norwalk political notes: Election 2022

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

• NPD union President asks: Does Stefanowski think we’re stupid?
• Miressi quit job to challenge Duff
• Duff, Rilling, tout Lamont’s support for Norwalk

NPD union considering Stefanowski endorsement

With the Norwalk Police Union meeting Thursday to vote on endorsing a candidate for Governor, its President doesn’t know if it would be wise to choose Republican candidate Bob Stefanowski, even if Democratic incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont signed the police accountability bill two years ago.

“Stefanowski saying that his first thing he was going to do as the new governor is repeal police accountability goes to show exactly how ignorant he is of how the levers of government work. Because he has absolutely no authority to repeal a law. If that was the case, (former Gov.) Dan Malloy would have repealed possession of narcotics and his kid wouldn’t have had any problems,” Lt. David O’Connor, president of Police Union Local 1727, said Wednesday.

O’Connor also said he didn’t know if it’s wise to back a losing horse. Union members want to make a political stand but it’s a Democratic state and that won’t change soon.

“I’m conflicted because I think that when the race is so obviously done even before it starts, when you’re behind 15-16 points in the polls, we’re backing a loser and that’s not good for us either,” he said, likening it to supporting the Jets but not betting on them to win the Super Bowl.

O’Connor cautioned that he has one vote and “my personal opinion means nothing.”

He said, “I just think that I think that when we make an endorsement, it shouldn’t just be straight down the Republican ticket. We should be thoughtful and deliberative about what we’re doing …If it’s simply because we don’t like police accountability, Bob Stefanowski is gonna do precious little to change that. If he thinks that we’re so stupid that he thinks that he can say, ‘I’m going to repeal it’ … that’s not how things work. I think he thinks he’s talking down to us and that we’re so gullible we’ll believe this crap he’s shoveling us. Not that Ned Lamont is any better.”

Corrected, 11:59 p.m.: Police accountability bill was passed two years ago.

Miressi now a former Post Office employee

Republican State Senate candidate Daniel Miressi left his Post Office job to challenge State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-25), he said Tuesday.

Under the Hatch Act, Post Office employees are barred from running for election to a partisan political office. “Penalties for Hatch Act violations range from reprimand or suspension to removal and debarment from federal employment and may include a civil fine,” the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said in a 2018 news release.

Miressi was born in Norwalk and raised in Monroe, he said in May. He graduated from Trumbull High School and went to Framingham State University, majoring in history and minoring in education. There, he distinguished himself in hockey and went on to play at the minor league level, last for the Danbury Titans in 2015-16. He’d worked at the U.S. Post Office for two years, he said.

Does Miressi work now?

“I coach hockey and mentor the youth that come through the programs,” he said Wednesday in an email. “I believe it is important to add that I am not going to apologize for resigning from my secure government job because I wanted to commit my day to day to running in order to effectuate change in our District.”

According to Republican Registrar Brian Smith, Miressi first registered to vote in Norwalk three days before the Norwalk Republican convention in July, where he was endorsed to run against Duff.

Independent Party State Central Committee member Lisa Brinton is also challenging Duff.

‘Lamont and Norwalk’s leaders highlight Democratic policies delivering for Norwalk and Connecticut’

“There is so much interest in being here in Norwalk and that is because of the work and the investments Governor Lamont has made. He has supported infrastructure, parks, schools and transit-oriented development. We are grateful for his support,” State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-25) said Monday in a news conference, according to a news release.

Mayor Harry Rilling touted Lamont’s leadership during the pandemic and said Connecticut was listed as one of the safest states in the country during the worst of the pandemic.

Lamont mentioned “$296 million here for Norwalk for transportation, housing and getting our state growing again.”

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