Some GOP town committees losing moderate members
As the state Republican party prepares for its quadrennial convention for governor and Congress on May 7, several recent meetings of suburban town committees have been the site of contentious membership challenges, with moderates ousted by conservative GOP voters.
Town committees in Greenwich, Easton, Guilford and Woodbury have seen surprise votes from conservatives fired up by Donald Trump’s grievances, along with face mask fatigue and school controversies.
Ben Proto, state Republican chairman, said the town committee votes were fairly run.
“At the end of the day, Republicans came out and voted for the people they wanted to represent them on the local town committee,” Proto said. “I believe in the election process. Whether or not there will be primaries will be up to the folks who were defeated. I support the elections. I support the primaries.
“There will be town committee members who will elect chairmen who will work to advance the Republican agenda and principles, and work together to elect more Republicans in 2022.”
But a political scientist at Sacred Heart University who is an expert on Connecticut Republicans, believes the conservative takeovers in recent caucuses are a sign of a shrinking state Republican Party that is being taken over by a faction that will not help the GOP in the long run.
Gary Rose, chairman of the Department of Government at Sacred Heart University, said louder, more-conservative voices have been taking over the state Republican Party even as the voter ranks have decreased sharply over the last 20 years.
“Their influence becomes more pronounced as the party gets smaller,” said Rose, in his 40th year at Sacred Heart.
In Easton and Greenwich, Trumpaligned conservatives took over the majority of those town committees, ousting longtime moderate members in surprise maneuvers.
Some of the defeated members in Easton are pursuing petition campaigns to possibly force a townwide Republican primary in March.
In Woodbury, a mask mandate at a town committee meeting exploded into a noisy confrontation that preceded the removal this week of several longtime town committee members, including Louis C. DeLuca, a former state Senate minority leader.
Guilford’s inter-party squabble appears to be an extension of the local school board battle over how race is taught in schools and the so-called critical race theory that led to major Democratic and independent victories last November in the voting for the Board of Education, Proto said.
The Easton uprising was the product of organizing among the conservative local Citizens for Responsible Government.
“The ERTC membership for the next two years reflects a new group of equally talented and diverse backgrounds with a shared purpose of serving Easton,” Wendy Bowditch, the Easton RTC chairwoman, said in a diplomatic Facebook post after the votes.
“They will work together to further the cause of important Republican
issues here in our town.”
But according to the Easton Courier, the petition effort among the ousted is already underway in the party division.
“I wish the new Republican Town Committee good luck,” said Adam Dunsby, a former Easton first selectman. In an interview on Thursday, Dunsby who also served in the state House of Representatives, said he will not seek to regain his seat on the town committee, although he supports the petition effort.
Shortly after the reelection of Republican Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo in November, Dan Quigley, chairman of the GOP town committee, wrote that it was time to “move on,” past Trump. Quigley narrowly retained his spot on the committee.
“What we are seeing is a faction that in the past would have been balanced by moderate factions, or even more liberal-leaning town committee members, who don’t exist anymore. It’s not too surprising, but it’s not a formula for winning a statewide campaign,” said Rose.