Republican no more
Ryan quits GOP, calls flap over vacant board seat a final straw
STAMFORD — Kieran Ryan, one of the city’s leading Republicans and the last on the Board of Finance, has left the party.
He has changed his status to unaffiliated, Ryan said Friday.
He did so after attending a meeting Monday night at which city representatives voted to exclude one of two candidates vying to fill a Board of Finance vacancy.
Ryan said he has become “disgusted” with Board of Representatives Republicans, who advanced their nominee for the seat vacated Dec. 1 by his fellow Republican finance board member, Sal Gabriel, and rejected Gabriel’s suggested nominee.
Gabriel’s recommendation, Josh Esses, was put forward by a sitting representative in accordance with board rules and
should be interviewed by its Appointments Committee Wednesday night, Ryan said. Instead, only Frank Cerasoli, the nominee chosen by the Board of Representatives’ Republican caucus, will be interviewed.
“It’s a lack of respect for the rule of law. It doesn’t matter which party is engaging in that kind of behavior. I can’t in good conscience condone the utter lack of respect for the rule of law,” said Ryan, an attorney. “I don’t want to be associated with this anymore.”
He has no issue with Republican Party members, Ryan said.
“There are a lot of good Republicans in Stamford. I am not disparaging Republicans in general. It’s this group on the Board of Representatives,” he said. “My main problem is we’ve elected these people to make laws all of us are expected to follow. How can we place our trust in these lawmakers who cannot be
bothered to follow their own rules of order?”
Ryan said he has other issues with the board’s Republican caucus, headed by Rep. Mary Fedeli of District 17.
“They are the party leaders in Stamford because they are the ones who exercise legislative authority. They have the power,” Ryan said. “But I don’t think they are independent enough to represent the concerns of ordinary people. I think too often they put the people’s business behind other business, such as large commercial developers and various other special interests.”
Ryan said that concern is a reason that, two years ago, he worked toward creation of Reform Stamford, a movement within the Democratic Party to win Board of Representatives seats for candidates who sought to advocate for citizens in the face of what they call an entrenched political system. Six Reform Stamford candidates won board seats, and since then other representatives have aligned themselves with the movement.
He felt that working with Democrats was the only way to effect change, since they outnumber Republicans in Stamford 2 ½ to 1, said Ryan, who was elected to the Board of Representatives in 2013 before winning his seat on the Board of Finance.
“I had hoped that more of the Republican caucus on the Board of Representatives would have supported reform. I’m disappointed that they have set themselves up in opposition to muchneeded reforms,” Ryan said. “That also is part of why I’m leaving the party.”
The vote Monday by the board’s Steering Committee was the last straw, he said. Rep. Annie Summerville, D6, chairwoman of the Appointments Committee, sought to place Esses on her agenda to be interviewed Wednesday, but the Steering Committee rejected her request after Fedeli asked that members honor the choice of the Republican caucus.
Ryan said board rules mandate that a person nominated to fill a vacancy in a citywide office be presented to the Appointments Committee. Fedeli said Friday she reads the rules to say that happens only on approval of the Steering Committee.
“Steering has the right to put it on the board’s agenda or not, just like other items,” Fedeli said. “Steering can vote it up or down.”
Fedeli said her caucus worked with the Republican Town Committee and agreed on one nominee, Cerasoli. Esses was nominated outside that process, without notification to the caucus, she said.
The Republican caucus — eight of the Board of Representatives’ 40 members — does not work in the interest of the Democratic establishment and administration, as Ryan charged, Fedeli said.
“That’s his opinion. He has every right to it,” Fedeli said. “I think we’re an independent body. If I had the ear of all the Democrats, our candidate for the Planning Board, Mike Totilo, would have passed, but
it didn’t. Certainly for the budget we speak our minds, and when we don’t vote in favor of budgets, it’s not like we’re voting with the established Democrats, so I don’t believe that.”
Rep. Bradley Michelson, R1, said there is a difference of opinion about whether board rules were broken Monday night.
“It can be interpreted both ways,” he said.
But the caucus’ priorities are clear, Michelson said.
“We work with the people who share our same principles, whether they are the established Democrats or the Reform Democrats. We have no power otherwise, because we are a super minority,” Michelson said. “That’s the way it should be. People should not be politically aligned; they should be aligned according to their principles.”
Rep. J.R. McMullen, R18, said it was good that Democrats on the Steering Committee voted to support the choice of the caucus, which interviewed the candidates.
“The Democrats stayed out of what I think should
be a Republican process of filling a Republican seat,” McMullen said.
Fritz Blau, chairman of the Republican Town Committee, said Ryan’s switch to unaffiliated is a loss.
“I respect Kieran. He’s a very intelligent man who has made a decision that will affect his politics going forward,” Blau said. “Politics will never be the same.”
Ryan issued a statement Friday saying he has wondered why voter turnout is often low.
“But after maneuvers like this one, it’s easy to understand why some residents think the game is rigged and that their voices don’t matter,” he said. “They think a small number of established insiders — both Republican and Democrat — serve party loyalty, special interest groups, commercial developers, the pleasure of a particular mayor, or personal ambitions over the good of our residents. And I don’t blame them for thinking that it’s true.”