Cunningham reappointed to Police Commission
Cunningham, who is a former Democrat but now registered as a “U” for Unaffiliated, has been serving on the Police Commission since September 2019. He was filling a vacancy being left by Paul Johnson, who resigned after serving on the Police Commission for 32 years.
It was like déjà vu — straight along party lines, Kevin Cunningham was once again appointed to the Police Commission at Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting in Darien.
By a vote of 3 to 2, Republicans Christa McNamara, Kip Koons and First Selectman Jayme Stevenson voted for Cunningham, and Democrats Sarah Neumann and David Martin voted for Sharad Samy, who was the other candidate being considered.
Samy was put forward for the spot by the Democratic Town Committee.
“We had the privilege of interviewing two great candidates for this position,” Stevenson said, before the vote. “I had great interviews with those gentlemen.”
Cunningham, who is a former Democrat but now registered as a “U” for Unaffiliated, has been serving on the Police Commission since September 2019. He was filling a vacancy being left by Paul Johnson, who resigned after serving on the Police Commission for 32 years.
Cunningham’s term will end June 30, 2023.
The entire vote took about one minute, and there was no follow-up discussion about the appointment, among Selectmen members.
The agenda for the Board of Selectmen did not list who was being considered for that commission position. The board conducted the interviews during executive session, which ran about 30 minutes late.
About the candidates
According to Cunningham’s resume, he has over a decade of experience in the areas of business continuity, crisis management, disaster recovery planning, and emergency response and operations.
He is currently a director at a California-based technology firm. In this position, he is the “Global Business Continuity and Crisis Management lead for the world’s largest colocation data center provider and technology firm,” his resume said.
Samy was born in India and is an Ivy League educated lawyer who served in the United States Army for eleven years. He left the service as a Major in the JAG Corps. He went on to be a partner at one of America’s largest law firms and is currently General Counsel at an investment firm in Connecticut.
Watch the meeting’s live stream or post meeting on video at Darien TV/79.