Republican town clerk candidate quits race

CROMWELL » Julie Fitts-Ritter, who was the Republican nominee for town clerk in the November election, has withdrawn from the race.

Fitts-Ritter, a longtime member of the Board of Education, was nominated for the clerk’s position during last month’s Republican Town Committee caucus. However, in a spare two-line letter written Monday, Fitts-Ritter withdrew from the race.

In the letter, addressed to Town Clerk Joan Ahlquist — the very person she would have run against — Fitts-Ritter said, “This letter is to inform you that I am withdrawing my nomination for town clerk of Cromwell. Should you need anything else from me, please let me know.” What’s more, during a tele-

phone conversation Monday evening, Fitts-Ritter said she will not seek reelection to the Board of Education.

She has been a member of the school board for 16 years.

After winning the nomination to run for clerk at the caucus, Fitts-Ritter said she weighed whether to continue the race against Ahlquist, an incumbent Democrat, and decided against it.

“I like Joan,” Fitts-Ritter said, in explaining her decision not to pursue the race.

Ahlquist was elected clerk in 2015, after serving 12 years as assistant town clerk working for longtime Town Clerk Darlene DiProto.

When DiProto, who was clerk for 18 years, decided not to run for another term in 2015, Ahlquist stepped up, ran for the post and won handily over her Republican challenger, Allan Spotts.

Whether the Republicans will nominate another candidate for clerk was not immediately clear.

A call to Spotts, who is town committee chairman, seeking comment on FittsRitter’s decision, was not immediately returned.

About her decision not to seek another term on the school board, Fitts-Ritter said, “I just felt it was time.”

With her children now out of the school system, “I just feel disconnected from the school system,” she said. “I definitely had more passion when I first started.”

And so, “It was time for me to bow out gracefully,” she said. “Let someone who has that same kind of passion for the job take it over.”

But rather than just walk away, however, Fitts-Ritter suggested a person to replace her — a person she says has that passion for education: Lindsey Merli. “She’s awesome!” Fitts-Ritter said.

“She has three little kids, and she really wants this,” Fitts-Ritter said of Merli.

And the party agreed, nominating Merli for a seat on the Board of Education.

As for her time on the board, Fitts-Ritter said, “What a great group they have been. Whether they are Democrats or Republicans, it doesn’t matter.”

First, last and always, the overarching commitment is to improving education, Fitts-Ritter said. And as for herself, “I tried, and I did my best. I loved it. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”