John McCarthy is a 1982 Staples High School graduate, who moved back to Westport 30 years ago. He served 3 terms on the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), and coached Little League softball and baseball, and recreation basketball for many seasons. He is a former board member of Staples Tuition Grants and treasurer of Homes With Hope (in its Interfaith Housing days).
John writes:
Back in 2023, Dan Woog posted some basic ideas I had written on transparency and openness in town government.
I’m not an expert. These were just based on my observations and experiences.
That led to some great conversations with people all over town, who said I had written exactly what they were thinking.
I wish I could say there was a rush by our elected and appointed leaders to embrace the concepts and ideas I presented. But there wasn’t.
It did result in several coffees with officials who wanted to make sure I wasn’t too dangerous. Aside from that: crickets from the elected crowd.
Town Hall: Westport’s seat of government.
Now, with election season here, and every candidate promising transparency and openness, seems like a great time to bring these ideas back to the table.
Two weeks ago I sent each of the 1st selectman candidates a series of 7 concepts of “openness and transparency” in town government, and 7 ideas of how we could make those concepts a reality in Westport.
Some of these are very general concepts. Others are somewhat inside baseball, with specific legal meanings.
The candidates’ unedited responses can be found here in a Google sheet.
I also asked them to answer 2 questions. Their unedited responses are below.
Don O’Day, Kevin Christie and David Rosenwaks: Thank you for taking the time during a busy campaign season to answer these questions. I look forward to seeing how one of you follows up once you are elected.
From left: Kevin Christie and Amy Wistreich; David Rosenwaks; Andrea Moore and Don O’Day.
Questions:
- What will you do in your first month in office to get these ideas and concepts built into the town government’s operating system?
- How would you use the power and influence of the 1st selectman’s position to get these ideas implemented?
Don O’Day:
What I will do in the first month: I plan to identify the current FOIA protocol and see where, if possible, efficiency can be built in the process. I plan to ask for a cost estimate of historical FOIA requests, and identify those areas driving the majority of those requests.
My influence on the operating system is that the system reports to me. I won’t need to do more than simply be an effective leader.
Kevin Christie:
In the first month, I would begin by meeting with department heads, board chairs, and staff to establish clear expectations around openness and communication.
We’ll start by assessing where information is currently siloed or hard to access, and then set short-term steps for improvement, such as ensuring all meeting materials are published online (e.g., Board of Selectmen meeting packets are not typically posted at all, and they should be).
I’ll also continue our open coffee and conversation events we’ve held throughout the campaign, to keep residents directly engaged in how we’re shaping priorities and decisions and to hear the community’s feedback.
The 1st selectman sets the tone and culture for Town Hall and the community, and I start with the belief that government exists to support the people. I would use that position to make openness, engagement and responsiveness part of how Westport operates every day, from how we communicate to how we collaborate.
That includes ensuring cross-board coordination, encouraging department heads to post information proactively, and making sure residents can understand not just what decisions are made, but why. Leadership starts with modeling transparency, and creating an environment where information and participation are valued by everyone in town government.
David Rosenwaks:
As 1st selectman, during the first month on the job, I will sit down with the head of the IT department, other department heads, and elected officials, and tell them that these concepts and ideas will be the framework for how we are going to approach transparency going forward under my administration.
I am also open to setting up an Openness and Transparency Commission/ Committee that will help us implement this approach and help hold us accountable. Achieving greater transparency can ideally save the town time and funds when deliberating on any project.
There are other things that we can be doing as well. For example, every elected and appointed official should be assigned a government email address (not always the case now), and those emails should be listed on the town website. Residents shouldn’t have to struggle to find these email addresses.
Click here to read each candidate’s extended responses to John McCarthy’s 7 concepts, and 7 ideas.
Today, in the Westport Journal, Mr. O’Day stated: “We disagree with the premise that transparency has been lacking.”
Is he blind, deaf, disconnected, or just plain ignorant?
Or just has a temperament and disposition that’s unwilling or unable to admit fault and complicity?
Likely the latter I imagine.
This is not a sexy topic. But it is foundational to all other issues our town has faced and will face in the future.
I have scheduled a meeting room at the library for a post-innaugural public discussion on this topic…..McCall Room Tuesday November 18 2025, 7:30 PM. All are welcome.
Please email me at john@openwestport.org if you have any questions or comments.
I will be there John!
😱
I really can’t believe I have to write this. and it **is** It is just like the national political scene: THERE IS SOMETHING NEW AND OUTRAGEOUS EVERY [expletive] DAY. But as a champion for THE PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO KNOW, I will not shut up.
O’Day’s comments can be summed up as follows:
“Information is the opiate of the people.”
I would love to know TODAY what his new FOIA “protocols” would be … because that will be just one more reason to NOT VOTE FOR YOU!
The more he and his ilk violate FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWS, the more it will cost the taxpayers. Go ahead: put a number on it, O’Day. You seem to like big numbers ($120 million for an elementary school). And maybe don’t create an environment that demands this reaction FROM YOUR CONSTITUENTS!
The more you violate the freedom of information laws, in fact and in spirit, the more it will cost the town – in money and stability. Go for it, Don.
His comments are so unbelievably un-American, insulting and myopic that it is hard to believe he actually said them and believes them. Also quite uninformed and uneducated. I am sure he will come up with another 1980s corporate management ditty; but the corporate world never had to deal with public freedoms beyond SEC disclosures and public safety.
His playbook doesn’t know have a chapter on public freedoms. He knows better than us. He has no idea what FOIA is, means, or why it is a cornerstone of the American Experiment.
His approach feels familiar, like the new communication protocols being implemented at the Pentagon by the Republican Department of War. “National politics are not relevant to Westport,” he says. But it sure feels like he is planning to follow the same road map.
He has tried to control and inhibit the flow of public information for years as if he is in a corporate boardroom (I have video receipts of his line of thinking, track record and penchant for keeping info behind closed doors ).
This is the mindset of a real know-it-all, the “best” mind, the smartest among us.
🤮
Mr O’Day’s statement regarding transparency and “FOIA protocol” rings hollow. Ironically, within the first month of the next administration – regardless of who is elected – the State Freedom of Information Commission will be reviewing Mr O’Day’s conduct as a member of the RTM Finance Committee.
As a fellow RTM Representative, I witnessed first hand how Mr. O’Day rammed through the $103M Long Lots school appropriation – the largest in the town’s history – without giving the public any meaningful opportunity to understand the cost and future tax implications. Never once did he lay out a timeline for the public to comment. His “promised updates” were few, and cursory at best. Never was the project considered in light of the overall capital budget and many other projects we face down the line.
Citing a looming state application deadline (that he failed to anticipate) he instead manipulated a panicked “flood the zone” approach to secure funding by ramming through multiple required approvals during the same week as the final Hamlet proceedings. Worse, he voted – as a member of the RTM Finance Committee – to go into executive session to review his last-minute LL project budget. He claimed it was “procurement reasons”. But in reality, he didn’t want the public to ask any questions about the outrageous over budget cost and ongoing project delays.
Mr. O’Day’s conduct in seeking to secure funding through closed door “executive sessions” before both the BOF and RTM is now under review by the CT Freedom of Information Commission. Unfortunately, the voters will not have the benefit of a ruling prior to November 4th. But in the meantime, voters should not be fooled into thinking they can expect anything different from him.
Would you mind clarifying your statement that the executive sessions are under review by the CT Freedom of Information Commission?
If I understand the process, a person can file a FOI complaint, and then a date is scheduled for a hearing for both parties to present evidence. Is the hearing what you refer to as “under review”?
https://portal.ct.gov/foi/quick-links/citizens-guide