The 2025 election is history.
There was drama: 3rd-party, petitioning and write-in candidates. Three current or recent Democrats, endorsed by 3 different parties. Some intra-party scuffling. A few sharp elbows thrown, publicly and behind the scenes.
But the day after — yesterday — was quite different. Comments made, publicly and privately, were gracious and warm.
Those on the losing end congratulated the winners, and wished them well. Winners thanked losers for stepping up, and advocating well for their issues. (For a few comments from both sides, click here and here.)
Bipartisanship at its best: Last night, after a long Board of Finance meeting, elected officials and town finance director Gary Conrad headed to Spotted Horse to celebrate the end of chair Lee Caney’s 16 years of service. They also toasted Mike Keller, who served 1 term. 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker toasted both.
That’s not always the way things go after an election. Just look at Washington.
Westport is not Washington.
But recently — not necessarily in the campaign, but around several issues leading up to it — we’ve acted at times like it is.
So let’s all of us — public officials and private citizens — take this post-election period as a time to re-set.
Let’s follow yesterday’s lead, of candidates on both sides.
Let’s pledge to address our differences civilly.
Let’s talk calmly about options and alternatives before and during the decision-making process — not yell throughout, and continue yelling after.
Let’s enter dialogues and debates with the mindset that we all want what’s best for Westport — today, and tomorrow.
We will not always agree on what “best” means. But collaboration and compromise — 2 words missing for a while in the capital, and lately in this town — are not dirty words.
In fact, they’re the basis of democracy.
From left: 1st selectman hopefuls Kevin Christie, David Rosenwaks and Don O’Day, with former 1st selectman Jim Marpe, at Wakeman Town Farm’s Harvest Fest. (Photos/Dan Woog)
So: Hail to the victors. Thanks to the vanquished.
We need all of you.
And you need all of us.
See you November 17 at Town Hall, for the swearing-in ceremony of our new selectpersons, boards and RTM.
Yes yes yes yes yes! Preach Dan, right on!!!!! I hope everyone follows these words!
Well said.
We are here for each other.
“all politics is local” -Tip O’Neill
Great sentiment Dan and I believe most Westporters share it. Sadly, some in our town – several of whom are frequent commenters on this blog – clearly do not. Hopefully an overwhelming majority can keep that mindset as the town tackles several major challenges & initiatives that we’ll soon need to face & resolve.
the right people will hear you Dan
…and we’ve got the right people.
It’s in our hearts to know the right way
…..and in this significant moment of choice, I believe we will see the right choice made.
thanks for your urgent reminder….our choice is our Town.
Civility works best in a town with a fully transparent and accountable Town Hall. Westport has not been that town.
Civility also stands a better chance in a town with a fully funded, fully staffed, fully operational press. While Westport is lucky to have 06880 and Westport Journal, neither is set up to research, investigate, and report on costly long-term stories involving deeply complicated issues: state politics, FOIA, FERPA, the much-loved “executive session,” the dubious and consequential back-room machinations of both the Republican Town Committee and the Democratic Town Committee, and the undemocratic actions of local groups that purport to be Democratic.
So-called cranky, “uncivil” commenters and “keyboard warriors” are an important part of the information biosphere.
Could they be more civil sometimes? Sure.
Should they think twice about saying some of the things they say? Maybe.
But discouraging their participation is, in the end, pretty chilling.
Don’t worry Tom. Never happen on my watch.
Tom Prince nails it. I think civic engagement is never more important, and we should encourage more of it, not less.
I have a few more — personal — thoughts on the town kumbaya.
Political criticism is foundational to democracy. Elected officials, those who admirably choose this path, are also aware they become public figures. That is part of the job.
While some citizens choose to air their opinions openly, in published media, using their actual names … others choose to do so in back rooms and in bars, where some real disparaging and bullying cannot be witnessed broadly.
This blog has a carried cowardly anonymous trolling of yours truly (Dan has addressed it when asked). In town meeting after-parties, such as the one pictured here, elected officials have referred to me as “Crazy Simonetti,” and worse. Members of the RTM have been disparaged and bullied by their peers— not on the pages of a blog but on the streets of Westport and behind closed doors. I am a witness to it. It’s a double standard. It’s hypocritical.
So, yes, let’s kumbaya in Westport. A fresh start. A new slate. On these pages and in the back rooms and bars of the power elite.
But if there is a need for a “check” on government, you can be sure “we won’t shut up,” as ProPublica is fond of saying.
Dan in super curious and probably hard to manage without a cumbersome poll, but if u polled your massive subscriber group on top westport issues, im sure we all agree on many but love to make sure new people in positions focus their attention and prioritize.
Traffic
Building/affordable housing/town construction
Parking
Athletic fields
High school safety and facility updates from locker rooms, fields, bleachers, bathrooms to school play auditorium etc
Etc
It’s a nice note and you do an amazing job, Dan. But to be honest the entire state is controlled by democrats. The governor, the legislature, most of the towns, all the US congressmen and senators, even though about 40% of the electorate voted for Trump. The vitriol regularly coming out of CT elected representatives is gross. So how do we feel? Yes, at a local level, while people are generally civil because we’re lucky to live in a really nice town, the divide is still real. I see the program in the schools and think they spend too much time creating the next gen of social justice and climate activists and not enough time helping our kids become smart, critical thinkers, there’s a lot of left wing indoctrination if you pay attention, and the academic scores continue to decline. There’s a lot of focus on social emotional learning at the same time the mental health crisis amongst kids has skyrocketed, so which is the chicken, which is the egg? Different points of view are either ignored or drowned out, not engaged. I fully expect to be asked to leave TEAM because I believe the dei agenda has poisoned our civil discourse and no doubt I’ll be branded a heretic. So from my family to yours, good luck to you all!
God forbid that Westport should help produce the next generation of social justice and climate activists. Because as we all know the world has already achieved a level of perfection that can’t be improved upon.
Doesn’t answer the criticism, John D, like most arguments without arguments.
As a teacher, I would love to see Phillip attempt to teach for one single hour WITHOUT SEL!
Westport would be more interesting if 40% of our electorate voted one way. Republican. However only 28% in Westport voted republican in the last election. One way. Dialogue and differences are important and necessary for growth. Will we accept differences of opinion going forward in Westport?
Phillip,
I am trying to contain my civility on this one. I am a teacher. What you said above is sheer lies, fear mongering, and ignorance.
Have you ever been a teacher in your lifetime? Do you understand what it is like to teach 27 kids in one classroom? Do you understand classroom management? Do you understand that in order for kids to actually learn, they need to be: happy, well adjusted, kind to each other, sympathetic and empathetic? Do you understand that SEL is IMPERATIVE to functioning in a classroom environment?
Mental health of kids is in crisis because: PARENTS ARE TOO BUSY TRYING TO MAKE MONEY AND STAY AFLOAT OR IN THE RAT RACE TO BE ACTUAL PARENTS AND SPEND TIME WITH THEIR KIDS! THAT IS WHY WE NEED SEL IN THE FIRST PLACE! Perhaps extreme capitalism has failed our children in terms of the parents being overworked and the kids being OVERSCHEDULED and expectations to do too much!
I would LOVE to see you teach for ONE HOUR without SEL in place! That would be so fun to observe. In fact, all parents should be required to attempt to teach a class without SEL in place and then comment on SEL and say it is not necessary.
I hope and pray Westport Schools get MORE SEL not less.
Good luck!
Hats-Off to all who serve our town and our shared interests.
Love it! We can be a beacon of hope and unity for all. I thought the idea of a third party was/ is great! On another site I got yelled and screamed at for even considering that notion. Democracy works when we all work together. Democracy does not work when one group or people want to take control and hurt others. Let’s all rise and not become extremists.
Hear hear!
and if you need any more convincing that real compromise is the smart way to go not just for your town but also for USA as a whole, just look – I know it’s hard to, but the lesson it’s going to teach is important for every level of public office in USA – at NYC,
(the compromise candidate in Cuomo didn’t win only because the uncompromising far right or whatever sliwa is fronting stayed in and a very corrupt looking board of elections refused to delete 2 candidates who had dropped out and endorsed Cuomo incl Eric Adams, and now we have a communist who prefers to be called a democratic socialist … )
Cuomo lost because he’s a sexual predator. Full stop.
84% of women 18-29 picked Mamdani.
Him being a pig is what cost him the election, not Sliwa staying in and Adams still on the ballot. Even if you gave Cuomo all those votes he still lost.
actually those complaints were – if you read them your impression would change at least about him in that regard – really not sex assault at all and that’s relying on the desc provided by the people that called themselves ‘hash tag me too victims’. he and real victims of sex assault & harassment were the victims of those complaints, not those complainants.
and, technically, if sliwa dropped out those votes if they still voted would go to Cuomo, those votes added to Adams and Walden votes (the 2 who dropped out and endorsed Cuomo are the 2 who though not running the very left leaning NYC board of elections would not delete fr ballots, would not cross off fr ballots in any way though they were not even running for the office) would have had Cuomo beating The Communist by about 2,000 votes (2,000 is not much but still would have been a win for everyone ‘not far left’ = Cuomo)
Cuomo also could have won if Sliwa just dropped out, it made no sense Sliwa stayed in knowing he was not going to win, totally demolished his own image of an USA 1st, NY 1st, People 1st public figure. (sliwa staying in only makes sense if Sliwa arranged to WITH Mamdani, that’s what’s more likely, the far right and the far left made a pact, time will tell).
Sorry, but this is just a really inaccurate take.
For one, assuming that every single Sliwa voter would have gone to Cuomo is wrong.
For another, Mamdani received 50.4% of the vote. So if every single vote for Sliwa, Adams, Estrada, Walden, Hernandez, and write-ins actually did shift to Cuomo, Mamdani still would have one.
Maths is easy.
The Communist comment is just stupid. If civil consists of putting up with idiocy, I’m not quite on board.
that’s why I said If, (I don’t assume it).
you’re wrong re final numbers.
the communist desc is spot on, no matter what Mamdani calls himself, his agenda, ethos, methods are full on communist.
then there’s that lying about the hate crimes committed against his auntie in a hijab during ‘9/11’ that he totally fabricated – no auntie of his in a hijab, no auntie of his who ever rode a nyc subway, no auntie of his who was a victim of any hate crime committed by NYC’ers. when he admitted 2 hours later also on camera that he had made this auntie up he wondered why it mattered … imagine what lies he’ll put out as mayor also to divide and conquer, (full on communist behaviour, whether they lie or tell the truth, they truly feel doesn’t matter, as long as they get to that ‘control the population under the govt’ goal’.
and, p.s., there’s a very good chance my IQ is higher than yours so going forward I’d hold back on any accusations of ‘stupid’
Communism seeks to eliminate private property entirely, advocating for communal ownership of all means of production.
Socialism allows for some degree of private property and typically focuses on social ownership or regulation of key industries.
Economic System:
Communism aims for a classless society where goods are distributed based on need, often through a planned economy.
Socialism can coexist with capitalism, promoting wealth redistribution through taxation and social welfare programs.
Political Structure:
Communism often involves a single-party state that controls all aspects of life, as seen in historical examples like the Soviet Union.
Socialism can exist within democratic frameworks, allowing for multiple political parties and elections.
Communist hahahahaha. Get a dictionary.
Charles, I wish you would run for office. I heard you speak many times passionately about the things that you believe in you’re very eloquent. You’re very measured in your speech and you’re always right on keep participating in this democracy of Westport. We need your voice.