BOS Appoints Rich McCarty as New Selectman — After He Registers as a Democrat

There’s a new selectman in Wilton, but not everyone on the BOS is happy about how he was appointed.

Rich McCarty, a former Fire Commission member, was appointed to the empty seat on the Board of Selectmen on Monday night, Aug. 4, with a 2-2 vote that was then decided by First Selectman Toni Boucher‘s executive power.

The appointment process for the seat recently vacated by former Selectman Bas Nabulsi was steeped in controversy after two BOS members expressed strong objections to how Boucher handled the vetting process and last minute news about who could and couldn’t qualify to be appointed.

Late-Night Discovery and a ‘Flawed Process’

At the BOS meeting on July 22, Second Selectman Josh Cole and Selectwoman Kim Healy publicly expressed strong objections to how Boucher handled the selection process, leaving BOS members out of the loop and dissuading at least one candidate from taking an interview with the BOS.

At the time, Boucher had put McCarty, then an unaffiliated voter, on the BOS agenda as the sole candidate to be interviewed and voted on, prior to the objections raised.

At Cole and Healy’s urging, the BOS reopened the call for candidates, allowing new people more than a week to submit their names and arrange for a public interview with the full BOS.

Up until Monday, the BOS thought that they could fill the seat with either a registered Democrat, an unaffiliated voter, or a member of a third party, thanks to minority representation rules. However, Second Selectman Josh Cole made a late-night discovery just hours before Monday’s BOS meeting when he reviewed the actual statute, which would require that the person replacing Nabulsi — a Democrat — had to be another registered Democrat.

He shared his finding in a 1:30 a.m.-email to the BOS on Monday.

“At our last meeting, Toni repeatedly interrupted me and stated that the applicants for the vacant selectman seat could be registered voters who are unaffiliated with a political party,” Cole wrote. “However, something in the back of my head was telling me the appointment needs be ‘as elected,’ meaning only a voter registered as a Democrat can fill the seat.”

That was confirmed at Monday night’s meeting by Town Attorney Nicholas Bamonte.

McCarty, a former Republican, said he had previously been a Democrat, then became unaffiliated, which is what he was up until Monday. Even though McCarty was an unaffiliated voter, the Democratic Town Committee had endorsed him as their candidate for the open seat. He will also be running on the Democratic ticket in November for the same seat.

On Monday morning, McCarty visited Town Hall and changed his affiliation in order to still qualify.

Healy raised yet another question about the flawed process — if McCarty had been interviewed and approved at the prior meeting as Boucher had first intended, he would have taken the seat as an unaffiliated.

“I really would like clarification on why this wasn’t evaluated at our last meeting … We would have potentially voted in a candidate that would have been illegal,” Healy said.

“I think the public deserves an answer on why did Josh have to be the one to engage the attorneys to come up with this answer,” Healy told Boucher.

“Had we gone through a proper, thorough analysis of how we wanted to do the process,” Healy said, “we would have gotten this.”

Cole pointed out that there had been someone interested in the job previously — and who was a Democrat.

“It is unfortunate that we were not immediately presented with all applications submitted for an open position, especially as there was at least one candidate who met the ‘as elected’ requirement,” Cole said.

That candidate was Democrat John Suchy. Following the June 22 meeting, Suchy confirmed Cole and Healy’s initial concerns in a letter sent to the BOS and GOOD Morning Wilton from Democrat John Suchy. Suchy wrote that Boucher met privately with him at a local restaurant and discouraged him from taking on the role. At that time, Suchy said Boucher told him he would be her second choice, but that she was going to vote for McCarty.

“The First Selectman then explained that she would be the ultimate decision maker regarding the BOS vacancy since she had the ability to break a tie vote,” Suchy added.

Monday night, Suchy made additional comments during the public comment period.

“The process was flawed and it did not need to be, but it was flawed,” he said. “And I would hope that the board will correct it going forward … It was basically an unfair process that was utilized.”

While Boucher and Tartell both maintained that Suchy was not interested in the position, Cole noted that, had the process been handled properly from the start, he — and potentially others — might not have been dissuaded from vying for the seat.

Cole also previously made note that he believed it was inappropriate to grant an interim seat to someone who would be running for the same office as soon as November, pointing out that it could appear to the public as an endorsement by the BOS.

The only other person who had expressed interest was Keith Denning, Wilton’s former state representative and a former Democrat. Because he is now officially registered as an Independent, however, Denning could not qualify after Cole’s findings were confirmed by legal counsel, so his name was withdrawn from consideration.

While Boucher, a Republican, took criticism for her handling of the matter from her fellow BOS Republicans Cole and Healy, Democratic Selectman Ross Tartell, a longtime friend of McCarty’s, stood in support with her throughout the process.

The Actual Interview

The BOS interviewed McCarty for about 30 minutes, deliberating in executive session before publicly casting their tie vote.

McCarty told them his affiliation with Tartell began with their mutual work with the Fire Commission.

“That’s where I built up my relationship with Ross, which, in many ways, brought me here tonight,” McCarty said.

“My service to the community,” he said, citing 12 years on the Fire Commission, “my corporate experience in governance and policy and procedure, and answering tough questions from regulators, I think makes me a candidate that I ask for your approval.”

McCarty, a retired lawyer, has lived in Wilton since 1995, said he wants to see the town moving forward faster with items that include creating a lease with Friends of Ambler Farm, hiring more firefighters, and maintaining good schools.

He said that the town should not be hung up on the anticipated facilities repair and renovation costs that are projected at around $150 million over the next decade.

“The $150 million … in my mind is a drag from the past on what we want to do with our future,” McCarty said.