The lure of fatherhood or something else proved to be too much to keep Mike Coffey in the mayoral race. He released a statement Saturday announcing that we would not be seeking any elective office. This will put District E Dems scrambling to find another at large candidate to run. They might want to want to try some young unknown behind the wheel to complement the well seasoned candidates of Bill Krummel and Gwen Briggs. Of course it will get interesting to explain just why the Dems would want to have a husband and wife team of mayor and council candidate running this year. but we’ll see how the lineup looks in a few weeks. As of yet the Dems haven’t raised any money for the mayors race, and Moccia is off to a great start.
Coffey said that he was satisfied with the accomplishments he’s led as council president. “During the past 18 months I have been privileged to be elected unanimously for two consecutive terms as the President of the Norwalk Common Council. It has been an exciting and rewarding experience, ” his statement read.
Coffey has been at odds with Democratic Town Committee leadership for much of the past year. Disputes have centered on push back against many of Coffey’s progressive initiatives, starting with his goal to restrict the broad reach of eminent domain property seizures. Coffey has been leading the council to adopt more open and transparent government practices, including the new non-partisan meetings. DTC leadership balked at supporting the meetings, claiming they were illegal. Coffey claimed instead that the meetings would, “spur discussion on new issues among the common council, and continuously encouraged transparency and public participation. These accomplishments were achieved by working in an environment that was characterized by bipartisanship and collegiality, which put progress above partisanship, and most importantly, the city’s interests above political interests.”
The most recent skirmish occurred over adopting an improved ethics code. Despite claiming to to support stricter reform, none of the Norwalk-Outers, otherwise self described as loyalist to DTC leadership inspired strategic blunders, submitted any changes to the ethics committee. Instead they preferred to plea for more debate and accuse the ethics committee of rushing through an imperfect ordinance. Interestingly, Galen Wells, DTC chair, did submit changes, that were ultimately adopted, pointed out by Phylis Bolden.
With Coffey’s announcement, the Democratic field now either remains open for Walter Briggs or empty of any known candidate, depending on your point of view. If the Dems mayoral candidate is Walter Briggs, he faces a burden not faced by any previous mayoral candidate. His wife has opposed most of the Democratic accomplishments achieved by the council. He will either have to run on a record of opposing progressive issues, or adopt them pitting him against the record of his wife. This must make for interesting dinner conversation. We will all stay tuned to see how this one plays out.
