With Jeff Konspore not seeking re-election as Republican town committee chair, the Norwalk Republicans are looking for a new chair. Art Scialabba, who held the position before, is seeking it again. Since no one else has put their name forward, it seems like the Republicans are sort of desperate by falling back to someone who has already held the position.
The Republicans in Norwalk are faced with the same issues affecting the party statewide. Party registrations have been shrinking as voters have been turned off by the Republican brand. Despite the registered voter losses, Norwalk Republicans have still managed to create an town committee of 100 members, who will be voting for thier party leadership at a meeting sometime in March.
There are factions within the party that have long been at odds, similar to the situation in Darien where recently the old guard Republicans took control back. Darien’s Republicans lost the majority of the board of selectmen for the first time ever in its 187 year history. The same dynamics play in Norwalk’s Republican party.
The rift between factions can best be described as the result of the very short coattails that Moccia had in his 2500 vote win over Walter Briggs last year. Some felt that Scialabba ran Moccia’s race without working with the underticket. OThers felt that the underticket did not want to asscociate with the Moccia campaign. In either case, there’s much dissatisfaction amongst local Republicans with party leadership and direction.
The internal rifts may be contributing to keeping the party from growing, but that hasn’t stopped Republicans from winning elections.
source: The Hour, Scialabba eyeing town GOP chairmanship, March 8, 2008
