October 2009

Yesterday afternoon there was supposed to be a mayoral debate held at the Norwalk Inn. Well, there certainly was something debatable, but it sure wasn’t a mayoral debate. You see, to have a debate really work, you have to questions that spark discussion, and fundamentally that was the problem with the mayoral debate. Then there was the glaring failure of Democratic candidate and challenger, Steve Serasis, to demonstrate that after two years on the council, after running as the Democratic candidate for Mayor, that he has some understanding of how Norwalk’s city government actually works.

At-large candidate Doug Hempstead added a survey about Norwalk as part of his campaign web site. According to Hempstead, “Even beyond the election, I wanted to see what Norwalk residents think about Norwalk and the top issues they are concerned about.”

His survey is located at: www.doughempstead.com.

It’s nice to see all the candidates for council that have put up web sites this year:

• Andy Garfunkel Town Clerk
• Anna Duleep At Large
• Chris Donahue At Large
• David Jaeger District A
• David McCarthy 6th Taxing District
• Doug Hempstead
• Joanne Romano At Large

A couple of Sunday’s ago, Steve Serasis, Democratic candidate for mayor in Norwalk held a fundraiser at the Norwalk Inn. The results are in, Serasis’ latest campaign finance numbers show that he raised $975. Compared to Richard Moccia, Republican incumbent who mayoral campaign raised $9700, and the money race hints at a very land slidish election heading into next Tuesday.

How much of a landslide is makingthe rounds of the usual political flunkies laying down the bets that campaign vets often make. Total voter turnout, percentage of the vote for each candidate. In many ways, it’s the political version of fantasy football, watching the line and, er, no one really bets on football right?