This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Republicans Back Finkle's Bid for Mayor

State Sen. Len Fasano says "a united Republican Party cannot be stopped."

The East Haven Republican Town Committee chose John Finkle over Joseph Maturo Thursday as the party’s candidate to face Mayor April Capone in the Nov. 8 election.

Maturo, the former five-term mayor who Capone defeated by a mere 22 votes in 2007, faced off against Finkle, the former five-term school board chairman who Capone defeated in 2009. Some in the party expected a bruising fight for the nomination, plus the possibility of a primary no matter who won the endorsement.

But it turned out very amicably, with both candidates praising each other, amid calls for party unity from state Sen. Len Fasano (R-34), who gave the keynote speech.

Find out what's happening in East Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"A united Republican Party cannot be stopped," said Fasano. "This election is for us to win, and this election is for us to lose."

The town committee members voted 38 to 22 for Finkle over Maturo.

Find out what's happening in East Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

They also endorsed Ken McKay, who is currently a member of the Town Council, as their candidate for Town Clerk, and a slate of candidates for Town Council seats, Board of Education and Board of Finance.

In his acceptance speech, Finkle portrayed his candidacy as a four-year effort, in which his loss in 2009 played only a preliminary role. He pledged to clean up the "mess" Republicans say Capone has made of things in town, and to lower taxes.

Finkle blasted Capone for increasing the town’s debt, raising taxes and balancing the budget by selling town assets.

"She sees the town’s financial problems as being solved, and I see them as worse than ever," he said. "The problem is not fixed. The taxpayers simply paid the bill."

He pledged "to begin the process of rolling back Mayor Capone’s 17 percent tax increase" if he is elected.

Finkle supporters Joseph Zullo and James Farrell, who gave his nominating and seconding speeches, said Finkle, a corporate sales manager and former school board chairman, could attract businesses to town and improve the town’s school system.

"In the last election, he told people where the town was headed, but they weren’t ready for a change. They are now," Farrell said.

Maturo said he hasn’t made a decision if he will seek a Republican primary. He wanted to see what happened at the party endorsement meeting first.

If he does, the primary election would take place on Sept. 13.

Finkle said he hoped there would not be a primary, calling it "a distraction, but sometimes unavoidable."

Republican Party endorsed candidates for other town government seats are:

  • District 1 – Melissa McKay, Fred Parlato and Bob Parente.
  • District 2 – Sal Maltese, Sus Colangelo and Janet Cianelli.
  • District 3 – Marianne Cesare, Bob Sand and Ben Mazzuco.
  • District 4 – Robert Cubellotti, James Midolo and Charles Lang.
  • District 5 – Richard Anania, Paul Carbo and Anthony Mansi.
  • Board of Education – James Farrell, Craig Cubellotti, Ron DeNuzzo, Thomas Hennessey, Charles Scalesse and Lisa Geraci-Anastasio.
  • Board of Finance – Beth Purcell, Bill Richardson, Ralph Vitale and Mark Petonito.

Download the movie

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?