The Shelton GOP found themselves with a vacancy on the Board of Education to fill due to member Joseph Pagliaro, Jr. resigning from the board over health reasons. Unfortunately the following statement was made during coverage of the appointment: "The charter only allows five members of any one party to be on the Board of Education although all the Republican candidates received more votes than their Democrat opponents."
That one sentence demonstrates the false belief often perpetuated by the Shelton GOP, that the Republican Party in Shelton reigns supreme. This deliberate misinformation is conveyed constantly in Shelton. Here are the facts. The following is the actual results of the 2021 Shelton Board of Education election:
As you can see, all of the Democratic Candidates came in ahead of the last place candidate, Jim Feehan, whom is the person Republicans appointed to the board to fill the vacancy. He finished a distant last place, over 500 votes behind the closest Democrat in the race. He was rejected by the Shelton Voters, similarly he was twice voted down in Stratford when running for State Representative of the 120th district.
Further more, two of the Democratic candidates came in 6th and 8th place. And Board of Education was not the only board where a Democrat beat a Republican. We beat Republicans on the Board of Aldermen and Planning and Zoning as well.
The Democratic party of Shelton is always putting the best candidates on the ballot in every election. Every year that I've been involved more voters have recognized the quality of our slate and we have consistently gained in votes and representation in City government. We will be committed to finding and running the best electable officials for Shelton this year, and every year, into the future.
Kevin Kosty
Chairman, Shelton Democrats