Because Guilford’s Board of Selectmen may open a town preserve to hunting, opponents are fighting back with Guilford Voters for Open Government and No Preserve Hunting (GVOG-PAC). The new political action committee will field independent candidates in the town’s 2013 selectmen’s race, says GOVG chair Julie Lewin. It’s the first time an anti-hunting group has gone directly political to win its goals, Lewin said.

At issue is the East River Preserve, a 584-acre property the town purchased for $14.5 million in 2009. “BOS seems poised to approve hunting unanimously—in spite of overwhelming public opinion against it, no science to defend it, potential legal challenges, and possible town liability from hunting accidents,” Lewin says. The selectmen will vote on the hunting January 25.

GVOG criticizes how the town has conducted the issue, going back seven years when it first began studying the property for acquisition. “They say the word ‘hunting’ never once came up. Voters approved the costly purchase with no warning. There is strong anti-hunting feeling here. Hunting is banned on all Guilford-owned open space now, so voters assumed the ban would apply to the Preserve, too,” Lewin notes.

Last fall Lewin and others submitted to the Selectmen 1,500 signatures from Guilford residents opposing Preserve hunting. The Selectmen responded poorly. In 2013 GVOG will endorse selectmen who vote against all Preserve hunting, if any. And GVOG will run its own independent candidates. “This is by no means a far shot,” says Lewin, a political trainer. “I’ve studied election statistics and voter turnout in Guilford’s previous Selectmen’s races, and they are very promising,” she says.

In Guilford’s typical selectmen’s races, the Democratic Party and Republican Party run only three candidates each for the five-member board. Only one of the six candidates loses. Neither party runs five candidates, because state law forbids any one party from having a stronger majority. Even if one party ran five candidates and all its candidates beat all the other party’s candidates, the top party still would be limited to a three-seat maximum.

GOVG will select quality candidates who are well-equipped to serve the Town of Guilford. It will interview possible candidates immediately. “GVOG is a constructive step. The town will benefit greatly from more choice and improved governing,” Lewin says.