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10/15/2009 12:00 AMOLD SAYBROOK
After losing the Democratic primary battle for selectman to challenger Carol Manning, incumbent Selectman Velma Thomas decided not to petition to put her name on the ballot. But last week, Thomas, based on encouragement from townspeople that she run for reelection, she announced she would run, asking voters to write in her name as their choice for town selectman.
In town elections, voters have the option to write in the name of a candidate for each race, should they choose. In the case of the town selectman race, the write-in slot for this fall's race is number 2C; voters choosing to write in Thomas's name would then fill in the oval bubble next to her name. The deadline for adding her name to the official printed ballot had already passed by last week, closing out that option.
Two party-endorsed candidates are currently running for the slot of selectman: Carol Manning for the Democrats and incumbent Bill Peace for the Republicans. Running for the slot of first selectman is incumbent Michael Pace for the Republicans and Adam Stuart for the Democrats. The first selectman candidate with the most votes would be seated as first selectman and the next two highest vote-getters would be seated as selectmen.
Thomas cited the leadership of the current selectmen team over the past 10 years in moving town buildings from disrepair into functional and efficient buildings and in stabilizing town finances, winning a top rating-an Aa3-from Moody's Investors Service.
"Over the past six years, the Democratic Town Committee has tried many ways to remove me from the being the town's selectman but in the end, the people chose to repeatedly elect me as their selectman," said Thomas.
Thomas said a key area of dispute with the town Democratic Town Committee had been whether she had sufficiently supported town-committee recommended candidates for the town's Water Pollution Control Authority, Zoning Commission, and other panels. She differs with this perception and cites her one vote as being insufficient to carry the day against the two other selectmen members.
"My choice has and will always be to uphold the oath I took for the town and I will always put its interest first," said Thomas. "So I'm asking the public for their support on Nov. 3 to come out and write in my name at the bottom of the selectman's column located in row '2C' where it states "Write-In Votes."