LTE: Four Reasons To Vote For Christine Vitale For Fairfield First Selectman

To The Editor:
I just voted by absentee ballot for Christine Vitale to be First Selectman of Fairfield. I will be out of town for both Election Day Feb. 3 and the early voting period conducted at the Fairfield University bookstore Jan. 29-Feb. 1. These voting options are key because this election is so important for several reasons. By the way, I know both candidates personally. They are both nice people who love Fairfield. But nice isn’t enough. Here are four reasons for my vote:

1-Christine knows the First Selectperson job better than anyone because she’s been in elected office as either a Selectman or First Selectperson since January 2024. Christine has no learning curve to deal with.

2-Christine's experience elsewhere in Fairfield town government, with all its quirks and challenges, is rich, distinguished and goes back years. A veteran PTA leader, she became chair of the Board of Education for four of the six years she served on that board. She knows how to manage huge budgets in high pressure, controversial situations. She did all this nearly thankless work while still balancing marriage and a family of three.

3-She’s not slick. She’s better than slick. She’s smart, quick, articulate and forms relationships based on substance. She called me one night a couple of years ago to vet me before a Board of Selectman review of nominated officers for town commissions. I was up for the position of Chair of the Fairfield Harbor Management Commission. We didn't know each other. This was no pro forma moment for Christine. She did her homework, asked me hard questions and then said thanks for taking on the volunteer job.

4-The final reason for my vote may be controversial. Those of us who are displeased with policies and behavior coming from the White House have very few tools to change any of that. Continuing the “blue wave,” registering a decisive shift in public opinion about the party that’s running things in Washington could help impose guard rails around the instincts of the elected leader of this country.

Is it true that “all politics are local”? Should local election candidates be supported or not supported in part because voting patterns can be part of a national message to Washington? Is that fair? Fairfield voters will have to decide.

Donald Hyman
Fairfield, CT.