July 28, 2017

BY KATHRYN BOUGHTON

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

BARKHAMSTED — The political scene will be hotter than it has been in a decade this summer and fall with two candidates opposing incumbent First Selectman Donald S. Stein, who is seeking his sixth term in office.

Deborah Simon, an environmentalist, announced her candidacy in April, shortly after Stein said he would run again. And on Monday, the Republican caucus endorsed Mark Hemenway, the Republican incumbent on the Board of Selectmen, for the top spot.

Stein has run unopposed since his first campaign in 2007, when he defeated Richard Winn, now chairman of the Board of Finance.

Juliana Simone, chairwoman of the Barkhamsted Republican Town Committee, said she believes it is time for a change.

“Every cycle, I’ve received lots of requests from Republicans, independents and tired taxpayers who wonder why we haven’t put forward a candidate in past campaigns,” she said. “We’ve had lots of qualified people, but we didn’t have someone who could take it on. Now we do.”

Though Stein asserted in his campaign statement that one of his achievements has been keeping town spending in check, Simone said Republicans “always feel there is room for cuts.”

She noted that Stein first ran on a platform of term limits.

“He said he believed in two terms,” she said. “He has been in for five and now wants a sixth.”

Hemenway, who is in his third term on the Board of Selectmen, is a vice president with Zones software. His running mate is Nicholas Lukiwsky, a Waterbury police officer who has served as an alternate on the Barkhamsted Planning and Zoning Commission. Both men have children and have been active in community life.

“I think it is a really nice ticket,” Simone said.

Also running are Holly Krouse for town clerk; Sally Roy, town treasurer; George Walsh, Board of Finance; Margaret Weingarden, Katherine Nelson and Thomas Brodnitzki, Board of Education; Robert H. Brainard III, Board of Assessment Appeals; Christina Lavieri, Planning and Zoning Commission; Thomas Anderson, Planning and Zoning Commission alternate; Christopher S. Tooker and Robert A. Pulford, Zoning Board of Appeals; Paul Duran, Zoning Board of Appeals alternate; and Mary Duran, Region 7 Board of Education.

Hemenway