Hunsberger Sets His Sights on the First Selectman Seat

First Selectman Steve Vavrek has yet to announce whether or not he'll be seeking another term as Monroe's top executive, but if he does, Vavrek will already have a challenger in place. On Sunday, Daniel Hunsberger announced his intentions to run in an email to Democratic Town Committee Chairman Nick Kapoor.  

Hunsberger had served on the Board of Finance and is currently a member of the Inland Wetlands Commission.

The following is his letter to Kapoor:

Dear Mr. Kapoor,

I am announcing my candidacy for the office of First Selectman of Monroe because I am deeply concerned about how our town is managed. 

Four years ago our current First Selectman made promises to “be fiscally responsible”, improve economic development in town and run an open and transparent government. However, during these past four years he has not kept those promises.

During the 2011-2012 Fiscal Year, Mr. Vavrek budgeted $97,000 for the legal fees but allowed town legal fees to exceed to $689,000. In the current Fiscal Year, he budgeted $130,000 and has allowed legal fees to exceed $189,000 during the first six months.

He has allowed town facilities to deteriorate. Case in point: in May, the Emergency Medical Services Commission publicly exposed, in the local press, the resignations of EMS volunteers and linking the dwindling membership to the deteriorating ambulances and headquarters.

As part of his economic development plan, Mr. Vavrek tried to bring a garbage recycling facility into a residential neighborhood. He allowed the Town to be cited, repeatedly, by the Freedom of Information Commission for failing to provide an open and transparent administration.

Most recently Mr. Vavrek and his supporters failed to inform the citizens of procedural errors during the Honeywell project referendum which required the State Legislature to pass special legislation.

I know as citizens and taxpayers of Monroe, we deserve better and we can do better.

During the last four years as chief executive, he has kept the citizens and taxpayers of Monroe in the dark concerning his mistakes and shortcomings. Whenever they are questioned or attempted to be revealed, he and his supporters shout "partisan politics" or "irrelevant" or ignore legitimate questions about how our government is being run. He acts as if trying to reveal the truth is a sin; that revealing the truth to his constituency is wrong or inappropriate.

The truth is NEVER wrong or inappropriate. We deserve to know, we must know, how the chief executive of our town is managing the very important business of our local government.

During this election campaign, the voters will hear the truth based on facts that have been verified or reported publicly. Mr. Vavrek and his supporters will probably repeat their past claims of "dirty politics", "negative campaigning" whenever they hear an embarrassing truth, except, hiding the truth from the voters is wrong. It is neither dirty politics nor negative campaigning to report the truth.

November’s election is about leadership and Monroe’s future, not about Mr. Vavrek’s personality nor his glad-hand shaking nor happy talk and telling everyone what he thinks they want to hear. The issues are about how Mr. Vavrek has executed his duties as chief executive of Monroe while spending our hard-earned tax dollars. Mr. Vavrek is friendly and well-intentioned, however, we judge an elected official by actions, not intentions.

The citizens and taxpayers of Monroe deserve better — That’s why I want to replace Steve Vavrek as Monroe’s First Selectman. It’s time for a change.

Very Truly Yours, 

Daniel Hunsberger