The executive committee of the West Hartford Democratic Town Committee is recommending a slate of candidates, and endorsements will be made at the convention in July.

By Ronni Newton

The Town of West Hartford will hold a municipal election on Nov. 5, 2019, and ahead of the party’s convention that will be held in July the Democratic Town Committee has been interviewing candidates and on Thursday night recommended a slate.

“We don’t endorse until the convention, but the executive committee gave its recommendations,” Jessica Tyburksi, Democratic Town Committee chair, said Friday.

For the Board of Education, recommended candidates are Amanda Aronson, Ari Steinberg, and Sean Passan.

Candidates for Town Council are incumbents Shari Cantor, Beth Kerrigan, Liam Sweeney, Leon Davidoff, and Ben Wenograd, as well as newcomer Carol Blanks, whose term on the Board of Education expires this year.

Essie Labrot is recommended to continue as Town Clerk.

The West Hartford Board of Education has seven members, who serve staggered four-year terms. Three seats are up for grabs this November – including those currently held by Democrats Blanks and Dave Pauluk, neither of who are seeking re-election to those positions.

In addition, Democrat Cheryl Greenberg announced at the Board’s final meeting of the 2018-2019 academic year that she would be resigning to go on sabbatical from her position as a professor at Trinity College. One of the recommended candidates will be named to finish out the final two years of Greenberg’s term once the vacancy become official. The Board will not meet again until Sept. 3.

Democrat Dallas Dodge announced June 10 that he will not seek re-election to the Town Council in order to focus on his family and professional career. Dodge was recently named a partner with Hartford-based lobbying and political consulting firm Roy & Leroy.

All nine seats on the Town Council are for two-year terms, and all are up for re-election in 2019. Other than Dodge, none of the current Council members have issued official statements regarding their plans for this year’s election.

The date for the Democratic convention has not been set, but will be set for a date in July following guidelines to be issued by the Secretary of State’s office.

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