As Middletown gears up for its municipal elections in November, hopefuls vying for a spot on the Democratic ballot for the Planning and Zoning commission face their first primary election next Tuesday, Sept. 10. Of the candidates, two are employees of the University: Associate Registrar Paul Turenne and Professor of Biology Stephen Devoto.

“At least one of them is going to be on the general election ballot, so that makes it a uniquely important race for Wesleyan,” said Wesleyan Democrats (WesDems) President Ben Florsheim ’14.

Under normal circumstances, Middletown’s Democratic Town Committee endorses three candidates for the general election. A primary occurs when a prospective candidate who is not supported by the committee collects petitions him or herself onto the democratic ballot. For the 2013 election, the Democratic Town Committee nominated Turenne, Robert Blanchard, and incumbent Daniel Russo to run in the general election for a spot on the Planning and Zoning Commission. Devoto, who attempted to get on the ballot through the Democratic Town Committee, collected the 519 signatures necessary to initiate a primary election.

Turenne expressed his desire to run for the Planning and Zoning Commission to better serve the Middletown community.

“I’ve always known I wanted to get involved in local government in our community,” he said. “Being a lifelong Democrat and following the footsteps of my grandfathers, who both ran for office, I’ve decided to get involved with the Democratic Town Committee.”

Turenne also views the Planning and Zoning Commission as having a crucial role in furthering Middletown’s positive growth as a town.

“Planning and zoning really affects everything,” he said. “It’s going to affect the city budget. It’s going to affect how we’re going to be able to fund schools. In my opinion, education is the most important, impactful thing our government can do, and the only way they can do that is with proper funding [and] proper facilities.”

Turenne’s additional priorities are to revitalize the riverfront, to ensure that the city retains its open green space, and to balance the city’s tax base.

“One way to make sure that happens is to have proper planning and zoning,” he said. “It allows for green space, it allows for economic development, and it allows for thriving neighborhoods.”

Devoto’s interest in planning and zoning stems largely from his interest in Middletown’s land use policies, which he believes have a long-term impact on the city.

“I’ve always been passionate about planning and zoning, because it’s so important for the sustainability of our city,” Devoto said. “The Planning and Zoning [Commission] needs to spend time with a long range plan for the city….What kind of housing should we have? What should happen along the river front? Those kind of zoning decisions are really important for the long term.”

One such decision recently made by the commission is the approval to change the zoning code text to allow for the development of a strip mall on Washington Street. Devoto said he believes the current Planning and Zoning Commission did not take the wishes of the community into account.

“The critical issue is that there’s a residential neighborhood on all sides of the proposed strip mall,” Devoto said. “Families…bought old houses not in good shape and invested, in some cases, fifty to a hundred thousand dollars. I disagreed with the decisions because I don’t think we should have strip malls in the middle of a vibrant residential community.”

Middletown citizen Ed McKeon, one of the main opponents of the strip mall on Washington Street, echoed this sentiment.

“I realized that the people [on the Planning and Zoning Commission] weren’t committed to understanding planning and zoning, and they weren’t willing to listen to citizens,” he said. “I got the sense that there needs to be change.”

Devoto hopes to differentiate himself from the other candidates through his willingness to thoroughly question the plans of potential developers.

“If there’s a proposal put forward, I’m going to look at it fairly, but as an independent thinker,” he said. “One of the questions I’ll always ask a developer is, ‘Have you talked to the neighborhood around your proposed development?’ I think it’s really important that the community be involved… I want to tilt the balance a little bit from the developers towards the community.”

Turenne also emphasized his willingness to collaborate with various members of the community.

“While we’re planning ideas, we need to involve as many stakeholders as possible,” he said. “[We need] to bring in all these experts, and everybody who’s going to be affected by these decisions that I’m not aware of, who may have some insight that I’m not as familiar with. I can synthesize that data together and try to help build a consensus. My goal is not to win; my goal is to do what’s right.”

According to McKeon, some controversy surrounds the Democratic Town Committee’s selection decision.

“It’s more about loyalty to the party than about finding the best candidates,” McKeon said. “Two of the candidates have never even been to a meeting. [Devoto] has been to every one of them for five years.”

However, Chair of the Democratic Town Committee Daniel Pickett stated that attending Planning and Zoning meetings is not a main criterion that the nominating subcommittee used to select candidates for endorsement.

“Lots of variables go into selecting candidates,” Pickett said. “Basically, we have to look at the realities and figure out if this person is a good match. We’re looking for a balance of skills, personalities, [and] experience.”

Turenne has not been to a Planning and Zoning meeting, but he highlighted his leadership qualities and interest in public service.

“I’m hoping to start going, obviously, as an elected commissioner,” Turenne said. “You’re never going to know what’s going to come exactly before you, and you’re going to have to rely on a lot of personal attributes that you wouldn’t be able to get from attending a Planning and Zoning meeting.”

Five members of the nominating subcommittee within the Democratic nominating convention interviewed people interested in receiving the Democratic nomination for all offices up for election. One of the five people on the nominating subcommittee was Russo. Devoto said he believes that it is an impropriety for members of the nominating subcommittee to nominate themselves, a sentiment with which McKeon agreed.

“[Russo] was on the committee to select himself, so it seems like… a conflict of interest,” McKeon stated.

Turenne disagreed, citing Russo’s insight and experience in Middletown politics as the reasoning behind his position on the nominating committee.

“I think what happens in local government is that there’s only so many people that are involved,” Turenne said. “Dan is currently on the commission; he’s a former chair of the Democratic Town Committee. They were asking for volunteers, and they went with one who has a wealth of insight about how Middletown runs. If the Democratic Town Committee chair felt that there was a conflict, he would have dealt with it appropriately.”

Pickett defended his decision to include Russo when interviewing prospective candidates for Planning and Zoning Commission.

“I would say that [the nominating subcommittee] works in a vacuum, not a political environment,” Pickett said. “I thought it wouldn’t be fair to have them to not be at the interview.”

WesDems chose not to host a candidate forum due to the timing of the primary.

“We’re not making an all-out push on campus to get people to vote,”  Florsheim said. “Just because of that short time scale, it’s not something that we see being very fruitful. And because it’s a primary, it’s closed. Only registered Democrats are able to vote in it. That’s not to say, ‘Don’t vote if you are registered to vote.’ Definitely, people should be participating in that.”