10/15/09 Peter Tesei: "Having not been on the RTM, having not been on the BET, one cannot appreciate what it means to work with departments,"

Greenwich first selectmen candidates trade barbs during final debate of the season - Greenwich Time

That chill felt in the air Wednesday night wasn't autumn. It was a cold front by the name of Peter Tesei and Lin Lavery, hammering away at each other during the final debate of the campaign season.

The rhetoric between the GOP incumbent first selectman and his Democratic challenger reached its most vitriolic point of the campaign during a 90-minute candidate forum hosted by the Riverside Association at Eastern Middle School.

"This is not an election of who should be the junior or senior prom king or queen in Greenwich," Tesei told about 150 people in the school's auditorium.

The two combatants traded barbs all night along over everything from stimulus funding and elderly tax relief to affordable housing and the handling of a rare round of layoffs from the municipal workforce earlier this year by Tesei's administration......

....the layoffs were bungled, with workers denied access to their e-mail accounts and escorted from their offices by security.

"When it comes to layoffs, I will do it with a handshake and respect," said Lavery, a selectman who came into office two years ago at the same time as Tesei.

Tesei rebutted that it was easy for Lavery to criticize, but she didn't have the responsibility to ensure that a potentially volatile situation didn't get out of control.....

....Lavery scrutinized Tesei's attendance record at meetings of the Glenville School Building Committee, of which he is a non-voting member, saying that he only showed up 40 percent of the time.

Tesei shot back that his time was better spent elsewhere ....

.....Tesei was also put on the defensive on stimulus funding, which Lavery said he should have taken a more aggressive tack on as the town's top official.

Westport received $20 million in funding compared to just $4 million, Lavery said.
"We can't afford to leave a dollar on the table," Lavery said.

Tesei answered that the disbursement of stimulus funds was determined by the state .....

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