Melanie Lust ’19

As election season draws nearer, Westport First Selectman candidate John F. Suggs hopes to win the support of local residents and expand citizens’ voices in the municipal government.

The town selectman is the chief executive of Westport. It is the First Selectman’s job to oversee all departments and offices, directly handle economic issues, set budgets and manage the town’s relationship with the state of Connecticut.

Suggs, a member of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), a genetic analyst, and a former political corruption investigator and college professor, entered the race last August as an Independent. Due to the town charter, third-party candidates are not allowed to have a running mate.

“I’ve been on the RTM for about ten years, and I’ve learned a lot about the town, and I know what people want and what they don’t want,” Suggs said.

His main focus will be to let Westport citizens have a greater voice and presence in the town government. If elected, he will reinstitute the once-popular tradition of allowing any citizen to have lunch with the First Selectman on one specific week day, every week.

“That served as a valve to be able to get a sense of what was going on and what people were concerned about. In recent years, the administrations have gotten more and more removed from the interests of the residents,” he said, citing the common use of outside consultants to manage projects within the town.

For high schoolers, Suggs intends to address bullying, which he believes is among the greatest problems currently facing students. He relates this to an overarching issue of pressure and competition.

“It’s not politically popular to say, but I know bullying is an issue. I used to be a high school teacher; I know. You’re having to grow up with enormous pressure, competing with the whole world, and it’s just glaring on you,” he said. “It can often be unrelenting.”

Suggs has voted on school budgets nine times and was a key figure in restoring funds cut by the Board of Finance this past year. His multi-part plan, campaigning under the slogan “common sense solutions,” also addresses the school budget and plans to redirect pension savings towards public schools.

Another main focus of his platform is managing traffic and congestion. Calling the Downtown Master Plan – an agreement by the Board of Selectmen and others to reform the downtown area – a “disaster,” his campaign has promised to improve traffic flow at various problematic intersections.

As for his choice to run as an Independent, Suggs explained that he is tired of the “partisan wrangling” from the state, federal government and whole nation.

He claimed Westport could be a leader by saying, “We don’t want our local town to be driven by political parties. We want our elected officials to represent us.” He added, “This is not a national election; this is about Westport. We have to bring it back to our lives, our home, our taxes, our schools.”

Ultimately, Suggs hopes to bring new leadership and energy to Westport.

“We need to be able to inspire, to energize, to develop our community, to develop the leadership, to build off the strength that we already have,” he said. “Westport’s best days are still ahead of us.”