Moccia Wins 4th Term
Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Robert Koch - Hour Staff Writer
HOUR STAFFWRITER NORWALK — Republican incumbent Richard A. Moccia on Tuesday won a fourth term as Norwalk’s mayor in a mid-year election where turnout was average and attacks on his administration’s record on crime, development and management style didn’t stick among voters. As of 10:30 p.m., as The Hour prepared to go to publication, unofficial numbers from the Republican headquarters on Tuesday night had Moccia defeating Democratic challenger Andy Garfunkel, 7,217 to 6,510.
Moccia, a former councilman, fire commissioner and state marshal, claimed victory at The Norwalk Inn & Conference Center on East Avenue at about 9:15 p.m. He later received a telephone call from Garfunkel, who was with supporters at the Hilton Garden Norwalk on Main Avenue ( see related story). Joined by his wife, Barb and other family members, Moccia said he felt overwhelmed to have won a fourth term — only the second such Norwalk mayor to have done so — following what he described as a “ tough race” against a “ formidable opponent” who received support from the local and state Democratic Party.
Moccia ultimately credited his family, his campaign staff and his supporters in this year’s race — and in past years’ races dating back to his first mayoral win in November 2005. “All of you have been with me through all of these campaigns. You didn’t just show up on election night. You showed up on Election Day. You showed up on the times before that. You have been with me. You are part of me and part of my family. You always will be,” Moccia said. “ I have no other desire, no higher office. I have the best job that anyone person could have as mayor of one of the greatest cities in the country today, and I am so proud of that.”
Moccia said Garfunkel served the city well as town clerk and ran a positive campaign. The election results marked the end to a race in which Garfunkel, a lifelong Norwalk resident and the city’s town clerk since 2001, sought to convince voters that his candidacy represented “ The Change Our City Needs.”
Moccia announced his candidacy last December — earlier than in past years’ campaigns — and ran under the slogan “Mayor Dick Moccia — In Motion for Norwalk.”
Under Moccia, the city kept property tax rates low, controlled expenditures, repaved streets, equipped the city’s Police and Fire departments, and balanced development with open-space preservation, according to his campaign literature.
At the inn, upward of several hundred Republicans gathered to watch the election returns. Among them was At- large Councilman Douglas E. Hempstead. He said voters returned Moccia to office for three reasons.
“His leadership through very, very tough economic times, his ability to hold taxes down, and his ability to stay strong, when other towns have gone by the wayside when it comes to the economic conditions,” Hempstead said. “ He’s kept Norwalk an economically very sound city, and I think people just said, ‘Why change?’” Art Scialabba, Moccia’s campaign manager and chairman of the Norwalk Republican Town Committee, described the outcome of the mayoral race as “a close race, closer than we would have liked.”
“But the outcome is victorious for the mayor, so we’re extremely happy to have his leadership continue for the next two years,” Scialabba said. “I really think that people weren’t looking for a major change. His experience in these difficult economic times helped keep him in office. His steady hand in the turbulent economic conditions is what we said we needed to continue and the voters agreed with us.”
In the weeks leading up to the election, Moccia landed the endorsements of the municipal unions representing Norwalk police officers and the city’s firefighters. Garfunkel received the endorsement of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 4, which represents employees of the city’s Department of Public Works.
See VOTERS Page A6
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