Rocky Hill Republicans Name Their Candidates For November Elections

The Rocky Hill Republican Party held its caucus Wednesday night at the Community Center and unveiled its slate of candidates for the local November elections.

At the top of the ticket will be Henry Vasel running for Mayor. He announced his candidacy very early on and has been working with Town Chairman Jeff Thomen on putting together a ticket that can challenge the Democrats.

Running with Vasel for Town Council will be incumbents Nadine Bell, Cathy Vargas and Frank Szeps along with newcomers Meg Casasanta and Guy Drapeau.

Candidates for the Board of Education will be incumbents Frank Morse, Brian Dillon and Dilip Desai along with Jennifer Simboski Allison and Danielle Alfano Plona.

Running for Zoning Board of Appeals will be Chris Incarvito, Greg Faulkner and James Reilly. Alternates will be James Ussery and Marti Stiglich.

Don Watson and Dave Williams will run for Selectman and Aldo Prario and Stiglich will run for Board of Assessment Appeals.

"From what I know of these people and their backgrounds I am very confident and excited about the Republicans gaining the majority this year," Thomen said. "It's not cautious optimism either. We have a very balanced ticket and the ticket represents the views in this town, which are diverse. I look at the candidates' backgrounds and where the experience they bring and I think the voters will like what they see." 

While Vargas, Bell and Szeps are hoping for re-election, Drapeau and Casasanta are excited about serving the town as they have done in the past.

"I grew up here in town and my aunt has lived here since the 1940's," Drapeau said. "I grew up hearing that everyone needs to volunteer in some way and when I moved back to town I became a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and later was on Planning & Zoning. That is where I started working with Henry (Vasel) and I hoped at some point to work with him again. When he called, there was no way I would say no." 

Casasanta was active in Newington before moving to Rocky Hill.

"I was on the Board of Education and later the Town Council in Newington but when we moved to Rocky Hill I joined the Republican Town Committee," Casasanta said. "They asked me if I would be interested in running and it was hard to say no. I was excited and honored to be asked and when I heard the other people running I thought this was a solid slate of people who were going to push forward with a lot of good things. I don't like the word politician, we are elected officials. We are elected by the people to put the people of Rocky Hill first and not think about party politics. 

The Democrats are scheduled to announce their slate of candidates on Thursday night.