1. What motivated you to run for office this year, and what do you hope to accomplish if you are re-elected?
I got involved in 2016 after Donald Trump was first elected. I was, like many people in shock and felt like the country was in free fall. I saw a newspaper ad from an organization called the East Lyme Democratic Town Committee, they were asking local folks to come out and join them for a meeting. I showed up and it was crazy. There was crosstalk, people shouting at each other. No one seemed to be listening to each other, and they were going nowhere. I wanted no part of it. So, I stood up and left.
Then, I had a moment in the parking lot. I knew that if I walked back to my car and drove off, I would be giving up any opportunity I had to be the change I wanted to see in the world. I knew I couldn’t shy away from the tough work and the unpleasant conversations if I really wanted to do something in my community. So, I turned around and went back inside. I watched. I listened. I took notes. Then, I went home and typed up a proposal telling these Democrats what they had to do to turn it around.
I submitted my ideas to the chair at the time, and he shared it with the group. They were kind of like, “Who’s this guy? If he wants to make change, let him try.” So, they offered me the opportunity to do what I wanted to do, and I started to do it.
I came on board with a team of others like me who were ready to get involved and make change. The old timers were happy to have our energy. Together we charted a path forward and scored one success after another. I felt capable and confident. When the time came to run, I stood up and threw my hat in the ring.
I lost pretty badly in my first municipal election.
A few years later, I ran again and won! I was also elected chair of the EL DTC putting me in charge of the group that I initially ran away from. My tenure as chair included some major electoral successes. I felt more confident and more capable. The team was killing it, and I was super proud. I spent a lot of time online talking politics in public forums and pushing back against malevolent actors that would post comments to the DTC’s Facebook page. I’m a middle school teacher and I’m used to dealing with confused, emotional people. When they approach me with that sort of energy, I switch into teacher mode. I know something they don’t. I can help them understand something new, but I must be calm and patient. I was relentless online and seemed to build up a brand as a calm, rational voice in the community. When I was knocking doors, people would thank me for my efforts online. I didn’t think anyone was paying attention, but it was connecting with folks.
This all led to a spot on the Board of Selectmen. I feel even more confident and more capable.
In the next term, we need to take affordability. It’s a massive, multi-dimensional, intergenerational, HUGE issue and municipalities have only a small toolkit with which to address it. But I’m feeling more capable and confident. New tools are coming online for us to use. The stakes are high, and I’m committed to getting it right.
Also, I want to expand the footprint of East Lyme’s cultural and artistic institutions. I want to lift up and celebrate all the wonderful things about our town that people moved here for. I want to make it so folks can afford to live here but I want them to want to live here too.
2. What do you see as the single biggest issue facing East Lyme right now?
Affordability is THE issue. All the other issues come out of that. During my first term, we spent a lot of time dealing with issues that had been languishing for years. Solving those took a lot of time and resources. It was hard and stories on the front page of the paper made it look like East Lyme was struggling. We’re not struggling. We’re in a much better position now that many of those long-simmering issues have been addressed. Now, we can focus on issues surrounding affordability. Now, we can chart a path forward that will balance allowing our town to grow while preserving the heart and soul of the town.
3. How would you balance keeping our town affordable with maintaining strong schools, services, and infrastructure?
As an educator, I have a lot of thoughts about how the schools can get kids ready for the world of tomorrow. Their job is so difficult because they are preparing kids for a lives and careers that don’t exist yet. But they can give kids what they need to be successful no matter what tomorrow brings. Getting them ready for universities. Teaching them to do research. How to make sense of information presented to them online. How to interpret large sets of data. The emphasis should always be on future thinking. What’s it going to look like ten years from now and how can we get kids ready to live in that world?
In terms of services and infrastructure, I think we need to listen to our department heads, to our leaders on Public Works and Parks and Rec. We have some great people employed by this town. Tremendous wisdom, experience, and insight. I think they’ve been doing awesome work, and they’ve helped us build up a network of important services out residents rely on. I believe the sewer moratorium we just passed on Board of Selectmen will go a long way to improving our overall infrastructure. We’re nearing absolute capacity. We need to pause and figure out how to expand our capacity so the town can continue to grow. We can’t rely on the current system so figuring that out will be a big task in the next few years.
Shifting from bonding to cash capital is a good way to get out from under the cost of debt servicing. Continuing on that path will make East Lyme’s finances healthier and make more room to support the folks that live here.
4. What experience or perspective do you bring that you feel helps you serve effectively on the Board of Selectmen?
I’m an independent thinker and an independent voice. I cannot bring myself to say something unless I wholeheartedly believe it is true. You won’t catch me with someone else’s words in my mouth even if it is politically expedient. If I’m going to make a decision on behalf of the people of the town, it has to be my decision and not someone else’s. I call this honesty and integrity. Other folks might have a few, less-kind words to use to describe these attributes. But whatever you call them, I think they’re an important part of making me who I am as a town leader and help me serve.
I think I’ve done a pretty good job working with others on the board. Making connections, gathering consensus around issues. We work well together and are all pulling in the same direction. We all want what’s best for the town. We all want to get this right and are willing to collaborate to make it happen. I am not polemic. I will not let something go if I think it’s wrong, but I am absolutely open to opposing viewpoints. In fact, I solicit them. I want to hear all sides of a story before deciding. Give me your thoughts! Help me incorporate them into my own! Then, one we can see the big picture for what it is and all the little details holding it together, we can make a decision.
Lastly, I love looking at numbers, listening to what they’re saying. Give me sheets of data, reams of financial records! I will pour through them until I hear the story they’re telling. I catch things in the data that go unnoticed otherwise. I never knew I would enjoy it as much as I do. I seem to have a part of my brain that just switches on when it’s time to make sense of numbers and I think this has been an asset on the Board of Selectmen.
5. How do you think local government can do a better job of listening to residents and building trust?
I believe folks should be comfortable talking to their leadership at meetings. I believe in preserving space for folks to talk about whatever is on their mind. The government cannot silence the people and attempts to do so are wrong. We serve at the pleasure of the people and though we may have a busy agenda or big problems to face, we cannot give their thoughts and comments short shrift. Say what you gotta say, people! I want to hear it.
Creating public hearings is an important part of government too. We need to allow for formal presentation of thoughts, observations, opinions, stories, etc. It needs to be part of the record. It needs to be part of our decision-making process. Again, there is an option to bypass public hearings to allow for efficiencies. However, this part of the process cannot be clipped. I’m not a religious man but allowing for public input at meetings is sacrosanct for me.
Beyond creating space during meetings, soliciting input for things like the plan of conservation and development is vital when it comes to figuring out what we want East Lyme to look like in the future. And, really, it can’t just be soliciting. It has to be an active process. We have a responsibility to go out and find out how people feel who can’t make it to a meeting. Folks who work second shift shouldn’t lose out on their opportunity to offer input just because we hold our meetings at night! That’s not fair. It’s not right. That’s why I love going door knocking. I want to be on your turf where you feel comfortable. I want to hear what’s important to you and your family.
6. What’s your favorite spot in East Lyme or Niantic, and why?
My favorite spot in town is my basement studio. That’s where I go to make music and bang away on the drums. That probably sounds a little insular and anti-social, but my basement is a place where I have meetings with friends. It’s where I collaborate with band mates. It’s a place that gives me silence to think, space to reflect. I bring folks over to record music that wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so otherwise. Recording music is difficult and technical and time consuming and can be very expensive. If you’re my friend, if you’re in my band, I will make your music for you free of charge. We’ll get it out there into the world together!
Sadly, not everyone in town can enjoy the magic of my basement because, let’s face it, that would just be super weird. So let me pick a few other places.
I like to run. I really enjoy running around my neighborhood, seeing all my neighbors out walking their dogs, enjoying the weather and each other’s company. I like to run on the board walk but that’s a little flat for my tastes. Plus, I hate having to weave in and out of people’s way. I prefer the hills and challenges of my neighborhood, the trails at Oswegatchie.
Besides running, I love being in the planetarium at the high school. The grand scale of that great big dome is mesmerizing. And, when the lights go down and the projections begin, it’s magical. They talk a lot about the magic of the theater, how it can transport you but it’s nothing compared to the magic of the planetarium. Yes, Hamilton can transport you to an alternative America at its tumultuous birth, but the planetarium can take you to the Big Bang, to the tumult of stars colliding. Wicked can take you to fantastic lands but the planetarium can take you to fantastic worlds, solar systems, galaxies.
Also, Tumbleweeds is great. I like the Book Barns. Café Sol is super nice too.
7. How would you spend a perfect Saturday in East Lyme?
The perfect Saturday for me would fall after the first Friday of the month. I run musical performances at the planetarium at the high school every first Friday. I get home unload my car and go to sleep. As soon as I wake up on Saturday morning and put my gear away. I start planning for next month’s show. I wake up early, before anyone else in the house is up. I curate the pictures I took the night before and post them online for folks to see. Then, I create the flyer for the next month’s show and start putting together the next big projection.
After a while, my family wakes up and we do breakfast. My wife goes and gets yummy stuff from Deke’s. I go for a run around my neighborhood and then eat. I have a cup of nice tea, get ready for the day, and then head out for an adventure.
Usually, my adventures involve errands at local shops, a trip to the hardware store, and dropping off/picking something up from friends. These days I spend a lot of time knocking doors and talking to people which I really like. Even when the weather isn’t so great, it’s a real treat to talk to my neighbors.
When I get hungry, I’ll knock off for a while and go to my favorite restaurant in the whole world, Taza! While I’m there, I invariably get my favorite food of all time, baba ghanoush, a sort of hummus made from eggplant. I’ve had baba ghanoush all over the place and I have to tell you no one does it better than Taza. It is just some freak coincidence that I live only a couple of miles from the best baba ghanoush served anywhere in the known universe. I really consider myself fortunate. I usually bring something back for my family to eat too.
After lunch, I’m back out into the world. There’s always something going on. Maybe it’s band rehearsal with my friends. Maybe it’s a meeting with a constituent. I don’t know what it is, but I will probably end up downtown. I will grab dessert from Dairy Queen. I like to go there because they have this liquid peanut butter stuff. I don’t know what it is or how they make it, but I love it! I just want to drink it straight from a cup like some kind of peanut butter madman. I gobble up my ice cream by the time I am at the entrance to Book Barn Downtown. I head in hoping to see one of my friends. It’s always mobbed in there and that fills my heart with joy. All these bookworms geeking out over the book they didn’t know they were looking for but now can’t live without. I look through the sci fi section hoping a new book will turn up from one of my favorite authors. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Stanislaw Lem, William Gibson. If not, I’ll hit up their graphic novels and comics. I ALWAYS find something there. On this day, I select a copy of Watchmen by Alan Moore. It’s one of my favorites and I’ve read dozens of times, but I always buy an extra copy to give away to someone who hasn’t read it yet.
Then, I’ll walk along the street and make my way to Tumbleweeds. Upon entering, I say, hi, to Tara, the shopkeeper and swear to myself that I’m only going to look. Of course, they’ll have something I love and can’t find anywhere else. They never let me down! Somehow, they always have Sade records or old jazz discs I love so naturally I spend too much money there and leave feeling lucky.
The day is getting long and by now I’m probably tired of being out in the world, so I’ll head home. I go into my basement studio and make some music for a while. Then, emerging with a fresh new jam, my family and I plan out our evening together. That generally involves a trip to Zavala’s and watching a few episodes of Modern Family together afterwards. We talk about what we have planned for tomorrow and then sit down to read, write, draw, listen to music, etc. I hang out with my cats for a while or work on some project I have going.
Before long, my wife reminds that, if I don’t stop working on a project at least an hour before bed, I won’t get to sleep. I thank her for reminding me as she does almost every day. The kids head off to bed. My wife and I do the same. The cats join us and lights go out in the Deeble house after another perfect Saturday. A beautiful full moon hangs in the sky over East Lyme.
8. What business in East Lyme do you think everyone should know about, and why?
That’s an easy one. Everyone should know about the Stars to STEM Regional Planetarium up at the high school and visit it as often as possible. They do cool, traditional programming on the weekends and a musical show the first Friday of each month from 7:00-9:00. I love it there.
Also, when it came time to get married and start a family, my wife and I looked around southeastern Connecticut. We chose East Lyme because of the Book Barn. It’s just a wonderful, magical place. I can’t overstate how important it is to me and my family.
The Barn for Artistic Youth has also been fabulous for my kids.
And, of course, Taza is also wonderful.
9. Who in East Lyme do you truly admire, past or present?
There are so many people I admire and really, I think everyday people do really admirable stuff. The world is so crazy and so hard for so many people, just seeing people carry on loving, living, working, raising their kids, caring for themselves and others is pretty amazing stuff. But I know that’s not the answer you want so I’ll pick one past and one present.
I admire East Lyme’s first-ever, democratically elected female First Selectwoman, Beth Hogan. She was a mentor and friend and helped me mature into who I am today. She was a sage and guide and touched the lives of countless people. She worked up to her dying day trying to make East Lyme a better community. Her legacy carries on through people she taught like me and my friends.
Also, I admire our current First Selectman, Dan Cunningham. Dan is just a wonderful guy. We’ve been friends for years playing music together and having crazy adventures together. He is wise, gentle, contemplative, and has an endless supply of stories that are so far out and funny, they’ll make your jaw drop. He has vision and the wherewithal to make ideas into realities. I aspire to be the sort of leader that Dan is.
10. What mascot would you assign to East Lyme?
Shelly the Scallop Shell, you know the scallop thing again?! Also, there are a lot of cheeky squirrels that live in my neighborhood. I think they’d be my second choice.
11. What snack replenishes you when you’re stressed from campaigning all day?
I eat a lot of trail mix out on the campaign trail. It just seems appropriate. Also, it is delicious.
12. If you could become an expert in any unrelated field at all, what would it be?
I often become experts in fields. I get obsessed with things and work like crazy until I fully understand them and make them work. That’s how I Iearned to play all the instruments I do. That’s how I learned to do digital art. That’s how I learned to record music. This quirk is one of my biggest assets and biggest flaws. It takes a lot of time and energy learning new stuff and only truly happens after a ton of frustration and sometimes a little swearing. That being said, if I were to do it all over again and not go to school to become a teacher, I would have gotten a degree in mathematics. I think math is just so fascinating and allows you to understand the world in new ways. Lots of folks hate it but I think that’s mostly because of the way it’s taught. As a kid, I hated it too but, as an adult, it blows my mind how it can be applied to the world, used to glean fascinating realizations. Also, I wish I were a better pianist. I’m passable now but I’d love to be a good jazz pianist.
13. What’s the most surprising job you’ve ever had?
At the tail end of my senior year of college I was working at a summer camp at a local school. They hired a guy named Jungle John to come in and show an assortment of reptiles to all the kids. While I was there, Jungle John took a shine to how I worked with the kids, how I used drawing and juggling to capture their interest. He offered me a job as a clown in his entertainment company. Jungle John was an interesting guy. He held a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for a stunt called the cockroach coffin. He had terrariums and critters all over his house. He taught me to make balloon animals and sent me off to kids’ parties. Folks like to call politicians clowns as an epithet. Well, I made pretty good money as a clown (more per hour than my first-year teaching!) and I made a lot of kids happy on their special day. I enjoyed that brief stint as a clown and remember it fondly. Which reminds me, I should try to find Jungle John online and see what he’s up to these days.
14. If you had to give East Lyme a new slogan, what would it be?
East Lyme: You will get stuck at the traffic lights going south on 161 by Roxbury Road.
15. When you need a laugh, what’s your guilty pleasure?
I teach 6th grade science and they’re a hoot. They keep me laughing all day long! I don’t really care much for watching shows or videos or anything. I’m super weird that way. We’re living in a golden age of streaming, and it’s totally wasted on me. There’s no such thing as guilty pleasures. That’s all snobbery. Love what you love! Enjoy your joy!
