At the Door with Maureen

There were two houses sharing a driveway, and we weren’t sure which one was on our list. We made our way around to the front of one of the houses, and we knocked on the door. It was much nicer than when we did this the other day — when Maureen got drenched in a passing downpour and we greeted voters while water dripped from our clothes and hair. Now, the sun was out and there was even a little bit of a breeze. We were chatting and laughing as the resident came out from around back.
“Hi, my name is Maureen Nicholson. I’m running for First Selectman.”
“Hi! I’m Nick Fulchino, I’m a candidate for Zoning Board of Appeals.”
Maureen emphasized her track record while she was First Selectman for three years, highlighting the importance that the First Selectman be easily accessible to everyone in town. She quickly turned to her favorite part of the canvassing experience. “But tell me. What’s on your mind? Nick and I want to know what you’re concerned about in town.”
For the third time that day and probably the tenth or maybe even twentieth time since we started knocking doors, we heard, “Property taxes.” I nodded my head with a frown on my face. The town of Pomfret recently had a 2.5 mill increase in our mill rate — a substantial change in the tax rate that has been more than just a nuisance for my family and many others. For the second time today we heard that the property taxes had gotten to a point where the person we were talking to was actually considering moving out of Pomfret.
I noticed the concern on Maureen’s face. Here was a woman who realized the most important part of being a leader is your ability to listen. “I hear you,” she said. “I hear you. I’m with you! The town of Pomfret has a $2 million surplus account that went almost untouched. If we’d taken double what we took out of the surplus account this year we would only have raised the property tax 1.5 mill.” There it was. The experience that comes only after years as Chairman of the Board of Finance, years on the Board of Selectmen, and three years leading the town as First Selectman. No one knows town finances in Pomfret better than Maureen Nicholson — after all, she revised the budget format to make it more accessible to the taxpayer.
And then there was the next house where we were greeted with a smile. “I’m so glad you’re running again,” she told Maureen. “Do you know what I liked about when you were in office? We always knew what was happening in town when you were First Selectman.” Why? Because Maureen believes in the most open of open door policies. She ends every single conversation on the door with an invitation. “Please, call me!” she pleads as we head back to the car. “My cell phone number is on the card. I want to hear from you!” It took me back to when we were designing the walk card and I asked if she wanted us to put contact information on. “Do you want people to have your cell number?” She laughed. “Nick!” she said, “They should have my cell phone number!”
And that’s who Maureen is. She’s the woman with the blue glasses who comes to the door with a smile — excited to hear about what’s on the mind of whoever it is we’re talking to. She jumps a little when she hears a dog. She always points out how proud she is of the other candidates, like me, down the ballot. “We really do have such a great slate of candidates!” she exclaims at every door. “I’m really proud of us.” Because she takes pride in Pomfret. She takes pride in what our town stands for.
I’ve not met a woman smarter. I’ve met no one with a better understanding of what our town needs, and I’ve certainly met no one as capable of getting us there. We need to get our town back on track, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Maureen Nicholson is the candidate to do it.
