It looks like there will be a fourth contestant for the two open seats on the Board of Selectmen.
A 14-signature petition for David K. Clune, an unaffiliated voter, to be listed on the ballot for November’s municipal election as a selectman, was submitted to Town Clerk Lori Kaback on Aug. 5.
According to Clune’s receipt from his application to petition, which he filed with the secretary of the state, 14 signatures were required for him to be listed.
Kaback has verified the signatures and has mailed the petition to the secretary of the state.
Clune, a lawyer, is currently employed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a compliance and ethics officer. Previously, he was an assistant district attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Clune went to Boston College, where he met his wife, Robin. She is the executive director of Ambler Farm in Wilton.
Before enrolling in Fordham Law School in New York, Clune worked for Operation Smile, a nonprofit association that provides medical service, specifically reconstructive cleft lip and palate surgery, to children in developing nations. His job was to travel to countries that would request Operation Smile’s services, meet their government officials and assess their situations to see if they warranted philanthropy.
He now coaches youth lacrosse in town with the Wilton Youth Lacrosse Association. Clune has coached his son Charlie’s team for three years, following it from grade one to grade three. He will coach their fourth grade team in the spring.
Clune is the son of a well-known Wiltonian, David F. Clune, the superintendent of schools from 1986 to 2004 after whom the Clune Center at Wilton High School is named.
The election
Clune said he wants to offer his voice and help achieve a balance between tax rates and adequate amenities for the town.
“You want to keep the people we have, but you also want to bring more in,” he said.
“What can you do to bring in bigger businesses?” he asked rhetorically. “Can you build on what’s already been done, or offer a different view?”
He said that, as an individual, he has “almost always” been an unaffiliated voter.
The only times, in fact, that he has registered as affiliated were to vote in presidential primaries, which require voters to register with one party.
“I’m very excited,” he said, “at the opportunity of serving on the Board of Selectmen.”
“I think I’m in a good position to understand what people’s interests and concerns are. I grew up here; I came back to live here; my kids are in the schools; my parents live here and my wife works in town,” Clune said.
In addition to growing up in Wilton, Clune has lived in the town since 2003, and has been a registered voter for as long.