Burgess Candidate Drops Out of Race

A burgess candidate who was nominated last week by the Republican party to run for the town's top municipal government board has decided to drop out of the race.

Smokey Regan says "mudslinging" has marred her candidacy, so much so that she doesn't believe she will be able to affectively get out her message.

"I've decided to get my house in order, spend the next two years watching them like a hawk and then run in the next election," she said.

Regan, 51, admits that she owes the borough money in back car taxes that she said were for cars that died and some for cars that she gave to her adult children. The tax office told Patch that she owes more than $5,900 in back car taxes, but Regan said Thursday that the office told her that day she owes $1,857.99.

The car tax issue is the major issue that people attacked Regan on. She is the only candidate for elected office who owed back taxes. She said a floundering economy has caused her to be out of work.

"But I'm going to pay back my taxes, even if it's in increments of $20 at a time," she said.

Regan said she originally ran because she wanted to bring down spending in town. She says she has the qualifications to be a burgess - including spending time working with finances for a large furniture distributor - but that nobody asked her about that.

"Instead, they wanted to sling mud," she said. "So I think this is the best route to take. But I'm not going anywhere. I will still be around at every meeting."

She says she believes Naugatuck should put its money into improving the education in schools rather than spending $81 million on a new high school. And she criticized local government for spending $2 million on the GDC property downtown.

"Plus, we have high car taxes and what do people get for those tax dollars? Some of the worst roads around," she said. 

And, Regan said, she believes there are many people who run local government who have a conflict of interest because they have relatives who work for the town the school system. 

She said she plans to make politicians address these issues and others as an involved citizen in the next two years.  

Dorothy Hoff, chair of the Republican Town Committee, said a vacancy committee will seek a new candidate for burgess. No names have officially brought forth, though current Inland Wetlands Commissioner Alex Olbrys, who is in his early 20s, has expressed some interest.