Anderson, long a public face in Westport, has many years of community service under his belt, formerly as a member of the Board of Finance and currently the head of the Town Maintenance Committee, where his responsibility is the upkeep of the town's buildings and facilities, a megamillion dollar investment already made by Westport taxpayers that the Maintenance Committee is charged with protecting.
Born in Great Britain where he also served as a naval officer, Anderson is retired from a 30- year career with Colgate Palmolive as a financial executive, with corporate responsibilities that carried him around the world during his tenure with the multinational corporation.
Anderson has the endorsement of the Republican Town Committee, and is running with Kristin LaFleur, who has a background in finance, and who is now on the Board of Education, and will remain there should she lose in this election.
Anderson attempted a prior run for the First Selectman position in 2005, but lost in a Republican primary to John Izzo.
Anderson and LaFleur believe that an important divide exists between the Board of Education, which controls its own $100 million budget, and the town side of government, whose budget this year was roughly $60 million. The town has input, but no control over the decisions of that board. Anderson portrayed himself as an excellent bridge between the two, citing his successful experience working with the school administration when it became apparent that Kings Highway Elementary School was badly in need of costly repairs due to a significant mold problem.
At the time, First Selectman Joseloff appointed him to work with the Superintendent of Schools Dr. Elliott Landon to manage a potentially explosive situation which Anderson was able to help resolve.
Said Anderson, "I have an excellent relationship with the Board of Education, the superintendent and his staff. When we had a serious problem at Kings Highway School, at first the superintendent denied it, but then we worked together and solved the problem. The two previous administrations for 12 years have not had a good relationship with the superintendent.
"There is also an enormous opportunity here for pulling services together. My committee has already tackled maintenance, but more can be done."
LaFleur has been on the Board of Education Government Efficiency Committee. She said, "I admit it's been slow going, but we are trying to share best practices. There is a lot of what the schools do that the town could learn from. I'd love to see us combine services and realize significant savings that go on not just for one time, but over time."
Anderson complained that the current administration is "out of touch" with residents who cannot get adequate responses from their representatives in Town Hall. He is also concerned that many senior citizens are fearful that they will no longer be able to afford to remain in the community in which they have lived their entire lives. He says he is working on a new plan to assist seniors which is tied to cost of living increases.
On cost cutting, Anderson pointed to his experience running a division of Colgate Palmolive: "The experience is there." As options for more cost cutting, he also pointed to school bus parking where there is the potential to save $250,000, combining payroll departments between the town and the Board of Education employees, and water treatment savings that are possible. "I could probably save a million dollars right there," he said.
He also took issue with savings that occurred last year when several police and fire officials took early retirement. "Frankly, that was a one-time cost reduction. We lost four senior officers in police and fire overnight who took early retirement. Now we are hiring people at the bottom end. We need to look for sustainable savings."
Anderson compared his professional experience in finance with that of the current first selectman, Joseloff. "I am a financial executive. He is a journalist," Anderson said. He added, "We do not have good financial long-range planning in this town which is something else I'd bring to the town. We have to modernize our financial approach and add fiscal discipline. I can bring the Board of Education and the town administration closer. We can come together as a whole team to do what's best for Westport."
Anderson added that the Republican party, which has been the minority party on every board and commission in town as well as the loser in the past several first selectman elections, has repaired itself.
"The party is now more together than its ever been. We are not a far right Republican group from Texas, but a Connecticut Republican perspective, more middle of the road. I am a liberal Republican. I was a big supporter of (former Republican congressman) Chris Shays. A lot of Democrats respected him. I was saddened when he lost. I also believe in a bipartisan approach. When we redesigned the school budget I worked with Shelly Kassen on the Board of Finance. I was able to work with Democrats. I encourage bipartisanshp and volunteerism, regardless of political persuasion.
LaFleur said, "I've seen all of our Republican candidates work together as a team. Republicans are interested in doing what's good for Westport and Westporters. We want to create an environment that will let those ideas surface.
"On the Board of Education whether we are Democrats or Republicans we are always going to try to do what is good for the kids. We would like to bring those values to the selectman's office."
"As first selectman," said Anderson, "you need to work with independently elected boards and commissions. The P&Z is talking about major changes to their rules. I have a real concern about the denial of the right of appeal. We also have problems with deer, and environmental issues, and the constant destruction of historic properties. We've got speeding problems and litter problems. We need to tackle all these thing head on. We have a lot of ideas."