CTGreens

New Canaan lawyer tries to enter race against Nickerson

By Neil Vigdor
Staff Writer

Greenwich Time, May 27, 2004, page 1

A Green Party candidate from New Canaan is trying to petition his way onto the ballot in the state's 36th Senatorial District, a seat held by Greenwich Republican William Nickerson for the past 14 years.

John Amarilios, 46, a lawyer who ran for first selectman of New Canaan as a third-party candidate last fall, estimates he needs about 300 signatures from registered voters across his district to enter the race.

The figure represents 1 percent of the total votes cast in the district in 2002, when Nickerson ran unopposed. The district covers parts New Canaan and Stamford, in addition to the whole of Greenwich.

"We would hate to have an important slot like that go uncontested," Amarilios said. "In general, the Green Party is increasing its initiative to bring candidates to various elections in Fairfield County."

Amarilios is one of four Green Party members to announce their candidacy for the General Assembly in Connecticut this year.

In the neighboring 26th District, GOP incumbent state Rep. Judith Freedman of Westport is being challenged by Green Party petition candidate Remy Chevalier of Weston and Democrat Arlo Ellison of Wesport. The district has six towns in it, including eastern New Canaan.

Of 93,732 registered voters in Greenwich, Stamford and New Canaan, fewer than 78 are affiliated with the Green Party, according to those communities' registrars. Those numbers didn't seem to discourage Amarilios, who is trying to attract voters with a platform of quality-of-life and environmental issues.

"I'll tell you my pet peeve at this point is traffic," said Amarilios, who promised, if elected, to push an agenda that penalizes sport utility vehicle owners with higher property taxes and provides incentives for owners of hybrid energy vehicles.

Amarilios' other proposals include barring sport utility vehicles from the Merritt Parkway and reinstating the state's usury laws to prohibit credit card companies from charging consumers interest rates as high as 25 percent to 30 percent.

"These are gangland interest rates, and they're sinking a lot of middle-class consumers in the state," Amarilios said, adding that he had encountered many bankruptcy cases in his law practice involving credit card debt.

Amarilios graduated from New Canaan High School, received a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's in international marketing from Lehigh University and earned a law degree the University of Bridgeport. He is single and works for the Westport law firm of Carron & Fink.

Nickerson, 65, was nominated for an eighth term by the Republican Party last week. He is chief deputy minority leader in the Senate, and ranking member of the General Assembly's Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee.

He said he welcomed the opportunity to defend his record on the environment, transportation and other areas yesterday, touting his efforts to help his constituents acquire open space for their communities and address the state's transportation woes.

"I respect anyone's right to run," said Nickerson, who recently learned of the challenge from a letter to the editor of a local newspaper about Amarilios.

The incumbent cited Greenwich and Stamford's joint acquisition of the 110-acre Treetops property from International Paper in 2001 and the state's purchase of the 84-acre Blake-Colman property in northeast Greenwich in 1998 as open space deals that he helped broker.

"I will tell you I'm very proud of my environmental record," Nickerson said.

Nickerson went on to describe himself as a major advocate for change in the state Department of Transportation, which, he said, had failed his constituents over the past few decades by building more roadways and bridges instead of promoting use of mass transit within the state.

Amarilios, who received less than 2 percent of the vote in New Canaan's election for first selectman last year, acknowledged that unseating Nickerson will be difficult.

"He's a very well-entrenched incumbent, and it's a difficult and very expensive district to try to campaign in," Amarilios said. What Amarilios lacks in money and name recognition, he said he hopes to make up for at the grass-roots level.