De Smet declares candidacy

Windham First Selectman Jean de Smet said this morning she intends to run for mayor in the November elections.

De Smet joins an already-crowded race for mayor, competing with Republican Eric Crowley, Selectman Ernest Eldridge of the Bottom Line Slate and Democrat Dawn Niles.

“There are a lot of things that I’ve begun that I want to complete,” de Smet said, adding she believes in working with the yet-to-be-found town manager and can be “very helpful” to him or her.
“I look forward to helping articulate a vision,” said de Smet, who expects to make a formal announcement this week.

De Smet, a Green Party member and current first selectman, is running as a petitioning candidate without a political affiliation and said she needs 20 signatures from registered voters in town to run. She has to compile them by Wednesday.

Due to charter changes voted on in November 2007, the town’s form of government is changing from a first selectman/board of selectmen form of government to a town manager/town council form with an elected mayor.

When she ran in 2007, she ran with the Bottom Line Slate - a coalition of people from various political parties - but for the upcoming November election, the party endorsed Eldridge instead.