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05/19/2017 12:00 AMNovember is only six months away. On May 18 the Guilford Democratic Town Committee formally nominated their list of candidates for the fall elections. First Selectman candidate Matt Hoey leads the ticket along with fellow Board of Selectmen (BOS) candidates Lou Federici and Sandy Ruoff.
Federici is a current Board of Finance (BOF) member and Ruoff has been the Guilford Free Library Director for over 30 years. For the BOF, incumbent Ken Gamerman has been re-nominated and Veronica Wallace, who previously served on the BOS, is running for Federici’s vacated seat.
For the Board of Education (BOE), Democrats re-nominated incumbent Chris Moore and nominated political newcomer Moira Radar. Hoey said he is excited about the slate and looking forward to the election season.
“I am pleased and proud to be associated with such dedicated public servants who, through their dedicated volunteerism and professional talents, offer Guilford voters the opportunity to elect highly qualified candidates,” he said. “I am excited to begin the campaign season and look forward to engaging Guilford residents to listen to their concerns and sharing our vision for the effective management of our wonderful community.”
With the slate now formalized, the name of note is Ruoff. Making her first run for elected office in town, Ruoff, who has worked for the Guilford Free Library in some capacity for 40 years and is getting ready to retire, said she is ready to take on a new role in town.
“I have been to many BOS and BOF meetings and I developed an interest in just the way town government works,” she said. “As I was nearing thinking about retiring from the library I thought this might be an opportunity to take some of my expertise and give it back to the town.”
In running the library, Ruoff said she gained good experience with town financial planning. Her work with other state library organizations also provided an introduction to politics.
“I spent a great deal of time in the 90’s being the legislative co-chair for the Connecticut Library Association, lobbying for library funding on a state-wide level,” she said. “I use to go up to Hartford on a regular basis to meet with legislators who were connected with the funding. That kind of wet my political appetite. I enjoyed doing it and I got to see some of the way that government works.”
With the nomination, no matter if she wins or loses in November, Ruoff said she is retiring from the library. Ruoff said it is time to let someone new take the helm.
“I have been with the library for almost 41 years so enough is enough but I mean that in a good way,” she said. “It is time to give some other staff members hopefully an opportunity to step up.”