With over 25 years of professional experience in investments, technology, financial management and governance of pension funds and endowments, it has been my privilege to serve the Town of New Canaan in many facets of finance, budgeting and the implementation of best practices.

New Canaan’s most recent issues - including the Lakeview Avenue bridge arbitration, municipal bonding authority, oversight of legal bills and budgets – illustrate the need for accountability, responsibility, better processes and communication, and underscore the need for a new approach to the role of Town Treasurer.

I have served as a member of New Canaan’s Board of Finance, chaired the Town’s Best Practices in Municipal Budgeting Task Force, represented the Town in
collective bargaining negotiations, and am a member of the Senior Healthcare and Housing Policy Development Team.

My record demonstrates my ability to work with all constituents across New Canaan - successfully and collaboratively - to most effectively serve our New Canaan
citizens and taxpayers. 

Through your support and vote for me on November 8th, 
I pledge to bring a new and effective approach to the position of New  Canaan Town Treasurer.

Hersam narrowly defeats Corbet in town treasurer race
Written by Matt Dalen, Assistant Editor   Thursday, 10 November 2011 00:00 

Excerpt from the New Canaan Advertiser  (full story - click on Headline) ....

Despite one of the tightest elections in New Canaan history, Democrat Kathleen Corbet missed by 48 votes her goal of overturning the 46-year incumbency of Republican Town Treasurer V. Donald Hersam Jr. Hersam retained his seat with a vote of 1,478 to 1,430, according to election-night results from the town. A total of 2,977 voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s election, approximately 24% of the town’s 12,371 voters.
 
With less than 50 votes separating the two treasurer candidates, Corbet ran a surprisingly strong campaign in a town dominated by Republicans, who hold a more than two-to-one margin in voter registration, with a third of the town unaffiliated. Assuming selectman votes correlate approximately with voter registration, Corbet appears to have pulled between 300 and 400 Republican votes from Hersam. Corbet had run on a platform of adding financial checks and balances to the treasurer’s role, an idea Republicans panned as requiring a Town Charter change.

Unusual election

This year’s election season was a long one — stretching nearly the entire year, since Mallozzi’s candidacy announcement in February — and was marked by periods of deep divisiveness, particularly during the spring’s Republican caucus battle. In the end, the final vote was an unusual one, a clutch of unopposed races leading Democrats to devote all of their efforts to unseating one man: the oft-overlooked treasurer. A position that is
usually an afterthought in town elections, and has been mainly signatory for a half-century, was thrust into the limelight as residents debated whether they wanted to overhaul the position’s responsibilities — and whether such an overhaul would even be legal without a change to the town’s charter.
 
“I think all of New Canaan won tonight and hats off to my opponent who ran a great race,” Corbet told the Advertiser Tuesday night. “I so much appreciate the opportunity to have run with him and I admire Don, and I think the issues raised were important to the town of New Canaan.”

Hersam said that this had been the strongest challenge to his position in his  46-year tenure. He agreed with Corbet that issues raised during the campaign are likely to receive new attention.

“Here, there were challenges to the governance of the town, to the manner in which the position has been fulfilled, and the requirements of the position,” he said.
“Those with whom I work feel very strongly that the Town Charter is the ruling element of the office, not to say it couldn’t be changed. I commend Kathleen for her exceptional race, tremendous support she engendered from her party, and others in the town; that’s one of the things I believe in — competition, in any political arena.
 
“It’s only by sheer weight of the numbers of the party that I won, and I’m not demeaning my win, but Kathleen raised many questions that deserve further discussion and commentary going forward, so she may very well have changed the way New Canaan continues to do business.

“I don’t anticipate any changes, or have none planned, but I will certainly cooperate in the new leadership in the way they wish to see this job continue,” he said.

Hersam Holds On To Treasurer's Post
[UPDATE] from Patch.com
In a close contest, Don Hersam defeated challenger, Kathleen Corbet

Close race for New Canaan treasurer
Paresh Jha, Correspondent  New Canaan News



Hersam Edges Corbet for New Canaan Treasurer
  by Melvin Mason (email)   The Daily New Canaan                    11/08/11