Bristol Admin debate begins with conciliatory gesture

Town Administrator candidates Antonio Teixeira and Steven Contente disagree on several issues, including taxes, the town’s relations to the business community, management style and more. 

And while the two strongly argued their differences throughout Tuesday night’s candidate forum, the debate began on a friendlier note than many expected when Teixeira presented Contente with a town coin to honor his years of dedicated service on the Bristol Police department.

“It’s a tradition we’ve done with every town employee of 20 years or more,” Mr. Teixeira said. “It’s just a nice gesture.”

If Mr. Contente was thrown off by the conciliatory gesture just before a potentially contentious debate, it didn’t show, as he immediately deadpanned, “I want to withdraw my candidacy,” drawing loud laughter from the capacity crowd in the old Bristol State House.

Mr. Contente later said he was surprised by the presentation, and he had reached out to Mr. Teixeira’s office in the months since he retired as deputy chief of the Bristol Police last spring, but had not heard back about the traditional memento given to 20-year employees. Conversely, Mr. Teixeira said he had tried to reach out to Mr. Contente to present him with the award, but “Steve was not very receptive of that.”

Some political observers may question the timing of the presentation, instead of arranging it at a Town Council meeting or a ceremony at the police station. But Mr. Teixeira insisted there was no political motive or gamesmanship at play. It was just the first time the two were together at an event conducive to the presentation.

“I thought, since we have a crowd here, we’d do it,” he said. “It was strictly just to recognize him.”

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