Community Corner
Dispatch from the State Republican Convention
New Canaan delegate and vote counter Paul Foley says GOP members picked candidates they hope will enable job creation and put Connecticut back in the black.
At the end of the day, we're all going to support the candidate for the party, but at the state Republican convention where 1,500 GOP members gathered to endorse candidates for state-wide office last weekend the New Canaan delegation was split until we got down the ticket to state treasurer.
The delegations were arranged alphabetically on the convention floor, so the New Canaanites were in the same corner with Norwalk and Greenwich. Representatives from Linda McMahon's senate campaign and Tom Foley's gubernatorial campaign were camped out there much of Saturday working to secure our votes.
To challenge Richard Blumenthal for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Chris Dodd, New Canaan delegates were divided 50/50 for McMahon and Rob Simmons. McMahon came away with the state party endorsement.
For governor, five of us wanted Mike Fedele, and seven wanted Tom Foley, who ultimately carried the day.
Mark Boughton, who's been reelected several times as mayor in Danbury where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1, got the nod for lieutenant governor. He's worked with police and fire to make Danbury work, and I'll be very happy when he goes up to Hartford and rules over the state Senate. And though he had been running with Fedele—current lieutenant governor and former state legislator from Stamford—he will be a great complement to Foley, who has a long history in business but is new to the politics game.
Despite the lack of unanimity about candidates endorsed at the convention, what we were united on is a feeling that the state's budget is bloated. The state is now Connecticut's largest employer—government employee rolls have stretched to 51,000 while we lost 100,000 jobs in the private sector. Most states work much more efficiently than we do. Connecticut is one of the highest taxed states in the nation and has the biggest deficit per capita. We want to send people to Hartford who will address that, and put people in Washington to address that.
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Editor's Note: This article was compiled from a conversation between Paul Foley and New Canaan Patch Editor Amy Jeffries.
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