Danbury Mayor to run for Governor

In what may be the worst kept secret in Connecticut politics, Danbury Republican Mayor Mark Boughton announces that he is running for Governor.  He says he is not in the exploratory phase, there's nothing to explore.  He has filed paperwork with the state.

Boughton says being a former state lawmaker and now a chief elected official makes him a unique choice to serve in the state's top spot.  During his announcement Monday night in Bethel, Boughton touted the city as being the safest in the state, the municipality with the lowest unemployment rate in the state and as having one of the lowest corporation tax and sewer & water rate in Connecticut.

Boughton says the state is broke and broken.  He notes that not only is a $500 million deficit hard to imagine, but that the legislature has been slow to act.  One of his goals if elected would be to reform government saying that the state's largest employer--is the Government and that's a problem.

Boughton says he waited until now because he was doing research.  He says he's been talking with the state Republican party and various town committees to see if a candidacy is viable.  Then once he said he was going to make an announcement at the beginning of February, he said he waited until the time was right for his family.

One of the points that Boughton said will be the fous of his campaign is what he called The Three R's.  Revitalize, Redesign, and Rethink.  He wants to revitalize the state's economic development strategy, redesign state government and rethink the vision of what state government should be.