Democrats wasted no time Tuesday slamming gubernatorial candidate and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton minutes after he announced that former Groton Mayor Heather Somers will be his running mate leading up to the GOP’s nominating convention in May.
DiNardo blasted Boughton claiming he is against any increase in the minimum wage, supports the Tea Party agenda and is against common sense gun control.
“The few specifics we do have on Mayor Boughton aren’t promising,” she said at the Groton Hilton shortly after Boughton’s announcement.
Boughton, meanwhile said he and Somers will focus on changing the state government and will make ” jobs, jobs, jobs” their top priority – not a huge surprise given that the state is still behind in recovering jobs lost in the recession, while Danbury enjoys the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 5.2 percent.
The state’s unemployment rate for the month of December that was released Monday fell to 7.4 percent.
Tom Foley, who led the GOP’s ticket in the 2010 race with Boughton as his running mate, said meanwhile that he will make a formal announcement on Wednesday regarding the race.
Foley already has an exploratory committee while both Boughton and state Sen. John McKinney have declared their candidacy.
Foley lost his gubernatorial bid against Gov. Dannel Malloy by less than one percent of the vote in 2010 after spending more than $11 million on his own campaign.
Both Foley, McKinney and Boughton have plegded to use the state’s public financing program for this year’s contest.
Some have suggested that with Boughton so behind in fund raising so far, his selection of Somers could help him gain desperately needed contributions as well as give him a geographical advantage with voters on the eastern side of the state.